diver28

I had this in another area. I am new and thought to re-post it down here too.

Thanks for the responses. I most likely will try to stay away from overcrowding. The tank which I'm going to set-up is 100 gallons rectangular. I'm planning on having two island reef coral inserts (one on the left and one on the right). It definitely won't be overcrowded with coral... or fake coral I mean. Probably some scattered live rock but really not to much of it. How many fish can I sustain in the tank? Say avg fish size is 7 inches. So using that 1 inch rule gives me appox. 14 fish. I was hoping to hold maybe 20. 4 clowns of the same species. Was hoping the pair would occupy one island coral head the other pair occupying the other. 4 different tangs (none of the same type and all different body types) Sailfin, Yellow, Powder Blue, and maybe a Sohal etc. 2 Angels (Blueface and don't know the other). 2 blennies. 2 butterfly fish (hopefully Ornate and an Oval?) 1 pufferfish (porcupine puffer). 1 mandarin fish. 2 damsel fish maybe more but don't know how aggressive they'll be. Was liking 1 trigger (niger) but I know he does't mix with the community so probably not. Also thinking of one EEL but worried he would eat the clown or damsel fish. Thoughts on my set up?

sgould

I sounds overstocked to me, but I will be interested to see if some of the others agree. As I researched my sw tank, what I kept reading was that saltwater tanks need to be more sparsely stocked than freshwater. I did find varying formulas for how much more sparsely, but the one thing they all agreed on was that 1" per gallon would be too much for a saltwater setup.

diver28

Which makes sense because a 10 inch fish in a 10 gallon tank is not right. However, I do feel that as the tank expands the lesser that formula applies. If I had a 300 gallon I reckon you could easily have 300 inches worth of fish and be ok. One day I dream of a 20,000 sw tank I can swim in every morning...... lunch... and evening. Probably should move to the tropics. Ha ha ha. Actually I grew up on Guam and got my dive certification out there. I've done some scary stuff.. dove with sharks in the Bahamas. I'll put up a pic if anyone wants to see.

sgould

I love to dive, but for some dumb reason I live in the middle of the continent! Two best trips I've had were in the Florida Keys and in Mexico off Puerto Vallarta.

agsansoo

diver28,
I grew up on an Island too. Though I swam away from the sharks ! OK getting back on topic, a long time ago when I was younger I was told 10 gallon per inch for saltwater fish. This is not the case anymore. With all the advances in protein skimmers today, more and more saltwater hobbyist are increasing the number of fish they keep. So just start slow, you will know when the fish feel over crowed. They will start to fight amongst themself more. IMO just the tangs you want would be too much for that tank. Except for the yellow tang, the rest can reach lengths around a foot long. The ocean is so big, and our tanks are so so small.

Miss Mouse

Hey Diver, sounds like you had a great upbringing! I'm very jealous ..
Anyway regarding your tank stocking...as Ag said, you need to take it very slowly and you'll know when your fish are unhappy. Just please remember that you are responsible for the welfare of the fish and that your priorities should lie with the health and wellbeing of the fish, not on how many fish you can fit in your tank. I'm sure you'll agree...If you have the right equipment and good quality water then i'm sure you'll be ok to stock it well

diver28

Yo, thanks for the responses. Yes, I am definitely concerned for the health of my fish which is why I'm happy I found this board to post questions. My tank set-up will be coming in a few weeks so I have some time. I'm going with a wet/dry filtration with bio balls. The protein skimmer sits in the sump and will be a Aqua C Urchin. The filter and the skimmer alone push $500. My tank will have the overflow box in the middle with the powerheads tee'd off for nice circulation. 100 lbs of live sand and some live rock inside. I'm willing to let my tank cycle for as long as it takes to get the amonia and nitrates? down to 0. So I'm assuming 4 weeks or so, maybe even six. Some things that I'm considering to add is the fluidized bed filtration. I think thats what you call it. But I'm worried that the nitrites will get way too high and I should have some live algae to help with this but I'm not sure how to make that happen yet. All my corals will be fake.

diver28

Agsansoo,

what island did you grow up on?

agsansoo

Kihei, MAUI, Hawaii

diver28

me, Guam