Saltwater Tank Advice - experienced in freshwater

OK, so I think I'm 100% going to setup a Saltwater tank. I had another thread that went a bit off topic, but with good discussion, so I figured I'd start fresh.

To start, I am very experienced with FW, Freshwater planted, Freshwater amphibian, and Freshwater invert tanks. I'm looking for some advice on anemone and clownfish, and what would be the best setup for them. I am up for a challenge, and have mastered aquarium patience.

I have multiple tanks to choose from. 20 long, 29 high, 36 bowfront, and 65 standard. If the setup is sustainable in one of the smaller tanks, I'd prefer to keep the 65 for another project.

I will not run a sump, but have heard an HOB style filter can be used in its place. I have a large selection of HOBs to use. I also have multiple heaters to choose from ranging from a preset 76 degree 100w all the way to an adjustable temp 300w and about anything in between.

I have a knowledge of all necessary tools to maintain a Freshwater tank, but will get new so the Saltwater and Freshwater never cross paths.

I need help selecting a tank size suitable for 2 amphiprion ocellaris (preferably snowflake variety). Live rock: looking for suggestions. As well as an anemone for potential hosting: looking for suggestions.

I do not have a marine lighting setup: looking for suggestions.

I do not currently mix saltwater, but do have a refractometer and know how to use it: looking for marine salt/water suggestions

I have two powerheads, both are the cheap Petco brand 225s. Will these be more hastle than good?: Looking for additional suggestions on these.

I do not have a substrate chosen yet: looking for suggestions.

Are there any other items, creatures, coral, inverts, etc that do need to be present, or avoided in this type of setup and why?

Thanks y'all!

Or I can spend just a bit more and get the new biocube 32 ($309). Would this be a better way? Are the lights in these sufficient for coral and anemone?

I'll definitely be doing a few xinia frags, but haven't decided what else.

 

I think the 36 bowfront would be a great size for an anemone and a pair of clownfish. However, I would be hesitant to add an anemone on a newer tank. IMHO the tanks should be 6+ months old and fully cycled...

I would read these to determine what anemone you like that may be a good host for clownfish.
Getting a Clownfish to Live in a Host Anemone - Ocellaris Clownfish
Clownfish Anemone Compatibility Chart
Snowflake Ocellaris - Clownfish - Marine Ornamental Fish - Sea and Reef Aquaculture

Anemones can very easily be killed by getting sucked into a filter or power head. You need to 'cage' the intakes to keep your anemone from being killed, and if you may want to look into adding the anemone and letting it get settled before adding the clownfish. Sometimes the clownfish get so excited about the anemone that they drag it around and kill it...

As far as light, metal halide or some LED fixtures should be able to provide enough light. Metal halides are HOT and you have to replace the bulbs every 6-18 months so I would lean towards an LED fixture. Marineland Reef ones are not going to produce enough light for an anemone... You are going to need to look at one of the more expensive ones: Radion, MaxSpect, Kessil.

Make sure you use RO/DI water for whatever salt mix you decide to go with. We mix saltwater in a Brute garbage can with a Hydor Koralia or marine land maxi-jet and a heater. Budget salt mixes are corallife (one we use) and instant ocean. Red Sea is more of a 'premium' salt mix, budget salt mixes have more precipitates, but still work fine.

You may need something like a Maxspect Gyre or a Vortech to provide alternating flow for the anemone. Wavemakers (Tunze or Hydor) may work too.

Our favorite sands are the fijI pink and the indo pacific black live sands. You don't want to large or particles or wastes gets trapped and can lead to nitrate problems in the future.

 

I agree I think a 36 gallon is a good size

 

Thanks SecretiveFish. I plan on doing setup and cycling in the next month or so. Once I get all my gear.

I'm curious if there is a method of helping the aquarium to mature without the addition of fish so that I can add them at the same time as anemone. Would the addition of coral be acceptable early on, or some other inverts (after cycle)? Would that also aid in the maturing process once cycled and stabilized?

Edit: add fish after the anemone, not same time.

 

Nothing really helps with the maturing process but time. Just like wine

The tank will go through it's maturing process of a diatom bloom, algae, etc... till your water chemistry balances out and your tank starts to get covered in coralline algae.

I would personally run Matrix bio-media in your HOB. it will help house the BB colony which will help keep your parameters more stable. Once my Matrix bio-media was cycled, it handled my quick fish stocking with ease.

 

Nothing really helps with the maturing process but time. Just like wine

The tank will go through it's maturing process of a diatom bloom, algae, etc... till your water chemistry balances out and your tank starts to get covered in coralline algae.

I would personally run Matrix bio-media in your HOB. it will help house the BB colony which will help keep your parameters more stable. Once my Matrix bio-media was cycled, it handled my quick fish stocking with ease.

So essentially the same as a Freshwater tank.

I have plenty of patience, and 5 other tanks to keep up in the meantime. Never done Saltwater and want to make sure I do good by the creatures I keep .

I guess I am curious though, if it needs to be mature to add anemone, and I shouldn't add the fish until the anemone is situated, do I just continue for 6+months with a fishless cycle process? I've never done anything that long without any creatures in the tank... Would it be capable of sustaining all of the tanks natural cycles (diatom bloom, etc)?

 

Wait - why are you waiting to situate the anemone before clowns? You can certainly add clowns first and then add anemone a few months later.

 

There is a comment above suggesting situating anemone first, or the fish may get excited and drag the anemone around and kill it...

 

He's correct. I mean, there's a chance with everything as well though.

Your tank raised clowns might even ignore the anemone all together. It's not a 100% the anemones will host the clowns.

 

I get that they may not interact. That's OK as long as everything is in good health.

I think I might trust my gut and add fish after cycling, then after a few months add anemone and coral.

 

Also, your clowns might not get along too. Depending if you get them paired or not. I took the chance to get my clowns separately and they've been inseparable.

So definitely play it by ear too. As long as you are tentative to the tank all should be okay.

 

They'll be paired, I don't like playing the guessing game. Learned that lesson the hard way a few times with angels. Luckily for me I know a breeder locally and he'll provide them.

How about live rock? That's one of the things I'm definitely not confident about...

 

I like live rocks personally and find it interesting and fun with everything that comes with it. As long as you are patient and don't mind dealing with any of the bad things that comes with it you should be good. I didn't get anything too bad except a little Astrea starfish and bristleworm.

Remember, hitchhikers can also come from coral frags too. Dips arnt full-proof.

 

OK, so I got the thumbs up from the Mrs. I'm going to start acquiring equipment tomorrow for the bowfront.

I'm super interested in bubble tip anemone. I'm curious how the anemone are when kept with coral. I've been cautioned that anemone stings can kill coral. Do bubble tips tend to cause issues? If it's a bad idea, can any coral be kept that will "fake out" clownfish?

Are there any coral that have a bit more wow factor (different movement, expansion contraction, vibrant colors)?

 

Didn't see anything about a skimmer. Do you plan on using one?

Yes bubble tips can kill coral if they get close enough to sting them. Anemones can cause issues if they decide to walk around the tank stinging stuff. Never seen a huge issue though.

As for different corals research soft corals and lps coral. I've always loved torch corals for their movement.

 

I'm under the impression that an HOB negates the need for a skimmer, is this not the case? Since I'm not running a sump would one of those canister filter skimmers be ideal?

 

There's HOB Skimmers that would do the trick- Aquamaxx makes great HOB Skimmers, and if you get the biocube, it should fit in the back compartment easily.

 

I've actually decided to move forward with the 36 bowfront. I do have a spare sun sun canister that I'd be willing to convert the skimmer to if it'll be better for O2 and overall performance.

I'll be heading to the LFS today to scope out some coral, live rock, etc, to see what catches my eye. I definitely want xenia, and a bubble coral. Also interested in a bubble tip anemone. Any other suggestions for impressive coral? Google s can only provide so much...

 

I think you might be talking about two different kinds of skimming. There's surface skimming and protein skimming. Getting a HOB filter will not protein skI'm unless you install protein skimmer that will fit in the hob. There's also an option to fit a surface skimmer to the intake of the HOB.

 

I guess it is very possible that I am... I'm thinking of one of these for the canister:


Along with a standard HOB with bio and floss media. Is that a good approach?

 

Oh okay. That will skI'm protein.

Just a reminder if you use floss you will have to change it at least once a week if not more.

 

Have you decided on a light yet? LED? T5's? Other? Depends on the light, it will help determine which corals will do best. Corals can always be added later on if you need to save up for a good light. Anenomes require high light.

After your cycle and you start to see diatoms, you can start adding your CUC.. snails and crabs (reefcleaners.org is excellent for bulk and cheaper CUC, they have packages for almost all tank sizes for easy choosing). Once you see they're doing well, you can add the clowns and/or shrimps if you want.

 

Yes, a pair of kessil a80 tuna blues, and another led hood (haven't decided on that yet).

I have a pretty impressive selection of Saltwater everything locally.

 

Very nice selection. I'm a bit jealous

 

Believe it or not, that is one of 3 huge coral displays. I can pretty much buy any coral ever. They also have about 15 varieties of locally bred clownfish.

 

Believe it or not, that is one of 3 huge coral displays. I can pretty much buy any coral ever. They also have about 15 varieties of locally bred clownfish.

Love the purple torch with green tips in the first pic! I'd put that next to a gold torch if I had the opportunity

 

That was the 1st one I picked out. It was impressive, and pretty big. They had a bunch of frags too, so I'd probably get one of those to make sure it'll work in my tank.

 

I do miss my torches. Probably get a couple once the new tanks are done

 

I personally like frags.

1) to see if they will work with your tank
2) it's very rewarding to see them thrive

 

Agreed. There may be a few that I go for a colony, but I'm a big fan of watching a tank progress from new. That and the frags are significantly less expensive!

 

Yeah. Like wayyyyyyyy cheaper. Gives me the ability to get a good mix of frags

 

Is a sump out of the question? You could put like a 20 long under the 38 ... it will give you more water to help stabilize parameters and space for all of your stuff like thermometer, skimmer, more live rock ... you don't have to have a drilled tank to use a sump either ...

I have had good luck with some less expensive power heads so far. I have 2 koralias and they have both crapped out. The ones I'm currently using are Sun sun and Jebao. The Jebao is a wavemaker and has settings you can pulse or ramp up and down or whatever. It's quite customizable. They have different levels of output too. Got it on amazon.

As far as rock, I personally would get mostly dry rock as it will be quite a bit cheaper, then get a few pieces of live rock to seed the tank and get your cycle going ... but keep in mind, you'll have some die off through the cycle. I believe a bottle of Biospira is good for helping to kick start the cycle. You'll need at least a pound per gallon of live rock. I personally have a bag of Matrix in my sump area too just for extra filtration.

I'm no expert on lighting. Looking and trying to decide myself. I've been looking at the AI Hydras, but they are so dang expensive!

I've heard the BiminI pink sand is great. I plan to use that in my 75 when I set it up. You don't want the fine sugar sand as it is more likely to blow around in the current.

 

Thanks LJC6780. Sump is a no go, even with an overflow. It'll be placed in a recess on a granite counter top. Not completely impossible, but I don't want to drill the granite, or run hoses all over.

There are some good deals on sun sun wave makers on Amazon. Would two 800gph wave makers provide ample movement?

I believe I've found my lighting. I'll be using the two kessils, and a current USA orbit marine.

The BiminI pink has been suggested a few times as a great substrate. Its definitely on the top of my list now.