all new set-up

[iplaydafoozball]

well, yesterday i took a trip to my lfs with my parents so that they would see how much it would cost to keep a reef tank. after they finally admitted that it would cost more then they thought (which initially my mom was told that we could just add saltwater, filter, heater, and fish...go figure, she bought the tank from wal-mart), they decided they would pitch in a little bit for equipment seeing that i will be transferring to florida next year for school and the tank will be shared between myself and them.

anyway, i got the run down from the owner of the store and sometime this week i will be up there to buy the equipment he has on hold for me. this is all for my 46 gallon bowfront btw. he has a 4.5 gallon HOB refugium with pump, skimmer, and lighting so that i can house some macroalgae in there along with growing pods. there is a zoo of pods in the algae at the store. aside from that, i am going to buy a wavemaker system with alternating pumps for wave action. 200-watt heater placed in the sump also. 2 bags of live sand, probably about 50 pounds of liverock for now, and when it is time for coral, i will be getting a 192-watt double-bulb CP lamp.

i was just wondering if i was missing out on anything, or if anyone has any suggestions on the things i am currently planning on getting.

also, i would like to know if anyone has good stocking suggestions for a 46 gallon reef. i'm planning on getting 2 percula clowns, a sand-sifter goby, some cool crabs and a shrimp, stars, cleaner crew, but then i don't know what other fish. i probably just need to browse at stuff. maybe like a firefish or 2, a six-lined wrasse, either a pacific blue tang or a dwarf angel, or a scooter blenny or mandarin. recommendations are welcome! thanks!

 

[CAPSLOCK]

Sounds like a good equipment list. You probably want to add a good SW book to the list, if you don't already have one.

I've heard from people on here that their sixline wrasses either are very aggressive towards other fish or towards the mobile inverts. Personally, I'd suggest one of the fairy wrasses, they are awesome: Peaceful, reef safe, very colorful, many colors available, easy to keep. They are jumpers though (but then again, so are firefish). A blue tang will get too big for a 46g, a dwarf angel would be fine and they are awesome fish. I know you have to be careful when adding them to a reef tank, but there are articles out there about adding them safely and picking a reef-compatible angel.

 

[iplaydafoozball]

thanks for the reply. i do have a SW book, so we could add that to the list. so six-line wrasse is now a maybe because of possible aggressiveness, i'll look into that more. the blue tang was an option because, yea, stupid, but my little sister wanted a "dory" lol. i'd rather have a dwarf angel, and with their brighter colors i'm sure i can convince her that one of those will do. is that ur dwarf angel in ur avatar? if so, what kind is it? i like it alot. i want a dwarf angel but not the average flame or coral beauty. i'd settle with one of those, but i like to be exotic if possible (and if prices are acceptable) lol

 

[TRe]

i would suggest staying away from most tangs with that tank as they like to swim and thats not much room.... also from my experiance i would say if theres even a slight chance it may be aggresive its prolly not a good idea in a reef tank...also that mandrin prolly isnt a good idea until the tanks been setup for a while.... a couple bangia cardinals would be nice, a pistol/shrimp goby pair would be cool .... if your running an open top be careful with firefish they like to jump besides that everything else sounds pretty good... remeber try to stay away from bigger fish ie. bigger fish = more waste = crappy water

 

[iplaydafoozball]

ok, so most tangs are a no. i'm ok with that. and i was actually at a couple fish stores tonight checking prices for live rock and saw some bangai and pajama cardinals and i really like them. i'm probably gonna get 1 or 2 of those, nice looking fish.

yea, there will be a glass top, so i won't have to worry about escape artists.

and i know that big fish = bad news for a smaller system. before i ever buy a fish, freshwater or saltwater, i go home and research what they need and how big they get. so i'm gonna make sure all the fish i get are good for my tank before buying.

what other small colorful fish are out there? like, firefish, chromis, clown, dwarf angel...any others i haven't mentioned that have escaped my mind for the moment?

 

[Lorna]

Bangaii Cardinal fish need to be kept in mated pairs or they will fight. They are very hard to sex at a young age also which makes pairing up difficult. I have two which I am not sure are male & female yet.......I guess once they lock jaws I will be able to tell then.......I am hoping they are male/female as I have had them 3 or 4 months and they are almost 2 inches in diameter so here is hoping...........

 

[CAPSLOCK]

The fish in my avatar is a blue ring angel (not mine) - it is not a dwarf angel or else I would have one because they're gorgeous. Check out liveaquaria.com for some different dwarf angelfish. I've got a pygmy dwarf angel, deep purple with a yellowish face. I got him/her because I'd only ever seen the one so I thought it was different.

The really small gobies are nice and peaceful (like clown or neon gobies) and they should get along with a sand-sifting goby (like would pair with a pistol shrimp). Check out the neon gobies, they're black with a really vivid blue or gold streak on their sides. They get along with each other and pretty much anything that won't eat them, and they're tank raised so they're hardy and eat anything.

 

[Lorna]

I have both a wheeler gobie/tiger pistol shrimp pair and a citron gobie along with a pygmy angel in my 20g. Everyone gets along and are never a bother.....interesting to boot.