Aquariums

i would like to get a salt water tank into my home office. what websites do you guys recommend for a newby?

 

Full reef. I'm setting up a dual sump system in the fish room behind it, two large outdoor chillers, large rack of halides and vhos that retract UP out of the way to access the tank, etc... I want to grow some gigas clams to the size they reach in the wild; 3-4 feet.

 

Reef central is a great forum that you can search for days for any information you might want. Before taking the plunge, I'd buy some books on saltwater/reef tanks and read read read! Better that way that learning with money.

 

Our fish tank pales in comparison the pics earlier in the thread. Just a 40 gallon with three feeder goldfish that started out 2" long each and they're all now 6" or more. Had them for several years and have big appetites. We feed them koi pellets 2x/day.

 

What kind of fish will you have? Are you getting it serviced (clean, tested, ect.) or will you do it yourself?

 

That looks great! I want to have an aquarium like that some day

 

Me too. If money was no object, I would have a two or three huge aquariums (3,000+ each) in my house. One for a shark tank and a saltwater one.

It's tough when it comes to saltwater because you got make sure you have the right fish community. You have to be careful in what fish you mix.

 

I have a 55 gallon saltwater aquarium in my son's room with two clowns, a blue tang hippo, butterfly fish, royal gramma basslet, flame angel, two scarlet skunk cleaner shrimp, one blood red fire shrimp, and 2 green chromis. I also have a 100 gallon freshwater in my dining area with 36 assorted African Cichlids, 60 lbs of holy rock, and 130 lbs of limestone white and black. Each aquarium runs a Fluval 405 filter as well as two koralia #4's on the 55 tank.

Hopefully when I buy my house next year I'll be able to get a 240 salt setup. I found a nice looking new dimension 300 gallon, but not sure how the dimensions would fit pending the home layout.

 

I do it all myself. The fish don't really concern me, as I'm more focused on growing some large3 clams and coral colonies. I really want to replicate a section of reef with the coral colonies reaching the sizes they do in the wild. I plan on having some open sand area so the fish can shoal between the reefs, so to speak.

Like you said above, what fish I choose is limited because of the corals and clams; I don't want them eating the reef! I mainly plan on mostly tangs (going to get some of the larger ones, like Unicorn Tangs) as well as a lot of smaller, bright colored fish (Yellow tail damsels, orchid dotty backs, etc...), large school of anthias, etc... I would love to keep some of the prettier angelfish, but I've had way too many decide to start nipping at corals and clams, even after they've been in the tank for a few years. And this is with some of the so-called reef-safe angels like flames and coral beauties.


Here are some pics of the tank as it was being constructed, then complete, ready to ship. Also, the slab for the fish room before the concrete was laid down.
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Also, the tank at my house was broken down a few months ago as my return pump failed, and rather than repair it, I took the tank down, knowing I was going to have to do it in the next year anyway. I managed to get most of the livestock up to my office tank and all made the move well. It's a 240 gallon in wall reef in the lobby of my waiting room:
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VERY NICE! Looking forward to seeing it come together. Are you a member on AquariaCentral.com or ReefCentral? I'd like to keep up with a progress thread if you've made one.

 

I am (or was, it's been 4-5 years since I posted) on ReefCentral, but haven't started a tank build thread there yet. I have a thread going on the Louisiana Reef club site though. I actually feared putting this up on RC due to the volume of people and me not being to keep up with posts!

 

wow, thats beautiful!

 

Don't have to limit the number of angelfish in a tank due to their aggressiveness? Of course, if it is a bigger tank, it makes it easier.

 

For the pygmy angels, I've done quite well with 3 at a time in a 240 gallon IF they go in at the same time. Introduce one after a fish is established, and they won't get along. With really big tanks like this one, I don't think I'd have anything to worry about with large OR small ones, unless I did something silly like stocking 40 large angels or something. But, I'm more worried about them making a meal of the even more expensive coral colonies and clams!

 

Looks awesome DMaury.

I have a 100-gal hex tank at the office, nothing in it just now... It was freshwater but I have been thinking of re-doing it as a saltwater tank and just putting a Volitans in it or maybe a puffer or maybe some seahorses.

I'd just have to get someone in to maintain it, I don't have the time

 

They key is introduce fish at the same time? I saw on RC that a guy had a 240 gallon tank that had 20-some clownfish (Nemo) and 20-some anemonies.

 

Used to have two 135 gallon and one 75 gallon freshwaters. All were stocked with various varieties of cichlids from the different lakes in Africa. Used to grow Tilapia in one before thay became fashionable food. I can't believe people eat those fish.

 

I too have had better luck introducing a couple fish at a time. If not possible, then I would turn off all the lights and rescape the tank so the fish would have to re-establish their territories. But this method is a lot easier for me since I don't have corals, but only live rock to adjust.

 

I wouldn't go for the seahorses, they are pretty finicky. I had a nice 72 gallon bowfront saltwater tank in my office for about three years. The best fish were the firefish, Yellow tang, and some clowns. Lots of corals, I got them from Blaine Peruns "Farm of the seas" on the internet. Frags for $14 or so grow to a good size within about a year or so, love the pulsing Xenia... I farmed a bunch for friends with aquariums.

BT