FO 75 Gallon w/ Fuzzy Dwarf and Other Fish

[seagem]

Here is a list of what I have:

1 juvenile Fuzzy Dwarf Lionfish
1 pair Maroon clowns (female was wild-caught and male is CB)
1 Yellow Coris Wrasse
1 Yellow-tailed Blue Damselfish
1 Javanese Neon Damselfish
1 Lawnmower Blenny

75 gallon Aqueon tank (not drilled)
Fluval 405 filter
250 watt Visi-therm heater
150 watt Theo Stealth heater
1 single strip 48" Flourescent light
(will be getting some of the Current brand LED moonlights in the futurefor some nighttime viewing)

Saltwater is mixed using distilled water and Oceanic Instant Salt Mix
Salinity 1.026
Temp 78F
have not tested the other water parameters yet

Substrate will be coral sand, at least 100 lbs
will be adding some dead rock and about 20 lbs of live rock

I already have the fish. They have been living in two different tanks, a 40 Breeder and a 29 gallon. Planning on putting all of them (except maybe for one of the damselfish) in the 75g to cut down on the number of tanks in the house. I currently have six running and the 75 makes seven.

These are my questions:

1) I was thinking of adding a couple of Koralia 2 pumps for some flow. How much flow do I really need with a FO tank? I am not planning on adding any coral.

2) Is the salinity level okay for fish only?

3) The 40B holds about 70 lbs of the coral sand right now. Problem is there is an aipstasia and bubble algae presence in the 40B. Should I ditch the approximately 20 lbs of LR and coral sand and start fresh with the 75g?

No, I don't have a skimmer because the seaclown that I have is too noisy and a new one is currently not in the budget. I realize that some of you will probably say that it's too many fish for the 75, but I am not getting rid of any of them. I already have the fish, most of them for a while. I really would just like to make things a little simpler so I could take better care of the fish I already have. So, suggestions and answers to my questions would be much appreciated.

 

[seagem]

Hello? Some help please? Thanks!

 

[fatboyt123]

You use the 2's that would be fine for a FO. I myself dont think you have to many fish with them almost all being damsels. I would start fresh or you could just cook the rock and put the sand in there

 

[seagem]

Hey, thanks for the response, Fatboy! I was thinking, what does he mean, mostly damsels? Forgot about the Maroon clowns being damselfish, too! So two K2s in addition to the flow from the Fluval 405 is not too much flow?

 

[fatboyt123]

I dont belive a clownfish is a damsel fish. I guess you only have 2 damsels then dont you. I still dont think you have to many fish. I dont think 2 k's would be to much

 

[reedman]

These are my questions:

1) I was thinking of adding a couple of Koralia 2 pumps for some flow. How much flow do I really need with a FO tank? I am not planning on adding any coral.

for FO tanks flow isn't as critical. It really comes down to how you want to handle maintenance. If you don't mind vacuuming out detritus then flow is not really important in a FO. Personally I would want some reasonable flow (what you are proposing might work depending on the aquascape) to keep detritus moving. That said, the lion isn't going to like flow so you should probably keep it to a minimum.

2) Is the salinity level okay for fish only?

This shouldn't be a problem, though you could drop it a bit and it would probably be better for the fish.

3) The 40B holds about 70 lbs of the coral sand right now. Problem is there is an aipstasia and bubble algae presence in the 40B. Should I ditch the approximately 20 lbs of LR and coral sand and start fresh with the 75g?

Couple of choices here. (1) clean the rock (boil or acid bath or vinegar bath etc.), (2) toss it and don't look back, (3) find some inverts/fish that will take care of the problems (emerald crabs, double saddleback butterflyfish), (4) get a syringe and start zapping those aiptasia

Good luck, though I would keep that lion fed well or it might start looking at the other fish as a snack. With a FO a good canister filter and maintenance schedule can get you a long way toward a healthy tank. Nitrate and PO4 won't hurt the fish until they get into higher concentrations and if there is no strong lighting algae won't grow nearly as fast. Finally you should be able to keep the temps a little lower which will also inhibit algae growth a bit.

 

[seagem]

What should be my target salinity level? Also, I had been doing pretty well at keeping the aipstasia under control but I ran out of Aisptasia X. I'd like to make my own mix since I've heard that said product is just kalkwasser paste. What's the recipe for a homemade anti-aipstasia paste?

 

[sunny_mittu]

YEAH remove 3 fishes buddy

if want them happy

drop salinity to 1.21 as you dont have any filter feeders ....

fishes stay healthy in less salinity if fish only..increse salinity when you add few inverts

last but not least REDUCE TEMP TO 75 IF YOU DONT WANT YOUR FISH TO FIGHT

and bubble algae means you have green algae

not healthy for these many fishes ...usefull for damshels

i would suggest use your 40b as a refugium more better...dont touch the sand

DONT USE koralia use 2 wavemakers ...best

and again saying use 40b as refugium fill it up with dead rocks use all live rocks in other tank

remove 3 fishes if :
1:scacthing
2:not coming out
3:not kissing rocks:
shine on skin has gone(use planktonic food)

best of luck

 

[seagem]

I'm sorry Sunny Mitu but I am not inclined to take advice from someone who wants to dump more than a hundred fish in an 80 gallon tank....

 

[seagem]

Wow, bummer.... tank was almost done cycling and last weekend I had to tear it down. A water pipe in the ceiling above had a leak. So the tank had to be emptied out and moved. Sigh... all that hard work lugging those gallon distilled water jugs...

 

[Chichas01]

I'm sorry Sunny Mitu but I am not inclined to take advice from someone who wants to dump more than a hundred fish in an 80 gallon tank....

OH! PWNED!:lol::lol:

 

[Chichas01]

On another note. Are you worried that lion fish will start snackin' on the other fishies at some point? Never owned one, but I hear if it fits in their mouth, they eat it.

 

[returnofsid]

Just a note, Fatboy, clownfish are actually of the damsel family, so you had it right before, with most of the fish being Damsels.

In a fish only system, some would say to drop the salinity lower. I wouldn't do this. My reasoning is that most fish that you buy, have been kept at either NSW, or 1.025. Acclimation will become an issue if you drop your tank to 1.023. However, dropping to a slightly lower salinity will lessen stress on fish.

2 K2s will be good flow for a fish only system.

I would also consider a large canister filter.

No need for a Protein Skimmer in a FO system.

 

[bigblue141]

You can drop your salinity a lot for a FO tank.

As for your Koralia 2's, I would put them on oppisite sides of the tank and point them towards each other and use them to keep the surface of the water broken up.

I would be more inclined to use crushed aragonite rather than crushed coral. The coral is too big and turns into a detritus trap. The aragonite also provides some additional buffering properties for your tank.

Your lion will get big enough that he may see your damsels as food in the near furture. Your Maroons should be okay as they can get aggressive as they mature.

As for your rock, I would just inject them with aptasia X and keep them in your tank when you get it set back up. If you shop around on CL and keep an eye open on the forum, you should be able to get all live rock for your tank for about the same price as using "dead" rock and waiting for it to get seeded.

Hope your water pipe gets fixed soon and you're able to get your tank spun up again.