Help me plan CWU display tanks

[BlennyBabe]

Hello everyone. Im in charge of the display tanks in the lobby of the science building at Central Washington University. They are 300 gallon with two 75s plumbed into a common 100 gallon sump. Thats a total of 550 gallons.
The 300 gallon was converted from a cold water tank to a softcoral dominated reef. I would like to do something cool in the two 75s. What would you do? Keep in mind I do have a pretty tight budget, so a lot of things are out of the question.

 

[BlennyBabe]

Remember, I can do two of these.

 

[mojoreef]

What do you have for equipment and stuff??

Mike

 

[Steven Pro]

The poll would not let you vote for two, but I would have chosen a Seahorse tank with reduced flow and lots of macro algae and Lagoon with bangai cardinals, urchins, mangroves.

 

[domino]

an anemone tank would be cool.

 

[Ed Hahn]

I like a combination of all three. A large Softie tank, a 75 full of SPS and LPS, A 75 with Mangroves and Seahorses and hopefully full of lots of little critters. My concern is if the Softies did stress how it would affect SPS and LPS. I wish you the best of Luck.
It sounds like a fun project to me.
Ed

 

[RockyHeap]

Go low maintenance and aim for a very stable system..........especially for public display, you want bullet proof.

Rah Rah, I'm a Central Wildcat grad myself.

 

[Wolfesbane]

I would have to nix the seahorse tank idea, unless you want to do two seahorse tanks. Even the tropical species do best in waters that are about 74 degrees and no higher than 76. Reefs and the other tank options that you've mentioned tend to be in the 78-80 range. Also, since you're on a limited budget, stocking a seahorse tank would be on the costly side. CB horses generally run in the $65-$70 (and more) range per animal. I vote for the agressive tank and/or lagoon.

~ Steve

 

[BlennyBabe]

I forgot about the temp problem with seahorses. Thanks for the reminder. Im thinking that the predator tank will be the most foolproof. Im not going to be here more than two years and someone will inherit the care of this tank when I go. The predator tank would be the cheapest to set up. No special lights and I already have some liferock. Basically all I need is the fish.

 

[Angelscrx]

The poll would not let you vote for two, but I would have chosen a Seahorse tank with reduced flow and lots of macro algae and Lagoon with bangai cardinals, urchins, mangroves.

I agree with this suggestion. I think that would be awesome but I see where the temps would be a problem. Too bad, maybe go to two aggressive tanks with one having lion fish and the other eels.

 

[BCT182]

A tank with a lion and and puffer would be cool. You could even add an eel. Or drop the puffer and get a couple lions and an eel. Then you could still have a few feather dusters and some button polyps. Maybe a red and black lion. When people find out lions are venomous, they usually really interested.
Brett

 

[BlennyBabe]

Yeah I was thinkning about an eel, a puffer (dogface or porcupine) and a large lion. I havent really done much research yet on what exactly is compatible or could live comfortable in a 75. Time to pull out the books...

 

[wrightme43]

Moray Eels are the Coolest. Everybody even people who dont like things that look like snakes cant help but stare at them. I have a zebra moray. I love him. It is so cool to watch him. I think a predetor tank and a ricordia/zoo tank would be the way to go. you can get 10 packs of rics and zoos. and just let them spread. Just my 2 cents. sometimes its even worth 2 cents. Ha ha. Steve