Okay, so a local chiropractic clinic gave me a call at home yesterday. It turns out they have a SW tank that is in poor shape and heard that I'm into that sort of thing. I went down to meet with one of the chiropractors and talk about the situation, possible changes, etc. The wet/dry broke a few days ago and leaked, so they removed it and decided it was time to do something different with the tank.
It's been up and running since the early 90's, in the same form as when they bought it fromt he previous owner. I was told it was 110 gal in volume. It's acrylic, although I'm not sure of the exact dimensions (here's a pic: http://reefs.org/phpBB2/download.php?id=11258 ). It's got a single overflow in the back left corner, with a single return plumbed from that overflow. Substrate is large crushed coral, and the tank is decorated with what looks like large pieces of lava rock...covered in algae. Inhabitants are a few fish, ALL adult sizes: tomato clown, 3-stripe damsel, hippo tang, Chaetodontoplus melanosoma, and a French angel. This tank is cramped! The hippo has HLLE, but I'm sure that's mostly from poor water quality and diet.
I talked with one of the chiropractors for quite a while, and told him that ideally I would like to get rid of all the fish and start over. He would like to do a full blown reef tank, and didn't even flinch when I began dishing out prices for skimmer, halides, etc. This will be a work in progress and we plan to slowly change the system over. However, a few things that I would appreciate your input on:
1) He can pretty much do what he wants with all the fish in the tank (e.g. get rid of them)...except for the French angel. Evidently this has become sort of a mascot for the office. His father (who is in practice with him) might not be up for letting it go, and its the fish all the patients love the most. So, worst case scenario is that the French stays. My plan would be to then find homes for all the other fish in the tank and set it up catering to the French as much as possible. The tank is too small for it, but I would plan on opening it up as much as possible and create only some low-relief aquascaping with some LR. I suggested that instead of using a wet/dry (which they already ordered a new one...and they're trying to cancel the order) he should just stick a 55 gal tank under there and use that. My plan would then be to cram that with as much LR as possible.
Now, let's say we're dealing stricly with the French at this point. From all the reading and research I've done, they'll eat anything. So, this means that the LR will pretty much be picked clean. What about inverts like hermits and snails? Would cleaner shrimp be safe with it? I was thinking of maybe a small shoal/school of chromis to add some extra movement and color since no corals would be safe around it. If the angel has to stay in there, then I want as low a bioload as possible, but still make it visually interesting for the average joe who's sitting in the waiting room. I'm going to pose all this to him and see what he says.
Another aspect is the equipment. The two flourescent bulbs are being run by a (seemingly ancient) Coralife electronic ballast. I couldn't find any other information on the ballast, so I have no idea whether this is NO or VHO. Anyone familiar with Coralife's ballasts? Here's a pic: http://reefs.org/phpBB2/download.php?id=11259
Alright, that's about all I'll dump on you guys right now. I would appreciate any info you can provide.
It's been up and running since the early 90's, in the same form as when they bought it fromt he previous owner. I was told it was 110 gal in volume. It's acrylic, although I'm not sure of the exact dimensions (here's a pic: http://reefs.org/phpBB2/download.php?id=11258 ). It's got a single overflow in the back left corner, with a single return plumbed from that overflow. Substrate is large crushed coral, and the tank is decorated with what looks like large pieces of lava rock...covered in algae. Inhabitants are a few fish, ALL adult sizes: tomato clown, 3-stripe damsel, hippo tang, Chaetodontoplus melanosoma, and a French angel. This tank is cramped! The hippo has HLLE, but I'm sure that's mostly from poor water quality and diet.
I talked with one of the chiropractors for quite a while, and told him that ideally I would like to get rid of all the fish and start over. He would like to do a full blown reef tank, and didn't even flinch when I began dishing out prices for skimmer, halides, etc. This will be a work in progress and we plan to slowly change the system over. However, a few things that I would appreciate your input on:
1) He can pretty much do what he wants with all the fish in the tank (e.g. get rid of them)...except for the French angel. Evidently this has become sort of a mascot for the office. His father (who is in practice with him) might not be up for letting it go, and its the fish all the patients love the most. So, worst case scenario is that the French stays. My plan would be to then find homes for all the other fish in the tank and set it up catering to the French as much as possible. The tank is too small for it, but I would plan on opening it up as much as possible and create only some low-relief aquascaping with some LR. I suggested that instead of using a wet/dry (which they already ordered a new one...and they're trying to cancel the order) he should just stick a 55 gal tank under there and use that. My plan would then be to cram that with as much LR as possible.
Now, let's say we're dealing stricly with the French at this point. From all the reading and research I've done, they'll eat anything. So, this means that the LR will pretty much be picked clean. What about inverts like hermits and snails? Would cleaner shrimp be safe with it? I was thinking of maybe a small shoal/school of chromis to add some extra movement and color since no corals would be safe around it. If the angel has to stay in there, then I want as low a bioload as possible, but still make it visually interesting for the average joe who's sitting in the waiting room. I'm going to pose all this to him and see what he says.
Another aspect is the equipment. The two flourescent bulbs are being run by a (seemingly ancient) Coralife electronic ballast. I couldn't find any other information on the ballast, so I have no idea whether this is NO or VHO. Anyone familiar with Coralife's ballasts? Here's a pic: http://reefs.org/phpBB2/download.php?id=11259
Alright, that's about all I'll dump on you guys right now. I would appreciate any info you can provide.
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