Your current Fish tank Setups!

I think that's what I'm going to have to do.
Thankfully there's a spotless water near me, went to grab some water just now. £2.50 to fill up 2x25l jerry cans, so not bad.

Not sure what I'm gonna do with this RODI system, I don't want to throw more money at it by buying a booster pump.
Hopefully I can return it, or I'll just have to try to flog it 2nd hand.

Bit of luck, tomorrow I'll finally get this tank filled and cycling.
 
b0rn2sk8 said:
I found a booster pump was pretty much a requirement when I did RODI
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Guess I got lucky in my old house, but nevermind, tanks pretty much setup now.

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Don't worry, I'm leaving the lights off while it cycles. :p
All I really need to do now is setup the ATO.
 
We setup our 240L tropical tank 3 years ago - can't believe it was so long ago already. Many fish have died along the way - some just seem destined to not live long :(

The Rainbow Shark my son bought on the 1st day is still alive and is about 6 inches long now - bottom middle in the first photo.
We also have a Bristle Nose Pleco which mostly lives in the pebble cave on left side - that's grown quite large too.


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We have another smaller tank just next to this one which houses a few blue cray fish

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Cycles been a bit slow, but yesterday ammonia finally dipped below 2ppm so I could dose some more "Dr Tims".

Had a mare of a time with my filters though, couldn't stand the HOB I had, too noisy. Ordered a Seachem Tidal 35 as a replacement, slightly better, but still annoying. Ordered another Tidal 35 and had the same problem. Pumps fine if it's outside of the unit, but as soon as you put it back into it's slight, it makes a horrible vibrating noise. So going to send that back too.

At this point I'm looking into a small canister filter, or maybe no filter at all...
 
DEL 707 said:
Cycles been a bit slow, but yesterday ammonia finally dipped below 2ppm so I could dose some more "Dr Tims".

Had a mare of a time with my filters though, couldn't stand the HOB I had, too noisy. Ordered a Seachem Tidal 35 as a replacement, slightly better, but still annoying. Ordered another Tidal 35 and had the same problem. Pumps fine if it's outside of the unit, but as soon as you put it back into it's slight, it makes a horrible vibrating noise. So going to send that back too.

At this point I'm looking into a small canister filter, or maybe no filter at all...
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We run no filter. Skimmer does what is needed. I think we have a bag of porous rocks in the filter housing that act as a natural bio filter, but no physical floss filter anymore.
 
Going to DIY a protien skimmer for my pond. I’m hoping to will help reduce the DOC nitrogen load too. I have some ideas but freshwater skimmers have to work harder than saltwater.
 
DEL 707 said:
Would run a HOB skimmer, but I remember my old MCE 600 from back in the day, those things aren't silent. :p

Think I'm gonna try Fluval's 107 cannister filter.
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It’s not the quietest thing in the world, but it’s not overly noisy either, depends where you are keeping the tank.

Our terrapins are really active now and we seem to have nailed the feedings with very little left behind at the end. They definitely love bloodworms!


Our reef tank has taken a bit of a battering in the heat. There are pros and cons to this. I think the stress has caused the anemone to split, great, but it’s also finished off our hammer that I think had an infection. Can’t win them all. Fish are all fine at least.
 
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Cycle seems to have stalled, ammonias falling to basically zero and nitrites are still off the chart, going to do a big water change and see if that helps.

In the mean time I could do with some stocking suggestions. Tanks 56l.

For equiptment, I have -
  • Fluval 107 Canister Filter
  • AI Nero 3
  • AI Blade Coral Grow 21"

Fish wise, I was looking at a Royal Gramma, Blue Neon Goby or maybe a Firefish.
There are so many different gobies and blennies out there, it's hard to chose.
Realistically with my size tank, am I looking at a single fish?

Shrimp, I was looking at 1 or maybe 2 cleaner shrimp?
Maybe a blood shrimp?

For corals, 1st up I was looking at Green Star Polyps. I've read they can be a bit of a "weed", so I'm trying to figure out a spot where they won't take over 1/2 the tank.
Pulsing Xenia, similar problem.
Zoanthids.
Maybe a Toadstool coral, something to reach up from the rock.
Would really like to try a Hammer Coral.
And while not a coral, I would like to have a Rock Flower Anemone or 2.

I greatly appreciate all suggestions and opinions.
 
DEL 707 said:
Cycle seems to have stalled, ammonias falling to basically zero and nitrites are still off the chart, going to do a big water change and see if that helps.

In the mean time I could do with some stocking suggestions. Tanks 56l.

For equiptment, I have -
  • Fluval 107 Canister Filter
  • AI Nero 3
  • AI Blade Coral Grow 21"

Fish wise, I was looking at a Royal Gramma, Blue Neon Goby or maybe a Firefish.
There are so many different gobies and blennies out there, it's hard to chose.
Realistically with my size tank, am I looking at a single fish?

Shrimp, I was looking at 1 or maybe 2 cleaner shrimp?
Maybe a blood shrimp?

For corals, 1st up I was looking at Green Star Polyps. I've read they can be a bit of a "weed", so I'm trying to figure out a spot where they won't take over 1/2 the tank.
Pulsing Xenia, similar problem.
Zoanthids.
Maybe a Toadstool coral, something to reach up from the rock.
Would really like to try a Hammer Coral.
And while not a coral, I would like to have a Rock Flower Anemone or 2.

I greatly appreciate all suggestions and opinions.
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Clown fish are the go to for cycling. We also added a fire fish with them. Our Orange Spotted Goby is great for cleaning the sand, but risky to add early. Our fire fish didn’t like many of our later additions sadly and died. We also had no luck with royal grammas which is a shame because I love those fish. I think our Bangaii Cardinal was an early addition too. We later added a Regal Tang and Blue Star Damels.

GSP is easy and really pretty imo, but keep it on an island. We also added that along with Xenia in the beginning. Xenia grew quickly and seeded to a couple of places, but easy to keep in check. Our toadstool was another first and is still thriving. Zoas are cool, especially those that stay as a clump. Our hammer and torch were stunning, gutted they recently died. Our anemone is thriving and has split into 3 now. Our Organ Coral is thriving. I also like Scolys and ours have been easy to keep. We also have a few different types of mushrooms, mostly on islands.

Cleaner shrimp, turbo snails and blue hermits are all great cleanup crew. We also have lots of Brittle Stars.

It’s not looking quite this good at the moment, but these were the last pics I took:



 
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DEL 707 said:
Cycle seems to have stalled, ammonias falling to basically zero and nitrites are still off the chart, going to do a big water change and see if that helps.

In the mean time I could do with some stocking suggestions. Tanks 56l.

For equiptment, I have -
  • Fluval 107 Canister Filter
  • AI Nero 3
  • AI Blade Coral Grow 21"

Fish wise, I was looking at a Royal Gramma, Blue Neon Goby or maybe a Firefish.
There are so many different gobies and blennies out there, it's hard to chose.
Realistically with my size tank, am I looking at a single fish?

Shrimp, I was looking at 1 or maybe 2 cleaner shrimp?
Maybe a blood shrimp?

For corals, 1st up I was looking at Green Star Polyps. I've read they can be a bit of a "weed", so I'm trying to figure out a spot where they won't take over 1/2 the tank.
Pulsing Xenia, similar problem.
Zoanthids.
Maybe a Toadstool coral, something to reach up from the rock.
Would really like to try a Hammer Coral.
And while not a coral, I would like to have a Rock Flower Anemone or 2.

I greatly appreciate all suggestions and opinions.
Click to expand...

I think you could go with a single clown and a goby. Or possibly a pair of clowns but might find yourself needing to upgrade eventually. A firefish would be a good choice, they can be shy though. I'd probably stay away from blennies because most of them get pretty big and can be a bit aggro. There are some other quite interesting options like pygmy wrasse and cardinals. For gobies you have a pretty wide choice and have the options of a shrimp + goby pair which is really cool. Clown gobies are nice and like to perch out on your rock. Just stay away from sand sifters imo. Don't touch dragonets unless you're prepared to feed many times a day and/or culture copepods.

Cleaner shrimp are always good additions. Sexy shrimp are fun and will live on any rock flower nem you add but I know some people say they nibble coral.

For corals I'd definitely be looking to make a multicoloured zoa garden in that size tank! You can also try things like ricordea and various kinds of mushrooms. Personally I would stay away from GSP and Xenia unless you're prepared to have a tank full of it. Clove polyps look quite similar to xenia but I believe are a bit easier to control (no personal experience though).

For hammers, torches etc you'll need to be a lot more careful with your water chemistry since they need stable levels of alk, calcium among others. Definitely possible but I'd leave it a good while before you attempt them. Anemones will be somewhat similar, maybe a little easier.

You'll want some kind of cleanup crew - think snails, hermits and possibly an urchin further down the line. Tiny red and blue legged hermits will work. For snails a couple of nassarius and/or cerith to get into the sand and then maybe a trochus or two. Possibly something interesting like a money cowrie also. Wait until your cycle is done and you start seeing a little big of algae before you add cleanup crew and don't add them all at once or you'll end up starving them.
 
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