gp2
10/24/2010, 11:55 PM
Sorry about the length. Some quick background. I have about 30 years experience in fishkeeping, have bred many kinds of freshwater fish, had a large fishroom and managed several pet stores (many years ago), ...but I have not had an actual salt tank since the early to mid 80's. I got out of saltwater because I felt it was an environmental crime at the time especially with the kind of losses we were experiencing at a commercial level. IME almost all of the fish collected then were cyanided. Anyways, on to my post.
My beloved lungfish died after 20 years and the wife suggested a salt tank. Sweet I say! Couple of weeks of shopping and I find a beauty of a tank on CL. Guy is getting out of the hobby, tank is mature, will help break it down fill it back up with the same water, rocks, sand, fish, etc.. Good to go. Tank is 36" long 54 maybe 65 gallon, something like that. Tank has a HUGE anemone with a HUGE clown fish, 3 large adult tangs: Hippo, red sea sailfin, and purple, some small wrasses, various corals (mostly soft), filled with LR, and a small cleanup crew. It does have a 15 gallon sump, decent protein skimmer, and a good light fixture (4 T5 with 250 watt MH x2.) OK, maybe 2 weeks later go to the LFS, wife wants more fish:thumbdown. Spend about an hour talking to the guys, buy a book and a good set of test kits along with some fish (coral beauty, a goby that carpet surfed and a small wrasse.) Oh, at this point I have never heard of a QT by the way.
Weird, nitrates are off the chart. Start doing water changes. Go buy a RODI unit which the book (the conscientious marine aquariust) suggests. At this point, I am starting to realize how utterly screwed I am (or more correctly my fish are.) At this point I find this forum, start doing massive water changes (50% every 2-3 days), stop sleeping all that much, and am now learning that marine ich is nowhere near the benign disease that freshwater ich is. I cannot get the nitrates to go down one iota and now ammonia is starting to register. set up a 65 gallon tank (corner bow front type) and start hypo in it. In goes the snow covered hipo and purple tang and the coral beauty. The other fish look OK. Build a refugium and continue massive water changes. Nitrates start dropping and then go to zero. Tangs clear up and are eating like pigs, but the coral beauty dies:(
So cannot have this continue, find a 4x3x2' cube (about 200 gallon) with great equipment on the forums and buy it/set it up. So 2 months later I have 3 tanks LOL. Now my question is about the tangs: What would you do and why? I like the sailfin, wife likes the hipo. However I am open to almost any solution. I could put 1,2 or all 3 in the large DT. Would prefer to sell at least 1 and keep my bioload down as much as possible. My understanding is that tangs essentially have the highest bioload of the commonly kept species. Part of me wants to sell all 3, once I am sure they are in as good as shape as I can make them. Otherwise I will move the hipo and purple into the 200 gallon when they clear hypo and start the rest of the fish in hypo from the smaller tank.
Thanks in advance for reading my late night ramblings:spin2:
My beloved lungfish died after 20 years and the wife suggested a salt tank. Sweet I say! Couple of weeks of shopping and I find a beauty of a tank on CL. Guy is getting out of the hobby, tank is mature, will help break it down fill it back up with the same water, rocks, sand, fish, etc.. Good to go. Tank is 36" long 54 maybe 65 gallon, something like that. Tank has a HUGE anemone with a HUGE clown fish, 3 large adult tangs: Hippo, red sea sailfin, and purple, some small wrasses, various corals (mostly soft), filled with LR, and a small cleanup crew. It does have a 15 gallon sump, decent protein skimmer, and a good light fixture (4 T5 with 250 watt MH x2.) OK, maybe 2 weeks later go to the LFS, wife wants more fish:thumbdown. Spend about an hour talking to the guys, buy a book and a good set of test kits along with some fish (coral beauty, a goby that carpet surfed and a small wrasse.) Oh, at this point I have never heard of a QT by the way.
Weird, nitrates are off the chart. Start doing water changes. Go buy a RODI unit which the book (the conscientious marine aquariust) suggests. At this point, I am starting to realize how utterly screwed I am (or more correctly my fish are.) At this point I find this forum, start doing massive water changes (50% every 2-3 days), stop sleeping all that much, and am now learning that marine ich is nowhere near the benign disease that freshwater ich is. I cannot get the nitrates to go down one iota and now ammonia is starting to register. set up a 65 gallon tank (corner bow front type) and start hypo in it. In goes the snow covered hipo and purple tang and the coral beauty. The other fish look OK. Build a refugium and continue massive water changes. Nitrates start dropping and then go to zero. Tangs clear up and are eating like pigs, but the coral beauty dies:(
So cannot have this continue, find a 4x3x2' cube (about 200 gallon) with great equipment on the forums and buy it/set it up. So 2 months later I have 3 tanks LOL. Now my question is about the tangs: What would you do and why? I like the sailfin, wife likes the hipo. However I am open to almost any solution. I could put 1,2 or all 3 in the large DT. Would prefer to sell at least 1 and keep my bioload down as much as possible. My understanding is that tangs essentially have the highest bioload of the commonly kept species. Part of me wants to sell all 3, once I am sure they are in as good as shape as I can make them. Otherwise I will move the hipo and purple into the 200 gallon when they clear hypo and start the rest of the fish in hypo from the smaller tank.
Thanks in advance for reading my late night ramblings:spin2: