Planning new 6ft tank built around a 'Volitan Lion'.

[Redhaze]

Hi chaps,

a mate of mine is planning the above as his first pop at Saltwater & would love as much feedback/suggestions as possible on his potential set-up so far?

His current thinking is as follows - 6ft tank with sump (I would persume about 130+ G) main occupant the fantastic Volitan Lion. Possible tanks mates so far - Tangs (Regal), Wrasses, Dwarf Angels (Flame), Groupers (Panther). Ocean Rock, heater, powerheads, Ro/DI unit.

Myself have a 55g Reef and no nothing regarding setting up a FOWLR (but in this case Ocean Rock). As well as a good skimmer would he need a filter also? Is a UV necessary? How many Powerheads? Would he need the skimmer?

I would think a tank this size going FOWLR would, pending correct equipment & not overstocking basically look's after itself? No LR, algae, hermits etc to worry about.

Any suggestions/help would be very much appreciated.

Thanks

[MCary]

Wrasses and dwarf angel could get eaten.

[nano_angel]

u need to get a 24" wide tank for a lion, they get 16" and need some room to roam and turn around

[beard]

hahaha no algae to worrie about good luck with that one! What is the tank going to be built with glass? Glass for a tank that size is not going to be cheap and building it his self is not going to save him money if that is one of the goals of the build. I agree with mcary! A fowlr tank is a tank with live rock not whatever ocean rock is he would have alot less mantinence to do if he would add live rock. It would also be a much healther tank! If there is no live rock and he plans on doing water changes he dosent need a skimmer. Hermits and snails will also cut down on the mantinence and are a good investment. Im thinking your friend needs to do some research before he jumps in the plans dont sound well thaught out to me. By the choices in fish Angels are not a beginer fish and a wrasse will become dinner for the lion if it is not very large. Also lions arnt for beginers not only because they are venomus but they are very slow swimmers and cant compeet for food with faster fish. just my opinion

[Redhaze]

Thanks for your opinions chaps but must admit I hold my hand up on a very poor description of his thinking in the first place (I'll put that down to too many beers last night) I just tried to get everything in, as brief as possible, one eyed & dribbling as I typed it. Anyway......

beardedclam - lol dont know what I was thinking regarding the 'no algae'....if only hey....pls see above! Myself have a 55g reef & definately know the benifits of LR as well as a suitable clean up crew. Agreed on the less maintenance & an alround healthier tank if he did go LR as well.

Mcary - agreed again. I did'nt actaully mean to write Flame Angel in particular (I was actually thinking of my tank lol) but what I did mean was larger angels in general. Understand also that Angels need plenty of LR as well as pristine water conditions & a very large tank. As far as wrasses are concerned I was really reffering to the med-large size type's Harlequin tusk, Moon, spanish hog etc etc.

I believe that money is no object with this project my mate will be starting. And (my fault again here) that a 6ft tank mentioned in original post would be the minimum size but no larger than 10ft. I have told him though for fish like this bigger tank the better. In fairness he has done alot of research on all lions & compatible tanks mates (Inc. some great threads/Q&A's here on RC).

As far as ocean Rock goes over the pod here in the UK Ocean Rock is basically stone type aquarium decor rock, base rock I suppose that's very popular here in large fish only/agressive tanks!

I do believe though LR is definately the way to go as all benifits stated above. But what about a crean up crew??? What with the lion eating any type of invert is it really a case of just adding more inverts on a regular basis if you keep a Lion????

Soz for any original confusion & Thanks again for your comments. Its very much aprreciated.

Regards