Beginner Tank, your thoughts ?

[Derude]

Hey Guys

Im new to the hobby but once had a tank of Cichlids back in the day so im not entirely new to fish. I know salt water is completely different and much harder im re searching like crazy before i start anything.

But i would like to show what i was thinking tank build wise for my beginner salt water tank, if you have any suggestions please feel free to help me out I would appreciate it.

Tank:
-Coralife Led BioCube Aquarium Starter Kit, Size 32

Filtration:
-Coralife BioCube Protein Skimmer
-inTank Coralife LED BioCube 32 Media Basket
In The Basket
-Bonded Blue & White Poly Filter Floss Pads
-Seachem Purigen 100ml
-Chemipure Elite for Aquarium

Other Accessories
-Cobalt Aquatics Neo-Therm Heater, 150 watt
-Hydor Koralia Nano 565 Circulation Pump for Aquariums, 565-GPH
-Coralife 5032 Digital Thermometer

What are your thoughts

 

[nautical_nathaniel]

First off, welcome to R2R!

Looking pretty good so far what sort of fish, critters, and corals are you potentially wanting to keep? That's an important thing to figure out before buying equipment.

 

[Crabs McJones]

Welcome to R2R!

#WelcometoR2R

List looks good so far make sure to post pictures. We love pictures

 

[Derude]

First off, welcome to R2R!

Looking pretty good so far what sort of fish, critters, and corals are you potentially wanting to keep? That's an important thing to figure out before buying equipment.

Im thinking something like the following

Fish
2 - Percula Clown's
1 or 2 - Regal Tang's
and maybe 1 or 2 bottom dwellers that will help clean

Coral
As per coral im still not sure, but i do know i want some in there. Maybe some Mushroms I find Euphyllia's very nice looking so maybe 1 or 2 of those. But I know my tanks isn't very large so i would go with what's best for the tank. Any advice ?

 

[Jesterrace]

Hate to burst your bubble but Tangs of that size need a 180 gallon MINIMUM tank to be happy long term and aren't suited for a tank of that size for more than a few weeks when they are small. They get a foot in length and are a free swimming fish and swim miles between reefs in their natural habitat. So putting one in a 32 gallon biocube would be incredibly cruel. Tangs are also very prone to ich and putting one even temporarily in a tank that size would give a high probability of it developing ich and spreading it to your other fish. Finding Nemo really did a disservice to the saltwater aquarium trade since everyone wanted a Nemo and Dory of some form and they are on opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of tank size and care.

The good news is that the clowns and bottom dwellers will work just fine in that tank. On corals, if you want Euphyllia, go with Frogspawn. As long as you stay on top of water changes and maintenance, don't keep it in the direct path of your powerhead wavemaker (they prefer more of an ambient flow then direct flow), have a decent LED light and feed your tank one or two small feedings per day of frozen reef frenzy it will grow like a weed.

 

[Crabs McJones]

Im thinking something like the following

Fish
2 - Percula Clown's
1 or 2 - Regal Tang's
and maybe 1 or 2 bottom dwellers that will help clean

Coral
As per coral im still not sure, but i do know i want some in there. Maybe some Mushroms I find Euphyllia's very nice looking so maybe 1 or 2 of those. But I know my tanks isn't very large so i would go with what's best for the tank. Any advice ?

ooo definitely no tangs. A 32 is way to small for any kind of tang. The minimum tank size a tang needs would be a 75 and thats for the smaller breeds such as the Yellow Eye Kole Tang or the tomini tang. I would do the clowns, and maybe a firefish, or a sixline wrasse, or other gobys of some sort

 

[Jesterrace]

I would agree with everything other than the 6 line (mean, nasty fish).

 

[Derude]

O i didn't know, firefish looks awsome.. I will do research on how big these fish get I really want a clown fish the tang's were just a thought so I could find something else no problem also the Frogspawn is exactly something that I would like I will definitely look into that.

 

[Crabs McJones]

I would agree with everything other than the 6 line (mean, nasty fish).

All depends on the individual fish. I had one in my system with two clowns, and a firefish and a scooter blenny, never bothered any of them and kept my bristleworm population in check. They can be mean though, i'm not arguing that, but not all are nasty

 

[atx100r]

Check out the spleandid DottyBack colorful fish and will work in a 30 Gal...Agreee on the tang...I have a yellow eye Kole in my 75 and he is non stop swimming and grazing..

 

[Jesterrace]

O i didn't know, firefish looks awsome.. I will do research on how big these fish get I really want a clown fish the tang's were just a thought so I could find something else no problem also the Frogspawn is exactly something that I would like I will definitely look into that.

Firefish only get about 3 inches max and can go in a tank as small as 10 gallons, so your 32 Biocube would be plenty for one. Just be aware your clownfish may bully it as firefish are about as cowardly as saltwater fish get. I would recommend checking out a captive bred orchid dottyback. They aren't overly aggressive (unlike other dottybacks) but they won't be pushed around either.

https://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=15+1500+5141+3465&pcatid=3465