Will This 180 Work?

[kangadrew]

Hey guys, I just realized I'm having a kid! So, I decided to scrap my reef plans and go with something more kid friendly (kind of - what kid wants to hear me talk about coral for 3 hours, lol). I'm doing to Finding Nemo tank - yay!

I think a 180 gallon tank is my goal to fit these guys into - maybe something bigger if it's necessary. But of course, the fish will be:

• Namo (Ocellaris Clownfish)
• Gill (Moorish Idol - I know these guys are hard to care for, I'm gonna see if the LFS can get one and get it eating and then I'll buy it, because I've heard they're easy once they're eating)
• Bloat (Porcupine Pufferfish)
• Peach (African Red Knob Starfish - these guys need to graze LR right?)
• Gurgle (Royal Gramma)
• Bubbles (Yellow Tang)
• Deb and Flo (Blacktailed Humbugs)
• Jacques (Cleaner Shrimp - I'll just have to hope I get lucky keeping it with the puffer)

I plan on buying:

• 180 Gallon Glass Aquarium (going to DIY a stand and canopy) - I'll probably buy this from glasscages.com and get it reef-ready and drilled (their canopies and stands are WAY overpriced IMO, like nearly every stand/canopy out there)
• Shallow Sand Bed made of 2:1:3 ratio of Aragonite, live sand, and oolite
• 160 pounds of Live Rock (where can I get good, cheap live rock in different shapes and sizes - regular, plate, branch, etc for good aquascaping) and some putty/PVC for building structures
• Instant Ocean salt
• Refractometer
• Protein Skimmer (not sure of which one yet)
• 2,700 GPH worth of powerheads (thinking the Maxi-Jet 900's)
• RO Unit (maybe, probably cheaper to get it from the LFS - we'll figure this out later)
• 2x 450-Watt Heaters
• Digital thermometer
• Standard white and blue bulbs in a normal freshwater aquarium hood (no corals, so I save TONS of ca$h on the project - I could probably afford that RO unit), and timers for them
• 55 Gallon tank DIY'ed into a sump and the things to plumb it - I'm also going to section off a part for a fuge
• Probably a fan or two or three in the canopy - just in case (no MH, but better safe than sorry)
• Basic maintenance stuff (mag-float, glass scraper, some jugs, buckets, anything else I forgot?)
• Test kits (I know NO3, NO4, pH and NH3, but should I test Ca and dkh in a FOWLR?)
• Foods for the fish/inverts - what should these guys get?
• Possibly some books (going to build a coffee table enclosure for my boa constrictor, so probably just these for the table)

Anything I forgot??

 

[cameronh]

Go for it!

 

[Reefing Madness]

Yup, your good. Just one thing though, I hope you understand just how big the Puffer will get. Don't get me wrong, those guys are the coolest, like having a puppy in water. But man, they do get big, and it doesn't take long.
Other than that, 2 thumbs up here.

 

[kangadrew]

Sweet. About the puffer being a puppy, that's honestly the best analogy ever made. I've only owned a valentini, figure 8, and 4 indian dwarves before, s nothing big, but I look forward to getting one of these guys. Any way this would work with a 125 gallon or a 150 gallon? Although I definitely like the 2 foot width rather than 18 inches.
What types of decorations would be nice? I was thinking a big cave at the bottom left with a tower of branching and plating rock up nearly to the top. Then, a small pile with maybe some branching rock around it in the middle. Then a large tower with a big solid base at the bottom and some plating and branching rock at the right. Not sure if the starfish is going to be okay, and the shrimp likely won't last too long. I'll build it plenty of places to hide though - starting to seem like the tank revolves around keeping a shrimp alive lol.
What size should my fish be when they're added to the tank? Roughly the same size, or what? I think the puffer will definitely need to be small when he's first gotten so I don't have a 6" puffer chasing down a 1" clown, haha.

 

[cameronh]

When do you plan on starting this? Or did I over read it?

 

[kangadrew]

When do you plan on starting this? Or did I over read it?

probably not until this summer

 

[eatbreakfast]

Porcupine puffers may nip the pennant on the moorish idol, eat the shrimp, and possibly the gramma as it gets bigger.

 

[kangadrew]

Porcupine puffers may nip the pennant on the moorish idol, eat the shrimp, and possibly the gramma as it gets bigger.

do you think a dogface or something similar would do the same? I'd love the porcupine Puffer but I'd love to keep live fish more

 

[eatbreakfast]

do you think a dogface or something similar would do the same? I'd love the porcupine Puffer but I'd love to keep live fish more

Puffers nip, a better bet would be to get a Canthigaster species.

 

[kangadrew]

Is there no possible way of keeping the puffer without it nipping? I'd really love to keep one.

 

[kangadrew]

Alright, I've got something here -

What if I were to buy all the fish at a larger size EXCEPT the puffer, so that way they could learn to stand their ground. I would also keep the puffer fed very well so that none of the fish were eaten or bites taken out of them. I also plan on using caves to provide hides that the smaller fish can get into without the puffer reaching him. Additionally, I could get porcupine puffers at the LFS and keep them with damsels or cheap fish like that to see its personality - return it if they're eaten or even a tiny bit nipped after a week with nothing but PVC for decoration. But for the moorish idol and the tang... not sure yet. I honestly feel like if I have a big YT and moorish idol, that a 2" puffer won't go for them, lol. Sizes I assume would work are:

• Ocellaris Clownfish - 3-3.5" - $35
• Moorish Idol - 4.5-6.5" - $100
• Porcupine Puffer - 2" - $40
• African Red Knob Starfish - 3-5" - $50
• Royal Gramma - 1.5-2.5" - $20
• Yellow Tang - 5.5-6.5" - $80 (could go larger but they're $120, don't want to spend that kind of money)
• Four Stripe Damselfish - .5-1.5" - $10 (for two of them)
• Scarlet Cleaner Shrimp - 1.5-2.25" - $30 (I'm going to introduce this guy before anything else to ensure that he has found tons of hiding spots, and I'm going to create lots of tiny hiding spots for him as well, like crevices inside of caves - it is now my goal to keep a shrimp alive in a puffer tank!)

Livestock's looking like it's going to be around $365 if I go this route. Mods, can I say anything about other stores on this forum?

 

[kangadrew]

Just found out I am able to get a free YT for spending enough money if I order online... hooray for free offers!

 

[eatbreakfast]

Puffer nipping is not so much a factor of hunger, but rather curiosity and aggression. Some are more aggressive than others, but all are curious.

 

[kangadrew]

Puffer nipping is not so much a factor of hunger, but rather curiosity and aggression. Some are more aggressive than others, but all are curious.

Gotcha. I think that if I'm keeping a moorish idol and a starfish, some of the hardest fish/inverts to keep, that risking them with a large puffer is foolish. Is there any other large to medium puffers that would be okay in this tank? Dog face? Manila? Stars and stripes? Immaculate? Orbiculate? Really anything that looks like this guy:

 

[eatbreakfast]

Gotcha. I think that if I'm keeping a moorish idol and a starfish, some of the hardest fish/inverts to keep, that risking them with a large puffer is foolish. Is there any other large to medium puffers that would be okay in this tank? Dog face? Manila? Stars and stripes? Immaculate? Orbiculate? Really anything that looks like this guy:

Unfortunately, IME puffer nips and the size determines the extent of the damage done.

 

[chimmike]

Agreed with puffers nipping, but those porcupines have the most awesome personality. As someone said, they're like dogs. So cool.

 

[kangadrew]

Agreed with puffers nipping, but those porcupines have the most awesome personality. As someone said, they're like dogs. So cool.

I know, they really are awesome. I don't have much room for another tank - however, I could split the size between 2 tanks. Would a 55 for the puffer (could upgrade to a 75 but only if absolutely necessary) and a 125 for the rest of the fish (smaller if possible, maybe a 90?) work fine? Also I plan on keeping a striped burrfish, or orbiculate pufferfish, in the 90 gallon as opposed to the porcupine - a little harder to keep from what I've heard but not too difficult, and they get smaller. I may even try it in the display, because I've heard from people they don't nip - I'm skeptical though.

 

[kangadrew]

Well, I need a puffer. But I also need some colorful stuff. The simple solution - take a larger tank (90 to 125 gallons, not sure yet), then a 55 gallon sump, then hook up another 55 gallon tank to it, and voila, puffer and community tank. BTW, don't flame me for keeping a porc in a 55 gallon - going with the much smaller burrfish that usually reaches 6 inches or so.