A couple of Questions (regal tang and spotted puffer content)

Ok im new to the site but have had a ten gallon nano tank since january 09. i have had 2 green spotted puffers, a clown, and a three stripped damsel since i have had the tank just upgraded to a 55gallon (gave the ten gallon to my lil 6 year old bro.. he loves it lol).. anyways im wondering if i can have my spotted green puffers in the tank if i did a reef tank.. would he bother and corals, mushrooms, etc.
and what lighting would yall perfer? i know i need a t5 with atleast 4watts per gallon but what brand would be best?


and i have had the tank set up for about 4 weeks now just went through its cycle last week... i bought a blue regal tang about a month ago and out it in my friends tank.. the deal was so good ($20) that my friend went and got another one from the store (there pretty young and only about 2 inchs long). so for about a month now they have been in the same tank and followed each other everywhere.. i just moved him into my tank 2 days ago and he seems depressed... is this possible? all he does is sit in his lil cave and come out to eat (btw he has ich but im taking care of in with garlic soaked food and alittle temp raise and it been going away)


i know thats alot but lmk what yall think
;D

 

Well, I am really not sure what the puffer would do in a reef. I think Puffer Chick owns a green spotted as well so she could probably give you more info on them than I could. As far as T5's go, TEK or ATI fixtures are some of the best out there, if your budget allows it. The tank is too new for a tang IMO, I wouldn't add any fish till the tank matures a little bit more. Is there anything else in there?

 

yes as of now theres about 20 pounds of figi/Caribbean live rock, a chuck of coral, and a barnical.. 1 yellow chromis, 1 three strip damsel, 2 spotted puffers, 1 blue damsel, 1 emerald crab, and a brittle star fish,

 

That sounds like a lot of inhabitants for such a young tank. You might want to read up a little bit more, going too fast too soon will only lead to problems. I can kind of sum it up a little bit for you. When your tank gets done with the cycle, theirs a lot of bacteria that live/colonize on the rocks. The bacteria/organisms eat the dissolved organic compound's(DOC's for short) produced by the waste in the water column. If you add too many fish/inverts that produce waste too fast, the bacteria does not have enough time to catch up with it and it can build up in your tank causing you a lot more grief than you bargained for. The best thing you can do right now is research and learn. And take it slow, very slow.

 

I'm kind of tired right now so if this makes no sense, someone please fix it ;D

 

kk sounds good. but everything checks out i test every 2 days or so... but most of those fish were transfered from my ten gallon when the tank was set up

 

UPDATE: ok today my blue regal tangs ich is starting to go away (did garlic guard raised temp from 78 to 80, and dimmed the lights) but he is still hiding in his rock/cave just fed them about 20 mins ago and left my room i came back and he was out and about eating when i came in but as i entered all the way into my room he goes straight back to hiding. im guessing the hiding will go away when gets used to my tank? and to me

 

when you walk does it shake the tank? just wondering because that can happen sometimes. i want some pics too!!!

 

not really its pretty sturdy. but none of other fish hide.. shes out and about right now and shes beautiful!

pics will be up soon

 

you can certainly go T5 depends on how deep the tank is and exactly what you want to have in the tank. The puffers can nip at corals, but like I said it depends on what kind of corals you are intending on keeping. If you are not going to do any sps corals I would say that leathers and lps can handle the little nipping.