BRAND NEW SETUP(by a noob)

I would stick to the 1 inch of fish to 3 gallons rule. There are two things you have to worry about in overstocking. One you can control. One you cannot. The aspect you can control is the water quality. It is possible to overstock an aquarium and keep the water pristine. Great skimming. Filtration. Flow. The works. The aspect you cannot control is the oxygen content of the water. In a F/W system, you can have about 1 inch of fish to 1 gallon of water. That is because the oxygen saturation point in freshwater is higher. When you add salt and all the constituents that go with it, the oxygen saturation decreases. About three fold. Now you can swing things in your favor by adding airstones, maximizing flow at the surface to enhance oxygen exhange and keeping the SG in a low range, but in the end, the oxygen will run out if you put too many fish in a closed system.

 

Wow what a response (take 2)

Hi guys (take 2 due to having wrote a nice long message then having to re-login and hence lost my message , won't make that mistake again!!)

Thanks to all for the great response to this thread, i've heeded most advice and am posting an update on progress so far, the most surprising was the fish part - one fish i definetly want is a lion fish or 2! any sugestions on suitable colourful tank mates (obviously a long way of yet)!.

RO filter plumbedin this morning and tank approx 3/4 full (see photo)

Lights - can't afford the halide option just yet - so have a 4 39w tube setup (156w) should be enough for soft corals?

Powerheads - advise taken have 2 smaller ones on the way gone for Maxi Jet MP 600 & 900

Skimmer,am starting cheap to see what sort of performance a ebay chepoid one gives - its' a Weipro SA2012 - these are some photos of some potential results (not my tank), i'll be using a seperate 2000lph pump with it



Filter, as advised not needed if sufficent hi quality rock used have again taken a cheap option,

This is model number HW-304B and has an 55 watt self contained pump with an output of 2000 litres of water per hour and a 9 watt UV lamp to ensure clear water.

Finally thought i'd add a snap of my tank as it is now,pretty boring - power heads filter and skimmer should arrive tommorow - thought i'd add these allow to run for a few days then get the salinity right - then add rocks in a month or so - does this sound right.
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Once again thanks to everyone for responding.

apologies if i missed anything - i'm sure this wasn't as long as my first go at writing it!

Matt
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p.s. i'm in leeds

 

lionfish can only handle fish that wont pick at them (so no triggers) and nothing small enough to fit in their mouths, usually puffers and lions go decently together

downfalls: lions are very very messy fish they poo alot and their really messy eaters so a really good skimmer is needed and in a 38 gallon you can maybe handle 2 dwarf lions or 1 full size lion like a volition

if you want 15-20 fish you need a 150+ gallon to handle that in small fish, or go 300+ gallons to do 15 medium size fish, 15 larges you need to live in a salt water pool or something, it'd take a massive body of water to handle that

 

Thanks - i like the sound of the puffers!, I'm reckoning on 10 " of fish now as opposed to loads
1* lion
1* cow fish (if i can get 1)
1* puffer (a sppiky one)
1* something colourful!

as you can tell i'm yet to do much research into fish!

What about crabs and prawns - could i get a few of them in as well?.

Many Thanks

Matt

 

cow fish from what I know need a species tank they dont handle other large fish to well it'd probably starve to death in that tank or get eaten lions and puffers are both very agressive fish and you'd need to look at dwarf species of both

 

Questions questions

Hi Guys,

My heads and filter have now arrived - just aawaiting funds for live rock,
Quick few questions:
>do i get my salinity right now and leave it running,or waait for the live rock??
also
am i ok to have my canister filter and skimmer on a timer to run over night (just concious the water my coolin the canister and cause a drop in the temp when it comes on)?

 

you may as well mix the salt in the tank now. it will give you some time to get used to how often you will need to top off with fresh water due to evaporation. but its up to you

as for you second question. i don't think i understand why you want your skimmer and filter on a timer?

 

ok back to basics

Hi Guys i've added the salt;D , i'm gonna monitor it over the next month or so to get used to the refractometer and topping up as suggested. I have a few questions and would appreciate if any one could assist:

>mixing the salt, is their a right and wrong way to do this? i basically syphoned of some water from my tank into a big pan, weighed the salt bit by bit and mixed until dissolved then put back in my tank above my most powerful powerhead - its all circulated and water is clear?)

>storing saltwater, whats the best way to do it - can i just store pre mixed stuff in jerry cans - or do you have to keep it heated and aerated?.

>my filter haas 4 baskets - what should i fill them with? i've reviewed and it seems theres a lot of options, just wondering what will work best for LRWFO(started using the lingo!;D) setup - have decided i'm gonna get the fish part down first before moving onto corals - is this wise?:-/

If any ones interested in pictures or video of the filter let me know - seems quite good quality and is quiet!, still awaiting the skimmers arrival.h

Thanks

Matt

 

p.s. new photos

THought i'd add a few photos of tank currently - really bubbly as have my powerheads on full aeration to assist with the salt mixing