powder brown vs 65gal

I have a 65 Gal tank I am slowly stocking into a reef tank. It currently contains about 40lb live rock(50 more on the way from reef cleaners) about 1 inch sand bed and live stock is 2 percs a damsel(my cycle fish) and an arrow crab. I have some polyps and xenya in there also. The tanks parameters are 36Lx18Dx24H Skimmer on back and filter(building refugium currently)
So to the questions
-would a powder brown be okay in the 65 or do I need a larger tank?
-What kind of clean up crew would I need as I know they require a CUC?
oh and I plan on slowly adding more coral.

 

at LEAST a 90 gal for the tang, and go to reefcleaners and fill out their form thing an he'll tell you exactly what you need.

 

Ok so if I need a bigger tank, my next question is what is the minimum length seeing how tangs dont really swim the whole tank(top to bottom) to still give it enough room to swim around as I know that is the problem with mine. for example should the shortest length i want for a tank be 4ft or is a longer tank preffered? I am bias toward tanks that have more depth from the side.

 

Powder Brown tangs are notoriously hard to keep in captivity, as they do not deal well with stress (smaller tanks) even a 90g is questionable long term. LA recommends a 125 gallon, so that would be ~6ft. I think you could probably get away with less water volume, but the length is rather vital for these tangs in particular.

Just bear in mind, less water volume = water mucks up easier. Tangs are filthy little guys and will put a huge amount of waste into the water.

 

Hmm Dont think I can sell my Girlfriend on a 125gal tank may have to just wait and fall in love with something that isnt a tang for now thanks for the input

 

Powder brown tangs as stated above are very very difficult to keep. A 125 is a perfect size but there are many easier tangs to care for.

 

A yellow eye Kole Tang would be perfect for a 65. Im in love with them. I have also kept smaller powder blues, hippos and yellow tangs in a 55. But once they start getting big, they need to be moved to a bigger tank, or most LFS will take them in and give you store credit. Most LFS also have no problem giving you a small Tang for a big one, atleast mine doesnt.

 

i would not suggest even considering a powder brown tang as a first tang.

 

powder brown/blue are horrid fish to keep. I will never try to keep one.

People are going to tell you a lot of diffent things on keeping tangs and what size tank you should have for them. We jokingly call them (us) the tang police. As you have mentioned tangs dont swim top to bottom. Watch them closely. They swim from side to side in tanks. So you do need to have a longer tank to keep a tang happy and healthy.

I would suggest going with a smaller tang, maybe a baby hippo (though almost as bad ich magnet) or as said I love the yellow eye kole or other type of bristletooth tang like a tonimi or even a scopas tang

 

yes in their natural habitat tans swim miles every day, keep that in mind when you are debating whether to put one in your tank. i believe a hippo would work for a bit but they get larger than most the other tangs fit for a tank of that size. i would suggest a kole or a yellow. then you could keep them in there long term.