What do you think of my setup

Here is the link to photo album of my 29 gal tank.

What do you think, any suggestions.



http://www.3reef.com/cgi-bin/album.pl?album=aic007

thanks,

aic007

 

You have a sail tang in a 29 gallon tank?

 

Yeah,

I love that fish. When I saw it in the store I had to have it. It's been in there for about 4 months and seems to be doing great. I know it will out grow it eventually but it is a pig. Comes right to the top when it see's me with food.

I had a yellow tang when I first had the tank set up ny it got lateral line and croaked. The sail was so much nicer looking. It's not the desjardinii tang, just a regular sailfin.

 

How old is you tank?

 

I think 5-6 months. I have a chart I keep at home with everything I add and when. here is a brief breakdown.

130w pc with 65k actinic and 10k sun
bak pak skimmer
penguin 330 filter
20lbs crushed coral
20lbs aragalive
30-35lbs of live rock
1 sailfin tang
1 coral beauty
1 green mandarin
1 blue mandarin
1 gold stripe maroon clown
1 peppermint shrimp
1 flame scallop
some snails
1 bubble tip anemone
1 closed brain
1 open brain
3 types of star polyps
1 plate coral
1 hammer coral
1 acropora
purple shrooms

I think that's it.

All levels are great and everything looks healthy, except the hammer which was my fault. (too much careless handling)

I was thinking of switching the filter and putting an amiracle wet/dry but LFS guy said that there really is no need to switch if everything is healthy.

 

forgot the flower pot, this a nice piece. looked like a two headed rock when I first picked it up and opened up nicely.

 

Honestly both the Sailfin and the Coral Beauty will out grow that tank very quickly.
One should alway consider the adult size of the fish you purchase. Small tanks will stress out fish and lead to decease and death.
Are your Mandarins eating? Dragonets are very picky eaters and generally only eat copeods. Something a fairly new 29G tank will have very few of.
I sure hope they will eat frozen foods.

Good luck
J

 

I have had the mandarins for over a month now and they are always grazing on the rocks. The LFS guy said that the tang and coral wouldn't get too big but I have a 55 gal FW that I might convert over. everything in the tank eats when food is available and all move around vigorously. They don't seem stressed at all. I asked a lot of questions before I added anything to the tank and they always seem to give me pretty knowledgeable and thorough advice. If I had any problems they always gave multiple ways to treat it depending on the route that I wanted to take. I add phyto almost every other day, spot feeding my corals. I mix up the types of food I give them, and since the tank is in my bedroom I tend to spend a lot of time watching it, and notice any problem or potential problem early on. I only use RO/DI to top off or do water changes and try to keep a very strict schedule with every aspect of the tank. Lights are on timers with blue on before the sun and then off after. Feeding is usually around the same time of day and I can practically have the Tang eat food out of my hand. All in all they seem to like the environment in which they are in. I am sure more room would be great but I didn't want to put a 55 gal in my bedroom.

 

That's Great I know that many Mandarins will eventually eat frozen food and I'm glad yours are.
it is a common rule of thumb that all Tangs require a minimum or 75G or 4" of swimming room to remain healthy. Not to say yours won't, rules of thumb are broken all the time.
Having multiple ways to treat ailments is great but the best medicine is prevention. Your fish look very happy and I'm sure they will stay that way. My intent is not to attack, But you asked about your set up.

Another suggestion I would have is to cut back on your Phyto dosing. Form what you have listed only the Flame Scallop, Star Polyps and the shrooms are eating it. If you are dosing as per the directions I might cut that in half and test it for a month. If you notice a significant reduction of shroom or polyp extension then you may want to increase it again. But you may just be over dosing.

J

 

Didn't mean to sound like I was attacking. I apologize if it came off that way. Did you mean 4 feet of swimming room? As for the phyto, I don't understand what you mean on cutting back the dosage. All responses are appreciated, It helps to compare everyones opinions to see if that is the general consensus. Going into it, I wasn't a hundred percent on the coral. but seeing the fluorescence in some of them quickly changed my mind. You should try looking at tank with many fluorescent corals under a black light. I will add some pics this week when I get a chance. It looks pretty crazy. You can see the Coraline on the rocks before it is really noticeable. The open brain looks like krypronite under that light.

Thanks again,

aic007