SW Q's about stocking a 15g...

Dwarf Puffers

Dwarf Puffers

Registered user
Dec 11, 2006
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NS, Canada
In a few weeks, I may have the chance to set up a 15g SW tank. It's been on my mind and it's bugging me thinking about it. I've looked at www.jlaquatics.com and have an idea on the prices of some of the fish I want.

Now, I don't want more than 2-3 small fish. I'm thinking 1 clown goby, 2 neon gobies. I like damsels too, especially yellowtails, but I'd like to have more than 1 neon goby, so I probably won't get one. I need to know what you think I could fit, and if there's enough room for what I've said already.

For inverts, I'll probably have a few dwarf hermits and a couple of snails. I love tuxedo urchins, and it says on jlaquatics that they aren't too difficult to keep and can even be kept in groups. I would just like 1 urchin, if that. I might also get a sexy shrimp or 2, although I'm unsure of their availibility.

I'd like to have some shrooms and polyps, and maybe some other softies, like finger coral. If anyone knows any attractive, non-expensive soft coral that would be okay, please tell me. I like frogspawn, but I don't know anything about it.

I would be looking at a good amount of liverock and a nice patch of live sand. Suggestions on how much of each (by weight or by inches deep) would be appreciated. Figi & tonga liverock is what I'm hoping for.

Thanks everyone. I'm a little intimidated by the expenses and lighting I may require for my tank, as I have a limited selection of either. But I'm desperate for a SW nano tank, and would like to learn a bit.
 
Bump... Need to have some anwsers & opinions...
 
This helped me out alot.. http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=54602&hl=stealhealr&st=0

everything you mentioned as far as stocking sounds fine.. except for the frogspawn and the urchin.. i don't have either, but my understanding is that the frogspawn would need a little more light than the soft corals you mentioned (keep that in mind when selecting lighting), and urchins work your sandbed over pretty hard as far as eating beneficial critters so are not great fits for nanos..

I would go on the light end of the LR quantity.. get 18 lbs. or so, that way you have room to add frag rocks..

Also, a big expense I was unaware of when I started buying equipment was water. Although some people buy it from their LFS, I found purchasing an RO/DI system was the best fit for me.

I purchased a metal hallide light and I am glad I did - it may seem expensive but when you start adding up all the other costs, the difference is fairly negligible to not be handicapped by your lighting.
 
Thanks, Trance. I didn't get to read a lot of that link, but I'll be reading more tomorrow. I'll look into the lighting, that being one of the most important factors if I want a good looking reef. I think I'll skip the frogspawn, I like the looks of some of the finger leathers & toadstools.

I have well water that I'm about to get the readings from, so I'm not sure if I'll need an RO unit. I just have to wait and see the readings.

As for the urchin, is there any way to help support my beneficial buffet? I had thought they focused more on algae, I'm going to read up on them and visit some sites. By "beneficial critters", do you mean small bristleworms and the like, or pods? Thanks,

-DP :)
 
yes pods and the like.. you can always setup a refugium to generate pods.. urchins are omnivores..i also heard that urchins will bulldoze your rockwork and eat your corraline.. maybe all of this negative attitude is unwarranted - i can't say from my own experience.. i just know i crossed them off my list early on.

There are grocery stores with RO units, you can often buy water from your LFS, and some people use walmart distilled bottled water. The thing I realized though is that the absolute two most important things to your tank health are water and lights, and I decided it wasn't worth the headache to not get them right. you can bag groceries part time for a few weeks to pay for the stuff, and enjoy your tank... or you can come home every night and fruitlessly scrub hair algae from your dead tank with a toothbrush.. you pick :)

Anyway, I would just get a TDS (total dissolved solids) meter to test the water. I wasn't able to find one in a brick and mortar store but maybe you will have better luck. I found the only way to consistently get good water was buying my own unit. If you try to rely on the grocery store or the LFS and their filter goes bad or they run out or whatever, you are basically screwed.
 
Dwarf Puffers said:
In a few weeks, I may have the chance to set up a 15g SW tank. It's been on my mind and it's bugging me thinking about it. I've looked at www.jlaquatics.com and have an idea on the prices of some of the fish I want.

Now, I don't want more than 2-3 small fish. I'm thinking 1 clown goby, 2 neon gobies. I like damsels too, especially yellowtails, but I'd like to have more than 1 neon goby, so I probably won't get one. I need to know what you think I could fit, and if there's enough room for what I've said already.
Click to expand...

i'd get a fish for the neon gobies to clean. i love to watch my neon goby clean my fish, it's one of my favorite things to see in my tank. personally i would get 1 fish and 1 neon goby as im not too sure how the gobies would get along anyway unless you happened to get a mated pair...
Dwarf Puffers said:
For inverts, I'll probably have a few dwarf hermits and a couple of snails. I love tuxedo urchins, and it says on jlaquatics that they aren't too difficult to keep and can even be kept in groups. I would just like 1 urchin, if that. I might also get a sexy shrimp or 2, although I'm unsure of their availibility.

I'd like to have some shrooms and polyps, and maybe some other softies, like finger coral. If anyone knows any attractive, non-expensive soft coral that would be okay, please tell me. I like frogspawn, but I don't know anything about it.

I would be looking at a good amount of liverock and a nice patch of live sand. Suggestions on how much of each (by weight or by inches deep) would be appreciated. Figi & tonga liverock is what I'm hoping for.

Thanks everyone. I'm a little intimidated by the expenses and lighting I may require for my tank, as I have a limited selection of either. But I'm desperate for a SW nano tank, and would like to learn a bit.
Click to expand...

what kind of lighting do you have? you need stronger lighting (t5's or MH) to have lps like frogspawn, but there are some nice soft corals that do well under PC lighting...

as far as LR goes i suggest at least 1#/gallon, same for LS. you may want to go a bit deeper with the sand tho. tonga LR is lighter so you could easily get away with more like 1.5-2#/gallon IMO.
 
I'd not get 2 neon gobies unless you were positive they were a mated pair. Even in my 55g I only have one. He never cleans my fish either by the way...he has learned from the cleaner shrimp that it is more fun to eat other stuff...grrr.
 
Yes, got "Pip" back in December. But he hasn't gone near the fish. His best buddy seems to be Spike the red bristlestar. He also hangs out with the fornicating shrimp. They must have told him how there is a cleaning strike in my tank.
 
Thanks for the replies. I've checked out a few sites, and from what I've read, tuxedo urchins are mainly herbivoric, eat mostly algae, and usually only resort to coraline algae when there isn't much of anything else to eat left. I've read they can be fed dried seaweed if the food supply runs low, and that they rarely do much damage because of their small size & short spines. In all of the sites I've looked at, there wasn't one that didn't say "These are by far my favourite urchins". Wow, I want them now :p:. I think I'll be able to keep them fed if my NSLFS carries dried seaweed (I also live across from a brackish river & am near a seaweed plant, and the grocery stores around here sell dalse).

Also, should I treat corals as fish when it comes to cycling? I'm not sure if they react to ammonia, nitrite & nitrate levels, but I'm assuming I should wait. Would this be the same for seaweed, or does it act like a plant? And if I find a hitchhiker (hermit crab, crab, shrimp, nudi, etc), should I set up a tank just for it so it won't mess with the cycle (or if it's a good hitchhiker)? Thanks again,

-DP
 
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