New 12g... Stocking questions...

[littlemoose]

Hi everyone!

I am new here and new to salt water in general...

I am hoping to get an Eclipse System 12 for Christmas, and would like to set up a fish only tank in it...

My plans for it are:

>> Keep it stock - no upgrades yet (the lights are ok for fish only, right? I would only need to upgrade if i wanted to keep corals and the likes?)

>> 12 lbs of Fiji LR and a 20lb bag of live aragonite sand

>> 2 clowns - most likely false percs... if not, then true percs...

>> 1 peppermint shrimp

>> Clean-up crew, consisting of maybe 8-10 blue legged hermits and 8-10 snails (don't know what kind)

>> Possibly one other small fish (any suggestions on something small and colourful that would get along with the other inhabitiants would be greatly appreciated)

Any comments you have on this setup would be very helpful to me... Too much? Just enough? Anything you would like to suggest? I would like all the help I can get!!! Thank you in advance, I look forward to getting to know everyone here!

 

[littlemoose]

Sorry, one more question...
If I wanted to go with the Eclipse 6 instead of 12, could I still have 2 clowns and no other fish? Or would I be limited to one clown?
One or two doesnt matter to me, I just dont want to crowd the little guys too much...

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

I'd suggest only doing one fish in the 6 if you go that route.

the stock lighting is fine for FOWLR, but it is a bare minimum bulb, more suited for fresh tanks.

have you thought about going with the JBJ Nano Cube DX - I've heard escellent things about them and the lighting that comes with it can support some lower light corals like shrooms and zoos.

 

[littlemoose]

Thank you for your reply... I don't think I will go for the 6, I think I want the 12.
Will my plans for the 12 gallon be ok?
I have heard lots of good things about the Nanocube DX, but I don't think anywhere around me sells them, and it will be on my Christmas list, so I don't want to be sending people all over the place looking for one...

 

[Anonymous]

Sounds like a plan to me. Another fish you might add is a pair or single neon goby, Gobiosoma oceanops. They stay very small. There are also some Gobiodon species that stay small and are readily available.

Any other questions just let us know!

WELCOME to REEFS.ORG!

 

[littlemoose]

Thanks everybody for the welcome and for the help...

I am really excited about Christmas so that I can start to set up my aquarium... It looks like I might be going for a regular glass 20 gallon instead though... It's a lot cheaper to get that plus the equipment that I need (in a package from the LFS) than it would be for the Eclipse 12... and it's bigger!

Another question for everybody... Do feather dusters need special lighting or do they do ok with "fish lighting"?

 

[Mihai]

Thanks everybody for the welcome and for the help...

I am really excited about Christmas so that I can start to set up my aquarium... It looks like I might be going for a regular glass 20 gallon instead though... It's a lot cheaper to get that plus the equipment that I need (in a package from the LFS) than it would be for the Eclipse 12... and it's bigger!

Make sure you know what you get from the LFS - some give you all sorts of crap. Stay away from Rio powerheads, SeaClone and skilter skimmers, undergravel filters, incandescent lightning... I'm sure I'm missing some. You may want to make a list of what you think you need for that 20gal and post it here, get some feedback on the items.

Another question for everybody... Do feather dusters need special lighting or do they do ok with "fish lighting"?

Nope, they need some "dirty" water to filter it - they are not photosynthetic. As long as your food includes some very small particles (either because you feed stuff like cyclopeeze or because you mushed up the food in a blender) they'll be OK. Some fish/invertebrates like to munch on featherdusters though - make sure you avoid those.

Regards,
Mihai

 

[Anonymous]

I've noticed the mini feather dusters that come in on live rock do just fine without any sort of direct feeding. I don't know if they're feeding on fish waste, bacteria, pods, or something else.

 

[Anonymous]

Probably feeding on bacteria...I have never directly fed my large feather duster...That may be pure luck or there is enough "dirty" water to filter :? But feather dusters do not need strong lighting..
If you do plan on keeping corals in the future, decide what you want to keep and start planning on the equipment you will need.. I went a hard route and kept upgrading things as I progressed..This gets extremely costly..So what im getting at is, if you are going FO for now thats cool..you decide you may want a clam or some demanding critter prepare for the long run and get it in one shot..Financial planning...Reef keeping is a OJT in Financial planning... best of luck