+ACampbell Posted April 15, 2006 Share Posted April 15, 2006 I am planning out a new aquarium and considering getting the 175 bowfront from the oceanic metals collection. Anyone have comments about these? Is there an Oceanic certified dealer in Austin? Thanks for the help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GKarshens Posted April 15, 2006 Share Posted April 15, 2006 I know Austin Aquariums carries Oceanic. John could probably help you with that. I think they have a 175 bow front that is used in the store right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thedude Posted April 15, 2006 Share Posted April 15, 2006 Off the top of my head I can think of these problems with large bowfront tanks: Early in the production line, they leaked... alot. That has supposedly been solved in the last two years or so but it still worries me. Second would be that fitting everything under the stand is pretty weird due to the curving. That and the standard oceanic stand is rather ugly IMO. Last would be the dimensions are troublesome. The tank is really deep and would have to be lit with 400w halides to get light penetration to the bottom. If you're looking to go big, look at both the oceanic 125 and 180 as I like the dimensions much more. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+ACampbell Posted April 15, 2006 Author Share Posted April 15, 2006 I was just considering it. I really like the modern look of the metals collection. It's not your typical black aquarium, and I like bow fronts a lot. thedude you may be right though. A 125 might be better on my wallet as well. Keep in mind I?ve never owned a big tank. I really want to do an SPS/clam tank and I would like to have 4 or 5 surgeonfish. I've kind of got a stocking list in mind. Take a look at it, and if you see any obvious clashes please speak up. Tangs: yellow tang blue hippo tang clown tang sohal tang (looks like it might need a huge tank) unicorn tang Other fish pair of ocellaris couple of blue/green chromis maybe a few lyretail anthias 6 line wrasse green mandarin after a year or two maybe some sort of angel (any ideas?) Clean up crew hermits cerith snails nasarius snails skunk shrimp long spine urchin Corals/Clams lots of sweet sps lots of sweet clams a few brains a few acans might consider a zoo garden although it would clash with the sps/clam theme Well that seems like a lot to put into a 125. Could I get away with that much of a bio load in 125 gallons? Thanks for your input. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thedude Posted April 16, 2006 Share Posted April 16, 2006 Ok I'll bite and break it down section by section with my opinions. You first have to consider that the bigger tank you buy, the more expensive the auxiliary equipment will cost. Keep in mind you'll need metal halide lighting, strong skimming (Deltec or Euroreef IMO), LOTS of flow (either closed loop or Tunze/Seio), then if you're keeping a bunch of SPS, a calcium reactor. Little stuff will come up as well (food, carbon, other filtration media, reactor media, etc..) Tangs: You've got some HUGE tangs in this list, and some very very aggresive ones at that. The yellow and hippo are both do-able, although I need to stay away from Dori in general because they have a tendency to taste everything. Clown tangs are big aggresive fish with very high mortality rates. If you get one, a QT is a must, and it probably would not let you have any more tangs once he becomes established. Sohal tangs like you said are monsters. I wouldn't feel comfortable putting one in anything less than 8 feet long. Unicorn tangs are also monsters. Same as the Sohal and more aggressive. Other fish: Good choice on the clowns, go with either percs or false percs. They tend to be less aggresive than the other varietals. Chromis are fine but are being collected deeper and deeper and rarely do well in our aquariums. It seems like everyone I've ever seen that had a school of chromis had to keep replenishing their numbers. Anthias are great, squamipinnis (sp?) are the most hardy IMO. Remember that many of them (ie: sunbrust) come from deep waters and our bright lights will eventually stress them to death. Smaller wrasses are always great and are a personal favorite. Green Mandarins don't really need a year or two with a tank that size to do well. You can play these by ear and wait to find one eating frozen or establish a healthy population of pods. Remember that the sixline will compete with the mandarin for pods. Try looking into the Bellus angel as they're very reef safe. Pygmy angels are all hit or miss if they'll eat your coral and I care way more about coral than I do about fish. If you want another big interesting fish, look into the Xanthicus (sp?) trigger family, bluthroats, sargassum, etc. I'll get on later and finish this post John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GKarshens Posted April 16, 2006 Share Posted April 16, 2006 I went to the Moody Gardens Aquarium in Galveston a few weeks ago. They had Sohols and Unicorns there that were almost 2' long! Those are huge fish! I also read in Melev's thread on RC that his Hippo was eating his SPS corals. So basically I agree with John. I also am a fan of Fairy Wrasses. Another thing to consider on Anthias is they need to be fed 3 times a day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+ACampbell Posted April 16, 2006 Author Share Posted April 16, 2006 You guys are awesome. Thanks for such detailed responses. I have no problems removing the sohal and the unicorn. I really do want a clown though. I'm sure fish are like people and all have different personalities, but every time I see a clown tang they have always had lots of good personality. I like the sargassum trigger, and will definitely consider adding it to the list. I've seen lots of pics of the copper banded butterfly in reef tanks. Don?t they eat coral? It is a beautiful fish. It would be nice if I could add that to the list. Hopefully I can get this list compiled and stick to it. I don?t want to end up with some spontaneous purchase that will prevent me from having the stuff I really want. Thanks again guys. I'm glad that ARC has knowledgeable, caring people to help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+ACampbell Posted April 16, 2006 Author Share Posted April 16, 2006 Anyone got a link for info on the CBbutterfly? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GKarshens Posted April 16, 2006 Share Posted April 16, 2006 http://www.aquahobby.com/marine/e_chelmon.php Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thedude Posted April 16, 2006 Share Posted April 16, 2006 The only problem I've ever heard of with CBB's if that they have a tendency to nip at clam mantles and LPS corals. The problem I personally have had with them is getting a specific speciman to eat. Usually if I get in a school of 3-5 they more or less "monkey see/monkey do" and will eat frozen food. Otherwise, it's usually death with in a week. Definitely get a smaller clown tang and introduce him last, that way he'll be forced into already existing territories. The sargassum, blue throat, and crosshatch triggers are all awesome reef fish. Bigger ones will bother shrimp introduced after them and the sargassum and crosshatch and very pricey. On to the cleanup crew! I'm one of the guys in the at least one snail per gallon camp. A mixture of blue leg hermits, cerith snails, nassarius snails, and turbo/astrea snails are my favorite. I'd also add a few emerald crabs to take care of any obnoxious valonia. As far as the long spine (I think you mean diadema urchin?) they look really cool but REALLY suck to get stuck by. If you haven't had one of their spines go through your finger and wiggle out the opposite way, you'll never truly know what I mean, but IMO, the pain is not worth the gain. Get something like a short spine or tuxedo urchin and be done with it. You can get away with this bioload but you need the skimmer for it, and I really can't stress that enough. Budget for the Mercedes class skimmer and you won't be constantly battling cyano and other nuisance algaes. As far as clams go... check out my thread on clams in the reffkeeping section. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GKarshens Posted April 16, 2006 Share Posted April 16, 2006 John you aren't afraid of an Emerald going crazy in a tank? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thedude Posted April 16, 2006 Share Posted April 16, 2006 I'm afraid of them to an extent but way more afraid of bubble algae going crazy. I'd had 4 emerald crabs in my reef keeping time and only one liked to munch corals and honestly, it's because I didn't feed him very much. There weren't any fish in the tank, and I didn't really want to pollute it so I was feeding once a week if that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+ACampbell Posted April 16, 2006 Author Share Posted April 16, 2006 I actually have a diadema urchin and a blue tuxedo in my 12 gal nano. They are both tiny. The diadema is grape size, and tuxedo is smaller than a ping pong ball. They are great algea eaters (but you already knew that). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GKarshens Posted April 16, 2006 Share Posted April 16, 2006 I guess I will have to get one then. I am getting a decent amount of bubble algea lately. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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