New Carrington Hall Aquarium

[Carringtonite]

Hello,

I am a new member to reefs.org, but have been an aquarium enthusiast for a long time. I kept many freshwater tanks ranging from 10 to 100 gallons when I lived in California. In '94 I converted the 100-gallon into a saltwater fish only tank. It was a fairly simple set-up: a plexiglass tank with a built-in trickle filter. The pre-filter housed foam and activated carbon, and the main section was full of coarse crushed coral. I kept damsels, dwarf angels, a small lionfish, a couple of wrasses and a squareback anthias successfully for two years until I moved to New Zealand. I was only twelve when I started keeping saltwater fish, but I had a summer-job at a Sacramento aquarium store where I picked up a lot of advice and experience.

That was seven years ago, and I have been more or less out of the hobby since I moved to New Zealand. I helped my little brother set-up a 50gal planted goldfish tank last year, but that has been the extend of my recent aquarium activity, other than checking a few books out at the library and browsing the web.

I am studying at Otago University and living at Carrington Hall. I've convinced the staff here to let me set-up a large saltwater fish tank in our dining hall. I've been given a moderate budget and the 'go-ahead.'

My plans are as follows: 1200 litre, 1.6 meter long, by 1.0 meter tall, by 0.75 meter wide, toughened glass tank. It will be supported by a galvanized, powder coated, steel stand and frame, which I'm having custom built locally by the same people making the tank.

For filtration I've decided only on two things for certain. 1) to invest in a high quality protein skimmer (probably a Tunze) and 2) to partition the back third of the tank into a filter system with plexiglass.

Protein skimming is part the 'central dogma' of reef and saltwater aquarists, so this really isn't much of a hard decision. The reason for keeping the filtration internal is for simplicity (I've seen Eheim and Fluval canisters flood living rooms) and for aesthetics.

I would like to have an impressive assortment of fish, possibly a school of chromis and one of anthias. Also I would like to have one or two large angelfishes along with clowns, wrasses and gobies and dwarf angels. I want a relatively high stocking of up to 85 inches of 'linear fish' when they are full-grown. My dilemma is whether to keep it simple with 'dead' landscaping, (rock fake coral sea whips etc) or make the leap of faith and try out some 'hardier' corals and live rock.

Currently I of the belief that I will set-up a good, reliable lighting and filtration for a fish only tank. Later when the fish become established, and I’ve got the water chemistry figured out, perhaps I can add invertebrates. Is this approach likely to be successful?

For lighting I have in mind three HQI 400 Watt 10,000K metal halide lamps to be suspended about ten inches above the tank. Giving that Dunedin weather is mild (75 degree highs in summer), what are my chances of being able to run all three lamps for twelve hours a day for most of the year without overheating the tank? Is this overkill? I don't want to be upgrading later, but I do have the option of downgrading to 250-watt lamps in the same fixtures.

For filtration I want to follow the KISS principle as much as possible. I want efficient skimming and no maintenance biological filtration, with 'easy' maintenance; daily pre-filter rinses and fortnightly carbon changes. (This is what I had with my built in wet/dry back in California). What are your thoughts on this? For a fish only tank, should I keep most of the substrate in the trickle filter, or would you suggest a plenum in the main part of the tank? I want to perform 20 litre water changes every other day, is that likely to be enough?

I would appreciate any advice you reef keepers have to offer. This seems to be quite a knowledgeable forum. I want to take the conservative economical approach whenever possible. Cheers

 

[AF Founder]

You have the process of establishing a reef tank backwards. As with freshwater you don't add the plants after the fish have become established, you establish the plants first -- they are the consumers of waste -- then add the fish. With a reef tank, you establish the corals, then slowly add compatible fish -- fish that will not eat the corals.

Furthermore, before you turn on powerful lighting, you must have cycled the tank and have a large clean up crew of crabs and snails. If you don't you will ahve a nuisance algae problem. You will need a good sand bed and cycled live rock, and NO TRICKLE FILTER.

I strongely suggest that you do some reading about how to start a reef tank before you go any further.

 

[Carringtonite]

I understand that in a reef tank the focus is on keeping the water chemistry and lighting controlled to best suit the most delicate animals; the hard and soft corals, anemones, etc. In New Zealand it is illegal to import most corals and all live rock. So I should have made this more clear, the Carrington tank will not be a reef tank.

Perhaps I am in the wrong forum, but I think you guys are leading edge when it comes to saltwater aquariums. If you are successful with setting up the most difficult reef tanks, perhaps you can offer me some advice on what will work for a simpler fish-only tank.

The focus of our tank is the fish. Maybe when all the fish are well established, maybe I can add a few couple anemones, soft corals shrimp etc. It makes sense that this can be done, I would just like your advice on how.

To avoid minimise a nuisance algae problem, can I cycle the tank with live sand and very few rocks from the local shoreline? Most of the things living on the rocks will probably die, but this may provide some site of attachment for anything coming along with the live sand.

With a presence of nitrate and high-powered lighting, I understand that I will get algae. I plan to scrub the glass daily, regularly rake the substrate, and clean the decorations weekly. This will be easier if I have a couple of large, artificial coral 'heads.'

In the aquarium store that I worked at, this is how we kept our fish. The tanks were tidy, clean and the fish were healthy. I seek advice on improvements to this basic, simpler model of fish keeping. Again, any advice you can offer to improve our approach to fish keeping would be appreciated, espicially with regard to deep sand beds and high-powered lighting.

Thanks.

 

[Carringtonite]

I understand that in a reef tank the focus is on keeping the water chemistry and lighting controlled to best suit the most delicate animals; the hard and soft corals, anemones, etc. In New Zealand it is illegal to import most corals and all live rock. So I should have made this more clear, the Carrington tank will not be a reef tank.

Perhaps I am in the wrong forum, but I think you guys are leading edge when it comes to saltwater aquariums. If you are successful with setting up the most difficult reef tanks, perhaps you can offer me some advice on what will work for a simpler fish-only tank.

The focus of our tank is the fish. Maybe when all the fish are well established, maybe I can add a few couple anemones, soft corals shrimp etc. It makes sense that this can be done, I would just like your advice on how.

To avoid minimise a nuisance algae problem, can I cycle the tank with live sand and very few rocks from the local shoreline? Most of the things living on the rocks will probably die, but this may provide some site of attachment for anything coming along with the live sand.

With a presence of nitrate and high-powered lighting, I understand that I will get algae. I plan to scrub the glass daily, regularly rake the substrate, and clean the decorations weekly. This will be easier if I have a couple of large, artificial coral 'heads.'

In the aquarium store that I worked at, this is how we kept our fish. The tanks were tidy, clean and the fish were healthy. I seek advice on improvements to this basic, simpler model of fish keeping. Again, any advice you can offer to improve our approach to fish keeping would be appreciated, espicially with regard to deep sand beds and high-powered lighting.

Thanks.

 

[AF Founder]

Very simply, if you don't intend to keep photosynthetic corals there's no need for high intensity lighting.

 

[SW Beginner]

So you are talking roughly a 317 gallon tank that is 5.2'L x 3.3'H x 2.5'D. You wish to water changes of 5 gallons every other day. To me that would be too often. It appears you wish to keep a refugium. Is a sump also in the works? For the amount of fish you wish to keep, you will likely need a 1600 liter tank.

Your best filtration will come from a deep sand bed, live rock, and a protien skimmer. You should be able to get the live rock at a local fish store. From your description this will be a long term project so adjust the plan accordingly.

Additionally there will be other requirements such as powerheads and heaters, pumps, refractometer, RO/DI water, etc.

In any event, the tank should be cycled prior to putting anything in it.

Buy yourself a couple good books prior to starting on this endeavour and think it through accordingly. Things such as who will care for the tanks when you are on vacation or gone for the summer. Perhaps for simplification you will want to consider going with a freshwater aquarium versus a salt water one. In instances such as this, a lot of thought, planning, and research will go a very long way for this may not be something that is nearly as easy as you think.