New Tank

[s_moore62]

Hello all. I have a small tank 33 gal, with a simple charcoal siphon filter. One 36” 45w florescent light, and one heater. The system has been going now for 4 month. There is about 22 lbs of live rock, 1”1/2 of live sand. Since I started the tank I have put in 5 Astrea snails, 7 blue leg hermit crabs, 7 Queen conch(or Nassau) snails, one waving hand Xenia, and just last week I put one Arrow crab and an anemone( cream with purple tips)
My questions are. How many inverts can I have, and how much is too much? To change my lighting should I go with 3w per gal or more? I do plan to have fish but not for another couple of months. The reason is to have more live rock and to change the light and filter system. Thanks

 

[ChrisRD]

Hi and :welcome:

You don't have the lighting for the anemone (I'm guessing it's a Condy by the description). You'll need to upgrade your lighting if you want to keep it alive in the long term. Also, anemones are not a great choice for new reefers. They can be a challenge even for experienced aquarists.

The Queen Conchs are not a good choice either. They get very large and grow fast. One would be too much for a small tank let alone seven. :wink: You might want to replace those guys with a few more appropriate snail species like Trochus, Ceriths, etc.

For the long term I would plan on getting a good skimmer and probably removing the other filter (with a skimmer + live rock you shouldn't need it). For the lighting upgrade, it really depends on what you want to keep and how deep the tank is. In smaller tanks, good high output flourescent lighting is usually fine for most stuff. If you'll be strictly into very light demanding stuff and/or the tank is deep, halides might make sense.

 

[s_moore62]

Thanks for the info. What type of lighting would you suggest.

 

[ChrisRD]

If you're going to keep the anemone I would upgrade to at least 4 full length VHO, PC or T-5 lamps. If the tank is deeper than 18", halides would be even better IMO. If there's no centerbrace on the tank, a single halide lamp would work fine (keep light demanding animals central in the tank, lower light animals toward the ends).

 

[s_moore62]

For the lighting would it be better to use a 10000K VHO or a 50/50 VHO. And the depth of the tank is 17". Also I made a misstake I have Nassarius Snails and Queen Conch. Do you know if the Visi-Jet Protein Skimmer is any good, same for the Seaclone Protein Skimmer - 100. I do know that there is a difference in price.

 

[ChrisRD]

For the lamp choices - it's mostly preference. Daylight lamps generally produce more PAR and the bluer lamps bring out different colors so most people use a mix. Generally in a 4 lamp system 2 daylight and 2 bluer lamps is a good starting point.

Neither of the skimmers you mentioned are very good. I'd recommend saving up the extra money and getting something like an AquaC Remora or maybe the Coralife Super Skimmer.

 

[s_moore62]

Thanks you have been very helpful. I well let you know how things work out. Thanks again