Lee's 125g Basement Bar in-wall tank, LED's, etc, begins...
- Thread starter Lee
- Start date
Lee
Member
The carpet was installed yesterday and the basement is about 99.5% done, so I will be posting more pictures soon.
In the meantime, I had a couple questions:
1) I want some smaller schooling fish; something that isn't too big of a bioload but something that I can get 3-5 of, just to fill out the tank. It looks so empty in there right now. Are any Antias good for this? I had blue Chromis before but I'm tired of them. I'd like something with more color. I looked into Purple Queen Anthias, as my LFS had a few, but it turns out they're a b**ch to keep alive. Any other recommendations for a good schooling fish with good color? (No blue/green chromis, and no cardinal fish)
2) Regarding the chromis, my last chromis died after I moved him, and I can't find his dead body. Is it like a huge deal if I don't remove it? It will just break down and partially pollute the tank temporarily I assume, but the normal cycle should break down all the waste in time, right? Just monitor levels and do water changes accordingly?
3) Yesterday the tank got real cloudy all of a sudden, like out of nowhere. It was clear Thursday, and cloudy friday. And the water in the sump had a very evident green tint to it when I shined an LED light from my phone on it (the green was not visible in the DT, but obviously I'm sure it was all green, I just couldn't tell). I hit it with a marine algeacide and it appears to have cleared up a bit, but I'm not sure yet, as the lights hadn't come on yet when I left this morning. Its not from the sand. Any other ideas?
In the meantime, I had a couple questions:
1) I want some smaller schooling fish; something that isn't too big of a bioload but something that I can get 3-5 of, just to fill out the tank. It looks so empty in there right now. Are any Antias good for this? I had blue Chromis before but I'm tired of them. I'd like something with more color. I looked into Purple Queen Anthias, as my LFS had a few, but it turns out they're a b**ch to keep alive. Any other recommendations for a good schooling fish with good color? (No blue/green chromis, and no cardinal fish)
2) Regarding the chromis, my last chromis died after I moved him, and I can't find his dead body. Is it like a huge deal if I don't remove it? It will just break down and partially pollute the tank temporarily I assume, but the normal cycle should break down all the waste in time, right? Just monitor levels and do water changes accordingly?
3) Yesterday the tank got real cloudy all of a sudden, like out of nowhere. It was clear Thursday, and cloudy friday. And the water in the sump had a very evident green tint to it when I shined an LED light from my phone on it (the green was not visible in the DT, but obviously I'm sure it was all green, I just couldn't tell). I hit it with a marine algeacide and it appears to have cleared up a bit, but I'm not sure yet, as the lights hadn't come on yet when I left this morning. Its not from the sand. Any other ideas?
engineer goby
Has been struck by the ban stick
To answer the first questions Antias are a great addition but require 3 to 4 feedings a day and or a very large pod supply, a real pain to keep alive but if you can commit to this they are just what your looking for. Cardinal fish might be a good choice but in my opinion their very boring and don't swim much
As for the dead chromis it's not going to impact the tank at all. A dead fish of that size in a 125 won't create the slightest issue. I've had 4 chromis die in my 90 and I was never able to retrieve their corpse and no ill effects to report on water quality
For you last problem I would tune in the skimmer to skim a little more wet and run carbon along with gfo to polish the water.
Good Luck and I'm still waiting on the invite over for opening day
As for the dead chromis it's not going to impact the tank at all. A dead fish of that size in a 125 won't create the slightest issue. I've had 4 chromis die in my 90 and I was never able to retrieve their corpse and no ill effects to report on water quality
For you last problem I would tune in the skimmer to skim a little more wet and run carbon along with gfo to polish the water.
Good Luck and I'm still waiting on the invite over for opening day
Ravenfan84
Member
the only other schooling fish that i can think of off the top of my head are some gobies and tangs i know the bar gobys are a schooling fish and also firefish if u can keep them from jumping out of the tank and there is some good color to them
Lee
Member
Ooooh, 3-4 feedings for all Anthias? Or are you referring to the purple queen? Right now I feed every other day, (only 4 fish total) but I will bump that up to once a day when I stock the tank further. But 3-4 times per day probably won't work for me. I feel like 3-4 feedings per day would just lead to an algae free for all
Lee
Member
Firefish; that's a great suggestion; didn't think of them. There are some nicely colored firefish. I have the Aqueon Versa Top, which is a pretty sturdy lid. It takes a small tug to open
engineer goby
Has been struck by the ban stick
Ravenfan84
Member
Yea no matter what I will always have 3 to 5 firefish in my tank as long as I have a reef I love the red and white ones and the purple ones but I think depending on where u shop the red and white ones only run about $20 a piece and the purple $35ish so not a huge beating when it comes to that but def one of my favs
engineer goby
Has been struck by the ban stick
This might be a stupid question but would the red ones school with the purple? A variety of them would be really cool.
Ravenfan84
Member
Honestly I dont know lol never tried it but now that u mentioned it I may give that a go just to see cant really see why not basically the same fish for the most part
Lee
Member
You have no trouble keeping them in groups? I picked up 2 red/white Firefish and they appear to be beefing over territory. Only one is out at a time, but it has been switching. And the one that is hiding doesn't come out during feeding, so I suspect one of them is going to be dead soon.
Lee
Member
And the Coral Beauty is dead... Ever since I added the Hippo, the CB has spent almost all of his time swimming around the rocks. You'd really have to hunt to even catch a glimpse of him. I thought nothing of it, as he has always been a cave dweller, but when he didn't come out for feeding the last 4 days, I knew something was up. I still saw him alive and well as late as last night. But tonight, fish corpse. Very strange.
So all 3 of the fish that I moved from my previous tank died within a month, yet the new additions are thriving. Strange considering the water parameters are better than the previous tank that they all lived in for so many years.
So all 3 of the fish that I moved from my previous tank died within a month, yet the new additions are thriving. Strange considering the water parameters are better than the previous tank that they all lived in for so many years.
Lee
Member
In case you can't tell, he's a monster. He's probably a full 6" in length, if not longer. Nothing better than a massive Blue Tang. Actually I had a massive African yellow belly blue tang a few years ago, and he was amazing, but this time I was too impatient to wait and order a yellow belly so I went with a standard Regal
Ravenfan84
Member
i love that rock setup that u have in the front did u make that urself or did u buy it like that ? i like the stack look it has little cave and all im sure u can find a small goby to call that home