Hello everyone! I've been in the FW game for a few years with a hundred gallon tank, and a few African cichlids (sp?) I kind of neglected my last tank because the 4 most dominant fish kept eating everything introduced to the tank, even their 4x's as big Oscar preddasser. Anyway I was getting ready to move into a new place so I decided to sell the setup and seek out a saltwater set-up. I bought a used 100 gal wave tank from someone on craigslist for $500 bucks which came with stand, tank canopy, two power-heads (wave-makers), and a partial protein hang on skimmer (missing pump). The guy I bought it from had several tanks and assured me it was even simpler than FW to maintain, and he'd help me get started when I was ready. (he never returned my phone-calls after he sold it me….lol) So I had this empty tank sitting around for a couple months while I researched and read through numerous forums. It just seemed so over-whelming, there was SO MANY different types of setups, methods, and options I didn't know where to start. I even placed an add on craigslist looking for someone to come out, set it up and teach me the basics. I had several people respond, but one guy emailed me and recommended a guy who helped him, and I went with him. I only wanted a basic swim tank, no reef, live rock, corals or anything like that. I'm going to be moving again in the next year, and didn't want anything too complicated.
He told me all I needed was a powerful canister filter, power-heads, and a UV filter if I wanted to get it, but could wait till we got things optimized. He recommended Fluval filters, So I seen an add for a guy selling a brand new unopened Fluval FX5 for $200, I bought it, 100 pounds of crushed coral, Instant ocean sea salt mix for 100 gal., hydrometer, heater and that's it!
He came out, washed the crushed coral, mixed the sea-salt w/ tap water mind you (said not to worry about R/O, or filtered water at this time, that its mainly for more sensitive tanks), set up the Fluval and away we went. Once the water was clear he said I could add some damsels ( I know, I know!!) I just recently read about cycling the tank with dead shrimp. I got a little gung-ho and bought 6 yellow-tail damsels (they were on sale) and 2 striped damsels. Tank has been going for about 10 days now, and so far I have lost 1 damsel.
I read quite often, and people suggest that F.O tanks should add live rock for extra filtration, and more importantly for hiding places for the fish. My question is this: Do I really need L.R.? I only want fish, and not that many of them, I'm fine with the fake corals and rocks that you can buy from the LFS, and they seem to provide plenty of hiding places for fish. Can't I get away with just the canister filter, with bio media, and maybe a UV filter? At this point I'm only interested in a basic setup, If the damsels make it, I only want a couple yellow tangs, a lion and a dog-face puffer. Can I get keep these with my current setup?
I have sinced rearranged some things and made more caves and hiding places. I think I did a fairly good job because in the morning when I leave for work I cannot see ANY of the fish.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated,
thanks for looking
-trudawg-