New (Used) Salt Aquarium help.

[stormspike]

I am fairly new to the saltwater aquarium scene. I have had a small fresh (50gal) in the past. I found this huge cylinder tank on a store bankruptcy sale. I was a little leary (A lot of cash for me),but I pulled the trigger and $2k later, brought this beast home. The kids love it! Great Xmas until it leaks :)
It calculates to a 400gal cylinder. The base is a welded rectangular steel powder-coated. There is a GenX pump in base for h20 circulation (with wet/dry, uv lamp). It took a while to get plumbing back into shape, but I just got her filled with R/O and salt is added. I figure I should run about a week before adding a few starters.

What do I need to do to break in? What cheap salt fish should I use? I have a UV replacement lamp on order. Any suggestions for fish, etc? The reef in the middle looks to be a soft, bendy material.

Lights off:


Lights on:


THanks!!

[DarkWing6]

I can't help you with your questions, but that aquarium is awesome!

[325_e30]

oh man growing up my dad used to have a HUGE salt tank. That thing is AWESOME though! You can get a couple a nice fish for under 30$ each. click this for fish and prices
I forget the majority of the fish he has but i remember the eels stuck out. But i remember they used to jump out alot. haha

[xlr8rbob]

nice set up.

you honestly should let it cycle for a few (4-6) weeks before adding any expensive live stock. start off with some hermit crabs and a few damsels(cheap yet ultra tough fish) to help get some good bacteria in the tank.

yellow tangs, clown fish, and royal gramma are great starter fish. they have great color and are pretty tough. they should do great in a tank that size. dont get too many damsels since they tend to be aggressive and are pain in the ass to catch once you dont want them anymore.

a cool schooling fish would be awesome in your tank since they can swim in circles. Blue tangs or anthias come to mind.

[E30SPDFRK]

Looks just like the tanks at the Fort Lauderdale airport.

[e34john]

Cycle the tank with chromis or the cheap kind of damsels. That thing would make an awesome seahorse tank, but that would be a little boring.

Is the decoration glued in? Maybe you can change them out with real live rock and corals as time goes.

[smooth]

dont put tangs in that tank, they need long runs to school and grow comfortably.
I guess as little babies they might be ok, but it would be very short time before the conditions became cruel. chromis will swim as a group, not really school, but you can get blue and green ones for some variety for less than $5 per fish.

I'm not really a fan of cycling with fish in it, however. Other options are put some dead shrimp in there.

[Raxe]

Beautiful tank!

Edit: Are you going to keep that base? Please tell me you're going to paint it. :P

[BMWDriver]

the bet way to cycle is to just throw a regular old peel and eat shrimp in. it will break down and get the bacteria spreading to kick off the cycle much faster then a few small fish living in a hostile environment.

[Danny]

Calling Jflip to this thread.