Chicago Johnny
Community Member
- Joined
- Sep 26, 2025
- Messages
- 35
- Reaction score
- 40
- Location
- Floresville
- What state or country do you live in
- Texas
I am just getting into saltwater. Have been in freshwater for 35 plus years and have always wanted to do saltwater. I am setting up a 46 bowfront for use as a quarantine/holding tank and a 250 for my main tank. They will be reef tanks with some fish. Will be buying a 100lb of live rock for the 46 to start it off. For the 250 I have 200 pounds of Instant Ocean dry rock, and will add 300-350 pounds of live rock once it comes in and I get it set up. I have been reading on your forum for months doing research and getting some information. Also my LFS owner has been into saltwater for quite a while and is also very informative.
I have seen the live rock debate and have read many a thread. I will post my experiences on here to maybe help out some other people. Also am planning on buying most of my live rock from Gulf live rock, and may buy a little from Tampa Bay Saltwater to see if it is really any better. If I do that I will include pictures of each for people to see the difference.
If anyone also has any ideas of fish that are reef safe and also invert friendly let me know, and pictures also help out a lot. I will include a list of what I have researched and thought would do good in a reef tank. You can also let me know if I am going to make a huge mistake and should not include any of the mentioned critters or fish.
clean up crew - porcelain crabs, pompom crabs, caribbean blue leg hermits, halloween hermits, peppermint shrimp, cerith snails, nerite snails, and a couple conches
fish-2 pair clownfish, yellow watchman goby, blue spot jawfish, pink spotted watchman goby, black sailfin blenny, purple tang, powder blue tang, pair banggai cardinals, 2 fiji leopard wrasse, 3-4 white banded possum wrasse
Would also like to add a clam or 2 after the tank is settled in for a while
I know the goby and blenny will need their space, my tank is 6 foot long, 3 foot wide and 2 foot tall.
Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experiences. JIM
I have seen the live rock debate and have read many a thread. I will post my experiences on here to maybe help out some other people. Also am planning on buying most of my live rock from Gulf live rock, and may buy a little from Tampa Bay Saltwater to see if it is really any better. If I do that I will include pictures of each for people to see the difference.
If anyone also has any ideas of fish that are reef safe and also invert friendly let me know, and pictures also help out a lot. I will include a list of what I have researched and thought would do good in a reef tank. You can also let me know if I am going to make a huge mistake and should not include any of the mentioned critters or fish.
clean up crew - porcelain crabs, pompom crabs, caribbean blue leg hermits, halloween hermits, peppermint shrimp, cerith snails, nerite snails, and a couple conches
fish-2 pair clownfish, yellow watchman goby, blue spot jawfish, pink spotted watchman goby, black sailfin blenny, purple tang, powder blue tang, pair banggai cardinals, 2 fiji leopard wrasse, 3-4 white banded possum wrasse
Would also like to add a clam or 2 after the tank is settled in for a while
I know the goby and blenny will need their space, my tank is 6 foot long, 3 foot wide and 2 foot tall.
Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experiences. JIM
