Office Tanks

kangadrew · Oct 15, 2015

Hey guys, my uncle has "hired" me to set him up a few tanks for around his office. By that I mean a total of 10 separate tanks! He wants them around his office - 2 9x9x9 Cube Tanks (custom built), a 20 Gallon Tank, a 60 Gallon Cube, a 29 gallon reef tank, a 55 gallon reef tank, a 12-gallon Fluval Edge, a custom-built 22x13x8 frag tank, a 280 gallon reef tank, and to finish it off, a 400 gallon reef! The small cubes will be on his favorite worker's desks, the 20 gallon at the receptionist's desk, the 60 gallon for the conference room, the 29 and 55 gallon tanks for his office, the 12 gallon and frag tank for the fish room, the 280 gallon in the bigger conference room, and the 400 gallon in the waiting room.

So far, he's sent me a stocking list that he wants, and I feel like they're pretty good so far. He's supposed to get the ones that he didn't finish to me by Saturday. So far, we have:

The 29 Gallon

12 corals (somewhere around there)
Bubble Tip Anemone
20 Blue Leg Hermits
Coral Banded Shrimp
Cleaner Shrimp
3 Green Tipped Anemones
2 Keyhole Limpets
11 Turbo Snails
11 Astrea Snails
11 Margarita Snails
Purple and Blue Maxima Clam
Percula Clownfish
Blue Damselfish
Longnose Hawkfish
Yellow Clown Goby
Golden Wrasse
Blue Mandarin Goby (don't worry there's a fuge w/ gammarus amphipods)
Flame Angelfish

One of the 9x9x9 Cubes

3 Corals (he's set on a sun coral and a few other frags that will stay manageable)
3 Orange Ball Anemones
3 Trochus Snails
Orangethroat Pikeblenny

The frag tank

Nothing permanent, just a tank to grow frags, plus quarantine for larger fish like tangs

The 12 gallon

Nothing permanent, just places to keep corals and hiding spots for fish - he's got one laying around and wants to use it for quarantine

That's where I'm standing with these right now. He's a pretty experienced freshwater guy, and he's got an experienced reefkeeper caring for the tanks - he literally hired somebody to come in and take care of the tanks (mostly the 2 big ones though)!

Cameron · Oct 15, 2015

Wow, that's gotta be one heck of a budget to have on these set ups!

Pete polyp · Oct 15, 2015

There's going to be problems in the 29. The damsel will become aggressive, the wrasse is not reef safe, he coral banded shrimp will kill the cleaner shrimp, too small for a longnose hawk, the bubble tip will eventually grow to about the entire size of the tank, too small for a flame angel, Margarita snails will die in a few months, way too many snails.

kangadrew · Oct 16, 2015

Pete polyp said:
There's going to be problems in the 29. The damsel will become aggressive, the wrasse is not reef safe, he coral banded shrimp will kill the cleaner shrimp, too small for a longnose hawk, the bubble tip will eventually grow to about the entire size of the tank, too small for a flame angel, Margarita snails will die in a few months, way too many snails.

So do you think he should upgrade to keep the flame angel? That's the main reason he wants this tank. The 30 gallon is about the same size, but it's 6 inches longer. The 33 gallon is 4 feet, and so is the 40 long. Would a 33 gallon work for this list? Not too worried about the damsel being aggressive, nor the wrasse acting up (although if there's something that looks like them that's reef safe, then by all means recommend it to me). I've kept those shrimp together without incident if they have their own niches, and the anemone can be removed when it splits (also the bigger tank should help). Not too worried about margaritas either.

kangadrew · Oct 16, 2015

Cameron said:
Wow, that's gotta be one heck of a budget to have on these set ups!

I think it's like $150,000. But it's more than just aquariums - he's redoing his office, the conference rooms, and the waiting room too.

AlexG · Oct 16, 2015

I would get the budget together for just the tanks and not the remodeling. Is maintenance part of the deal? Is there a plan to store RO/DI water on site?

kangadrew · Oct 16, 2015

AlexG said:
I would get the budget together for just the tanks and not the remodeling. Is maintenance part of the deal? Is there a plan to store RO/DI water on site?

The tanks come first he says, so anything that is needed for the tanks will be used. So it really doesn't matter how much they are. Maintenance is part of the deal, he found an experienced guy to help for $15 an hour, so around $45 a day, around 16 grand a year. Seems like a bit much, lol. RO/DI will be stored in "brute" trashcans, along with mixed saltwater for water changes. There's going to be fish rooms behind the big tanks, to make maintenance easier on everyone. NOt sure how much RO/DI he wants to have in stock, but a few hundred gallons for sure. I'll check about that later.

kangadrew · Oct 16, 2015

UPDATE:

55 Gallon

4 Blue leg hermits
4 Astrea snails and 10 ceriths
2 Peppermint shrimp
10 Corals
Firefish
Feather Duster
Yellow Clown Goby
Starry Blenny
Some other fish (recommendations?)

Cameron · Oct 16, 2015

Maybe a couple of clowns? You can never go wrong with clowns, IMO

kangadrew · Oct 16, 2015

60 Cube:

Ocellaris Clownfish
Onyx Clownfish
4 Bubble Tip Anemones
2 Rose Bubble Tip Anemones
2 Ruby Red Anemones

kangadrew · Oct 18, 2015

280 Gallon

Definite:

Blonde Naso Tang
2 Yellow Belly Hippo Tangs
Purple Tang
Powder Blue Tang
Female Blue Mandarin Dragonet
Lawnmower Blenny
Percula Clownfish
Australian Multicolor Dottyback
2 Banggai Cardinalfish
Golden Eel

Hopefully:

Another Purple Tang
Midas Blenny
Flame Angelfish
Starry Blenny
2 More Banggai Cardinalfish
Black Ocellaris Clownfish
Another Percula Clownfish
Twin Spot Hogfish
Green Abalone
CUC (5 emerald crabs, 20 electric blue stripe hermits, 20 halloween hermits, 20 red leg hermits)
Ultra Maxima Clam
Corals! (mostly SPS, with probably 30 Acroporas, 10 of (montipora, pocillopora, and stylophora), 2 brain corals (green and favites), hammer coral, torch coral, trumpet coral, lobo brain, 2 cup corals, and a colony of blue actinodiscus mushrooms)

kangadrew · Oct 18, 2015

Update on the 280:

If possible, he would like to add some more livestock (in such a large tank I doubt they would be too much of a problem,since the stocking is pretty low right now):

3 regular ocellaris clownfish
Another blue mandarin dragonet
2 green target mandarin dragonets
Six line wrasse
Threadfin anthias
Coral beauty
2 blue damselfish
1 regular naso tang (in place of the blonde that he originally wanted, so just a single naso tang)
Another blue hippo tang
Longnose hawkfish
Red elongated dottyback
Royal gramma
Yellow clown goby
2 serpent starfish
2 fighting conchs
Another maxima clam
Feather duster
More corals, just an assortment of hards and softs including milleopora, zoanthids, ricordea, and plate coral

I don't feel like adding those fish will be a problem, since they're mostly tiny fish (except for the tang and I guess the angelfish)

kangadrew · Oct 18, 2015

Other 9x9x9 Cube will be a zoanthid-dominated reef, with a few other small inhabitants:

17 zoanthid frags
Ultra maxima clam and a normal maxima clam
Ricordea
2 astrea snails
2 stomatella snails
Tiny serpent starfish
Seahorse!
Cleaner shrimp
Plate coral
Yellow clown goby
Dendrophylia coral

kangadrew · Oct 18, 2015

20 Gallon Tank (lots of corals in this one - what's the best tank shape? long, high, extra high, hex, etc?):

- 2 black onyx percula clownfish
- Mystery wrasse
- Pipefish (good species?)
- Purple firefish
- 4 Naked gobies (anywhere these are for sale?)
- 3 emerald crabs
- Tigertail cucumber
- 2 Tonga nassarius snails
- 5 astreas
- Fighting conch
- Christmas tree worms
- Rose bubble tip anemone
- 2 favias
- 2 hammer corals
- 6 zoanthids
- 3 acans
- 2 gorgonians
- 27 mini carpet anemones
- 4 ricordea
- Fungia coral
- Xenia
- Princess polyp
- Porite
- Pink lemonade acropora
- Red planet acropora
- Purple monster acropora
- 2 assorted acropora
- 2 acropora millepora
- Montipora capricornis
- Assorted montipora
- Elkhorn montipora

kangadrew · Oct 18, 2015

Finally, the 400 gallon (lol it looks like he's really been looking at corals!):

Long list of corals:
- Soft Corals/Sponges
  - 13 assorted zoanthids
  - Yellow sponge
  - Purple gorgonian
  - Golden gorgonian
  - Tan gorgonian
- SPS
  - Montipora
    - Capricornis
    - Undata
    - Digitata
      - Red
      - Green
    - Vericosa
    - Unknown
      - Purple rim w/ green plate
    - Sunset
    - Superman
    - Chili Pepper
  - Birdsnest
    - 2 Assorted
    - Sour Apple
    - Bird of Paradise
    - Ponape
    - Unknown
      - Green polyps
  - Psammacora
    - Green
    - Honey Brown
  - Blue Ridge
  - Pavona
    - Scrolling
    - Green
  - Acropora
    - Tortuosa
      - Blue Tort
      - Oregon Tort
    - Pink Lemonade
    - Blue Tipped Stag
    - Tricolor
    - Green Slimer
    - Loripes
    - Lokani
    - Samoensis
    - Rosario
    - Austera
    - Valida
    - Millepora
      - 4 Assorted
      - Pink w/ blue tips
    - Loisetta
    - Turaki
    - Deepwater
  - Rainbow Stylophora
  - Porites
    - Branching
    - Plating
- LPS
  - Hammer
    - Pink Branching
    - Green
  - Green Torch
  - Green Frogspawn
  - Candy Cane
  - 2 Duncansammia
  - Tubastrea
    - Assorted
    - Black Branching
  - Dendrophyllia
  - Acanthastrea
    - 3 Echinata
    - 5 Lordhowenis
  - Chalice
    - Pink
    - Dotted
    - Spotted
    - Peach
    - Blue/Gray
    - Green
    - Yellow Spot
  - Platygyra pini
  - Leptastrea
  - 2 Lobophyllia
  - Nepthea
  - Cyphastrea
  - Favia
    - 2 Assorted
    - Green and Gold
  - Australian Tongue Coral
  - 21 Fungia Plates
  - Yellow Scroll Coral
  - Puffy Maze Coral
  - Lithophyllon
Invertebrates
- Cowries
  - 2 Assorted
  - Tiger
- 6 Fighting Conchs
- 5 Tigertail Sea Cucumbers
- Snails
  - 1 Mexican Turbo
  - 50 Astrea
  - 5 Large Ceriths
- Crabs
  - 25 Blue Leg Hermits
  - 5 Emerald Crabs
- Starfish
  - Red Serpent
  - Banded Serpent
  - 2 Brown Serpent
  - Black Brittle
- Anemones
  - Bubble Tip
    - 4 Assorted
    - 2 Rose
  - 2 Ruby Reds
Fish
- Tangs
  - Naso
  - Purple
  - 5 Yellows
  - Yellow Eye Kole Tang
- Clowns
  - Ocellaris
  - Onyx Percula
  - 11 Skunk
- 7 Lyretail Anthias
- 5 Pajama Cardinalfish
- Wrasses
  - 2 Mystery
  - Melanurus
- Orchid Dottyback
- Blue Psychedic Mandarin Dragonet
- 6 Gudgeon Gobies
- Flame Angelfish

Seems like my uncle has really been reading up on his fish and corals, considering I've never even heard of some of those corals!