Setting up a large pred tank with corals

rayn · Feb 26, 2015

If you were going to set up a large tank, 180 or bigger, for predator fish but wanted corals too, how would you go about doing it? What lighting, what filteration?

Thinking along the lines of a couple Lionfish, but then larger ground dwellers like a Inimicus and a Plumieri. Maybe others as I could find them.

I understand sps would pretty much be out, but softies and a few lps would be cool.

What would it take?

cu455 · Feb 26, 2015

Here is a picture of my old reef, I will get a more current picture of. It had snappers, lionfish, eels and a few other things. I ran a 2 bulb t5 fixture for a while but switch to a 4 bulb t5, normal not high output fixture. Most of my filtration was live rock and 2 HOB filters, mostly for mechanical filtration. I had a sump which just added water, no macro, skimmer or filter socks. I will put my growouts in there.

I think soft coral and LPS are very beneficial to a predatory tank. Lionfish, groupers, eels and other predators eat large chunks leaving tons of small particles floating around the tank. The corals will be well fed.

I would set up your tank as you would a FO and add coral. As long as you have OK light it will be fine. I have zoas, shrooms, toadstool and other leathers growing in my fuge under a fluorescent bulb. I also kept some Montis and birdsnest in there for years.

rayn · Feb 26, 2015

So mechanical filteration would be more beneficial here? You said HOB, but I imagine a canister would work too, just keep up on the filters in it.

Wouldn't a large skimmer help as well? These fish are messy, so I would think a skimmer to help pull the funk out.

cu455 · Feb 26, 2015

A skimmer will help. I lost my ventri connection a while ago. Since I lost it I stopped using a skimmer for my reef. A cainister will be fine. I used to use canisters a lot but they are a pain to clean so I stopped. If you want to keep your nitrates low you can throw biopellets in the filter.

tyler1503 · Feb 27, 2015

I would personally just use a big skimmer, lots of live rock and a refugium full of macro algae.
That's pretty much how my current 120 is set up with a few things still being delivered.
It's the nitrates and phosphates I worry about most, then ammonia. All of which should be used up by the biological filtration. More mechanical filtration would be a huge benefit too, but you would have to really clean it out every few days and that's something I don't have time for.