Please help a brother fish keeper in need

[Cappuccino]

I am so excited and extremely nervous, I just purchased a 210 gallon fish tank to be set up as a salt water tank. Well now I am going to need all your help, this will be my first saltwater tank and your advice will be greatly appreciated. Besides, it is your fault for having such beautiful saltwater setups. LOL...

I would really appreciate any suggestions for stocking this aquarium in the future.

 

[BIGgourami]

with that tank you have a lot of options:
you can do a few large, predatory fish
or a bunch of small fish
if you're doing the small fish let me know i'll pm you a greatlist that i want to do for a similar sized tank.

 

[Cappuccino]

I am thinking that I want to have a tank full of colors, but on the other hand, I have always dreamt of owning a shark and stuff like that. At this point I am so open, that your advice would be greatly appreciated. Also this tank comes with a fluval fx5. I know it is a pretty good filter and this might be a really stupid question but how do I use a protein skimmer and UV without a sump?

 

[freeNINETY9]

protein skimmers can hang on the back. fluval is good for moving water but your main filter will be live rock and ideally youll want to have 200 or so lbs of it for your tank. what i did was bought like 1/3 live rock and 2/3 base rock and let the live stuff move onto the nonlive. i left the light on longer and dropped a few prawns in to decay and eventually all the rock had nice purple algae on it as wel as some microorganisms so i didnt pay a ton of money for the rock.

as far as stocking it, you could do bigger fish like a volitan lion, picasso trigger, snowflake eel, and maybe a puffer. or you could get just one beast fish like a panther grouper, a huge angel, or a small shark.

as far as smaller fish go, clowns (preferable a proven pair), dwarf angels (one per tank), small hawkfish, bangai cardinals, gobies/blennys, jawfish, dwarf lions, valentini puffers, small wrasses, and others are all game. not that they can all go together but see what you want for sure and we can let you know which fish can do alright with it. good luck man.

 

[mach_six]

I am thinking that I want to have a tank full of colors, but on the other hand, I have always dreamt of owning a shark and stuff like that. At this point I am so open, that your advice would be greatly appreciated. Also this tank comes with a fluval fx5. I know it is a pretty good filter and this might be a really stupid question but how do I use a protein skimmer and UV without a sump?

You need to look into getting a HOB (hang on back) protein skimmers, these are standalone units. I don't think a UV is necessary but depends on what you want to stock it with.

I would suggest a reef setup for a tank that large anything else won't have that wow factor for your guests.

Lighting is also a factor, you'll still need some decent lights for some good coralline algae growth and possibly corals.

If you don't want to spend money for the lights then go with FO otherwise you'll need to invest in some PC (powercompact) or MH (metal halide) lighting. MH is overkill for just live rock but if you decide to go with corals you'll need it.

The filter you have is not useful for saltwater tank beyond fish only. It is only good for collecting particles otherwise. I woudl have gone with a wet/dry unit instead if that was an option but too late for that. If you go with enough live rock you won't even need run any filter and instead just a few large powerheads for water movement.

Just be aware of the added costs of running a saltwater tank beyond fish only.

 

[Cappuccino]

There is my new 210 fish tank. Help you give me suggestions.

 

[chrisdef15]

Sorry but get rid of the red rocks would be my first suggestion.
If you wanted a shark you could probably do a small species in there what are the dimensions??
In a tank that big there is heaps of stuff you can have. Do you want monsters or more of a reef type tank??

 

[craig]

If you want sharks you have too many rocks. First of all you have to cycle the tank completely before you even think of getting a shark. And you are going to need more than an FX5 for a shark . They put out alot of waste. Get about 30 Damsels or a couple of baby Spotted Groupers to cycle your tank. Remember it can take from 6 weeks to 6months to fully cycle a saltwater tank. Don't try to rush the cycle, it takes time.

 

[BIGgourami]

are any of those rocks live? i would get at least 10lbs in there just to seed the other rock. other wise it will take forever to get stuff growing in there.
yeah i would get rid of the lava rock too. fish seem to scratch themselves on it too easily. have you finalized what kind of setup you're going for yet?

 

[Fish Finder]

Where in NY are you? If your on long island you could come by my shop and we can chat one on one about what you want to do and what you can do.