2 Responses to “i have a 30 gallon saltwater tank can i do reef with fish or is that to much for a 30 gallon tank ?”

1. Jessie Says:
   February 3rd, 2009 at 4:58 pm

   Until your tank is mature, you should stick with FOWLR (fish only with live rock) Then in 6 months to a year, start reading up on corals that can live in the tank you have made. Make sure that you have proper lighting, a good filter and a skimmer, cycle your tank first, there are lots of fish that can go in a 30 gallon tank, but you cannot have a lot of fish in the tank, you do not want water quality to become a problem with corals. You can have all the corals that will fit on your rocks, but you can have gobys, clowns, damsels (yellow tails are the most peaceful and do best in odd numbers.) Just research fish that can thrive in a 30 gallon reef environment.

2. dragonfly_sg Says:
   February 3rd, 2009 at 6:38 pm

   In the long run you have to decide if you want a reef tank or a fish only tank.

   In a reef tank you think about your coral first and get fishes that compliment the coral you have. On the other hand, for a tank where fish is the main focus, you’ll get the fish first then work in tougher corals that can exist with your fishes.

   With a 30 gallon it’s takes alittle more effort to maintain the water quailty for a reef tank, maybe a soft coral tank with tougher corals like zoa, mushrooms, hammers, blasto and the works should make it slightly easier.

   For a fish only tank, you’re only limited to species that doesn’t grow too big, like damsel, clowns, small wrasse, goby, etc.

   If your lighting is good you can even consider adding clams
   If you have a good skimmer, enough life rocks and willing to do more frequent water changes, you can easily keep 10 to 15 of the smaller fishes. But you have to remember that if the fishes you purchase are larger the less you can get.

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