My birthday is coming up in February, and I'm hotly debating aquarium items to purchase. That's where you guys come in.

I've been thinking of purchasing a hexagonal aquarium to replace the 29 gallon in my living room. The hex tanks up less room and would be 13 more gallons of water if I got the 42 gallon hex.

I'd like to take the 29 gallon and replace the 10 gallon in my office, and put a sump underneath... probably 20 gallons. If I don't get the 42 gallon hex, I'd at least like to get 2 20 gallons, one to be used as a sump. So, the following is a list of what I would like to purchase:

2 Twenty Gallon Aquariums - $20 to $30 each
2 Boxes of Reef Rock at 40lbs/ea - $44.99 @ Petsolutions.com
CD-14065 Marine 36" Coralife Aqualight Single Compact Fluorescent Strip Lights - $84.99 (I've got the double freshwater series and love it!)
Coralife Super Skimmer 65 Gallon - $87.99
Quiet One Pump 2200 9.8 ft 1" 581 41 - $37.59 (For Sump)
10,000°K 96W Bulb For My Coralife Double PC Light - $35.99

Grand Total Of: 376.54

I may even purchase a 30 gallon instead of a 20 gallon...

Unless I can sell my breeding pair of parrots or any of my car audio equipment, then that's a bit out of my budget. I could probably safely bank on $300 dollars for purchasing equipment... $100 dollars of that probably being a bribe to talk my wife into letting me bring ANOTHER aquarium into the house, haha!

Anyway, 29 gallon or 30 gallon with 20 gallon sump FOWLR. I'm going to leave the 29 gallon and possibly 10 gallon I've got now as a reef.

Instead of the coralife, let's go with the Single Satellite Compact Fluorescent Fixtures... it's 96 watts with 1 lunar light. Really what I prefer to have... It's 99.99... I may even go with the 1 65 watt light with 1 lunar light, and that ones only 79.99. So give or take 20 dollars on that grand total. I'd move the coralife fixture over to the FOWLR tank, and then put that satelite fixture over the 29 gallon reef.

Now.... what do you guys think about the setup? I need a skimmer for the 29 gallon... probably going to purchase a miniflotor but I'm not sure. The Coralife Super Skimmer will definitely be going into the sump on the 30 gallon, because I'd like to over stock it a little bit.

I'm going to purchase all that live rock to cure it and use most of it in my sump/refugium and new 30 gallon. I'll probably sell/trade the rest of it once it's cured and turned into live rock with my LFS for some fish credits. :D

As far as stocking... It will be 50 total gallons of water with PLENTY of live rock and the sump/refugium/super skimmer actively working... if not to clean up the water, definitely to run up my electric bill.

I want an aggressive FOWLR tank with maybe one or two showfish... nothing venomous, but something interesting. Some sort of trigger maybe. Anyway, something aggressive. Non-reef friendly but very interesting to look at. Ease of care is a big plus as well. I'm looking for a few cool fish. I've got my 29 gallon reef to play around with, and hopefully I'll keep my 10 gallon reef as well... If not, I've got a firefish going in the 29 gallon and a damsel going in the FOWLR.

Now, post your ideas and comments! I've only got a short time to plan and prepare for all this, so I need your help!

Size of the aquarium is a BIG factor. We live in a mobile home at the moment, and room is a luxury. My wife has promised a bigger tank when we move into a bigger house, but I want something new to mess around with now.

So... equipment choices... good? bad?
What should I stock it with?

Thanks guys! Looking forward to hearing from each of you!

Now, after the purchases...

My opinion... get a 125g tank and stand... just my two cents though.

Your 2 cents aren't buying the aquarium, though. ;)

I can't fit a 125 in my house, period. If it's over 36 inches in width or more than 18 inches deep, it can't go in my house.

30 Gallon is 36" wide and 12" deep. 29 gallon is 30" wide and 12" deep.

Either would work, however I prefer the length on the 30.

When we move into our new house, I'm going for a 125 or 150 gallon. I find people giving 75+ gallon aquariums away all the time. I'll DEFINITELY have one of the above, plus a similarly sized sump, BUT, that's all going to happen when I get my new house, not at the moment. So, a 125 is out of the question, for the moment.

Forget tank sizes.... what about the equipment? Good choices? Money well spent? I've got a 300 dollar budget give or take. 375 I might be able to do. It's going to be a stretch, but I think it's possible.

There are not many none reef friendly fish that I can think of for a 29 or 20 gallon tank. I personally don't think any species of Trigger would do well in a 30 gallon tank. Hawkfish are semi aggressive fish that may attack shrimp and other inverts. Flame, Falco, and Longnose Hawkfish would do well in that size tank. Maybe a small Puffer such as a Saddle Valentini would work. Leaf Scorpionfish(Taenianotus triacanthis) is easy to care for once weaned on to prepared foods. They come in a variety of different colors and will consume any small shrimp or fish that it can find. The only downside is that they are venomous. A small Angler might also work well. Really those are all the none reef safe fish that I can think of at the moment that would do well in this size tank. Damsels are aggressive fish and there is a bunch of species that can be kept in a 30g tank. If I was setting up a 30 gallon FOWLR tank I would stock it with a Flame Hawkfish, Cherub Angelfish, and possibly a Tomato or Pink Skunk Clownfish.

For a protein skimmer I would definitely go with the Coralife Super Skimmer. Very reasonably priced and from what I've read they work great. For a FOWLR tank you really don't even need PC lighting as normal output fluorescents would work just fine and cost less. Everything else sounds fine.

Hmm... might be a possibility. I had considered the satelite because of the lunar light, which is something I definitely want. I really need to change the lights on my coralife duoble aqualight.

I guess I could get a double flourescent hood... but that almost runs the same price as the satelite fixture... Then again, I'll just grab some T5's and that will cut some costs.

Quiet One Pump 2200 9.8 ft 1" 581 41 - $37.59 (For Sump)
2 Boxes of Reef Rock at 40lbs/ea - $44.99 @ Petsolutions.com
Coralife Super Skimmer 65 Gallon - $87.99
10,000°K 96W Bulb For My Coralife Double PC Light - $35.99
Actintic 96W Bulb For My Coralife Double PC Light - $35.99

Still trying to figure out the final list if I do decide to get the 20 gallon and the 30 gallon... Might just do a 10 gallon sump... Really depends on how much everything costs. I think I can get a 29 gallon for 40-50 dollars...

Maybe I'll do some other type of FOWLR. I didn't really want to go with the venomous fish due to my clumsiness... the lionfish and scorpionfish both cause tissue damage, so that's not fun. I would like to try some larger fish... Perhaps a few larger fish like a Maroon Clown... different angelfish....

Not sure... If you we're starting a FO or any other type of FOWLR, what would you do? Since I can't go with any of the cooler triggers, etc, then I will just stick with some of the other species. I would prefer one or two that get to 6" plus, though. Perhaps an angelfish or two? Those would be cool....

Those are reef safe, though, right?

Well a single flourescent hood is $33.99-36.99 depending on if you purchase the 30" or 36". Since you want to set up a FO or FOWLR it would work out fine and cost much less than a PC fixture. At Bigals you can purchase a Current USA 30" 65w PC fixture for $63.99 or a Current USA 36" 96w PC fixture for $79.99. Those are pretty good prices and would illuminate the tank much better than NO flourescents would if your willing to spend more.

Yeah with venomous fish you always have to be cautious when working inside the tank. Both the Lionfish and Scorpionfish are slow moving fish and mainly perch on structure. One of the things you need to do with venomous animals is always know where they are when you have your hands in the tank. A Fuzzy Dwarf Lion would be a great fish for a 29 or 30 gallon tank if you do decide to go with a venomous fish.

A couple other fish to think about would be a Harlequin Bass(Serranus tigrinus) and Lantern Bass(Serranus baldwini). They both reach a length of around 3-5" and will consume small fish as well as inverts. I've personally seen a Harlequin Bass which was housed with a Snowflake Eel at a local fish store and wow is it a beautiful fish. Athough mostly black and white with some yellow or green it still is a nice looking fish. Here are some images on them: http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=Se...F-8&sa=N&tab=wi

I would personally set up a FOWLR instead of a FO. The reason being is that I think live rock is essential to any marine tank. It provides so many great benefits that I can't think running a tank without some. As far as equipment I would do exactly what your doing even use the same protein skimmer. For lighting I would probably go with a Current USA 65w fixture because it is reasonably priced and comes with a nice moonlight. I would have a .5-1 inch fine sandbed with 20-30 pounds of live rock, probably Fiji or Marshall Island. Stocking a 29-30 gallon tank with none reef safe fish is difficult. I would go with a Hawkfish, Pygmy Angelfish, and either a Clownfish or Harlequin bass. Could replace the Hawkfish or Basslet with a Dwarf Lionfish.

A small Centropyge Angelfish such as a Cherub or Flame should do great in your tank and are very active as well as colorful. They should however be introduced a fairly established tank of 6 months. Angelfish can also be sensitive to water conditions and need a varied diet which includes some greens. Now once acclimated properly and feeding they are hardy fish just make sure you keep water quality high. Housing two Centropyge Angelfish together in such a small tank isn't a good idea as they more than likely will fish even till one dies. I've seen it happen before in larger tanks so keeping one would be best.

The smaller Angelfish like the ones I mentioned earlier are generally reef safe although they may nip at coral. Many aquarists have had great success with keeping them in reef tanks. I wouldn't consider them not reef safe however they are very nice fish.

Thanks for the great info, PB. I think I change my mind more than anyone else I Know. I just got done rearranging the tank. I'll have to post some pictures.

Here's what I did....

I removed the XP2 canister filter since all it did was take up tank space and shelf space. I was running it empty.

I then arranged the rock into two seperate "mountains" in each corner, and made a hole so that the powerhead the rocks we're hiding could provide current.

I then bought two heavy duty timers for my coralife light. I'm having one bulb come on at 12 and stay on until 10, and the next bulb come on at 2 and stay on til 8. It hopefully will somewhat simulate dusk to dawn.

I then moved almost all of my live rock to the 29 gallon. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with my new 10 gallon, yet. It's still got quite a bit of live rock in it, just no power head. Right now, theres no flow. I'm not sure what that's going to do to the zoanthids. I'm thinking about putting them back in the 29 gallon. How much flow is required for live rock? Does it need any flow at all? I'm sure it does to pass water over the rock, right?

I moved all of my fish to the 29 gallon. They all seem to be MUCH more active and thorougly enjoying the new setup. I'm not sure what I'm going to do about the heavily stocked conditions, however I hope to have my skimmer and sump setup by next month. Right now, the following fish / inverts are in the 29 gallon:

Pair Occellaris Clowns
Yellow Watchman Goby
Firefish Goby
Yellowtail Damsel
Blue Damsel
Two Peppermint Shrimp
Bubbletip Anemone (Still trying to revive him. He still looks like he's lost most of his tentacles for some reason.)
5-7 snails and 3-4 hermit crabs

The zoanthids are still in my 10 gallon, however I'm thinking about moving them over. All the fish we're put in at the same time, and they all seem to have made their own territories. I don't think I'm going to have any trouble, and with the fish as small as they are, I think everything will be fine. The firefish is much more active than he was in the 10 gallon. I'm sure the other fish are acting as dither fish.

I guess only time will tell. I just put the fish in a minute ago, so I'll post again tomorrow to let you know how they are doing.

As far as equipment goes...

I've got the 192w Coralife Aqualight with two 6700k bulbs (which are being replaced with a 10k and actintic bulb in a month), a MJ600 powerhead, a MJ1200 powerhead, and a 100w visitherm heater(?). Not sure on the exact wattage. Haven't checked it in a while.

Needless to say, it cut back on alot of the products in the tank. The tank looks much cleaner now, to say the least. Having that giant spray bar and what not really looked unsightly. I hid the powerheads behind the rock, as I mentioned earlier, so it looks much more attractive. The water's a little cloudy from moving everything around, and not having the filter kind of hurts, but I'm sure it will all clear up by tomorrow. I know the skimmer is going to make a HUGE difference.

I think by having both the lights on timers, and running BOTH lights now, that the anemone is really going to benefit. I hear they like a LOT of light. I've got him up near the top of the tank, about 6" from the top. With both lights on, he should be getting plenty. I'm hoping he'll perk up, which I'm sure he will. I'm going to check into those angels when I get my bigger tank. I'd definitely like to have one. I'm going to check out the bass, also. I've never seen one, but they sound interesting.

Thanks again for the helpful info and links, PB.

Yes live rock requires some water movement in order to help keep detritus from building up within the crevises of the rock. Water movement over and through the rock is essential to the biological filtration capabilities of the live rock. For a FOWLR tank I would aim for around 15x turnover.

I thought about running a HOB on my 10 gallon to keep the water turned over, but I'm not sure if an Aquaculture HOB will work in saltwater. If not, I'll just throw the other pieces of live rock in the 29 gallon as well. I need to get another powerhead. Hopefully I'll have a few more in a month or so.