(for those not interested in reading, I tried to mark out specific questions w/ #’s)
I live in Hawaii, and anyone who has lived in Hawaii knows that the regulations on owning an aquarium are so heavy and thick, that they basically deter people away from creating a successful tank (a double edged sword). And rightfully so, although that’s another story completely, and I’ll keep that brief.
I completely understand the importance of making it known that I’m following every Hawaiian law and regulation, and that I have the utmost respect for these laws and regulations. The laws and regulations in say, somewhere like Florida, may not exactly match up with the laws in Hawaii.
Seeing as how very little is imported, very little information about advanced aquarium keeping in Hawaii is known. Hawaii is pretty much king to crushed coral substrate with gravel filters and biowheel filtration systems. I want to part from my previous ways of aquarium keeping, and try something I’ll have a little more success with, and will also be much more rewarding. However, this means much of my aquarium will have to be done unconventionally, and will likely take a little longer to do. But time is not an immediate concern (5-6 years down the line, maybe ).
So I ask the members of Aquarium Advice, to help me a tad here and a tad there, to help me form my tank, basically from scratch. I have two 55gallon’s sitting in my house – I decided to start out in the middle ground as far as size is concerned, because I don’t want a 100+ gallon disaster.
I’ve talked w/ FishFreek previously in AA’s chat, and he’s been very helpful, we came up with several solutions for things such as live rock and live sand, which cannot be purchased online.
My live rock will eventually become live rock, it’ll be base rock seeded w/ ocean algae .. and my sandbed, will be seeded w/ live sand from the ocean, preferably a decent amount off shore of course. (1.) I came to realize though, that it’s not likely Hawaii has imported sand, and the sand offered at hardware stores is left outside all day, and shoveled either into bags or into the back of your truck when it’s bought. Assuming I go there and the sand doesn’t look horribly dirty and what not, will this suffice? Is there a way to wash the sand?
Secondly, my cleanup crew. Due to the fact that sand is not commonly used in Aquariums in Hawaii, it’ll be difficult to form a cleanup crew. (2.) Snails and Blennies/Gobies can be acquired, will this suffice, or will I need hermit crabs and the like as well?
Does anyone have experience with the following species of Blennies/Gobies? I assume the majority of Blennies/Gobies feed heavily on algae and these are some species that I can likely get a hold of.
1. Scarface Blenny (Cirripectes vanderbilti) (this would probably be my preferred choice, although I’ve seen several big ones in the wild, and perhaps the several fish books I own are wrong when they list it’s size)
2. Zebra Blenny (Istiblennius zebra)
3. Golden Green Goby (Priolepis aureoviridis)
(I’ll list several more if the above won’t do the job of a cleaner effectively)
(3.) Do cleaner shrimp put enough of a dent in the waste to be relied on?
The last thing I want is a slop of a sandbed due to the fact that it’s not being properly cleaned.
Anyway, I felt I’ve already said a bit too much. I’d be thrilled if I at least stirred some interest and could get some help. Any and all advice will be helpful. And instead of making multiple threads, I’ll keep all my questions to one thread. Thanks in advance to anyone who can help.
I apologize for it’s length, but it’s not something that can be covered in several sentences
I live in Hawaii, and anyone who has lived in Hawaii knows that the regulations on owning an aquarium are so heavy and thick, that they basically deter people away from creating a successful tank (a double edged sword). And rightfully so, although that’s another story completely, and I’ll keep that brief.
I completely understand the importance of making it known that I’m following every Hawaiian law and regulation, and that I have the utmost respect for these laws and regulations. The laws and regulations in say, somewhere like Florida, may not exactly match up with the laws in Hawaii.
Seeing as how very little is imported, very little information about advanced aquarium keeping in Hawaii is known. Hawaii is pretty much king to crushed coral substrate with gravel filters and biowheel filtration systems. I want to part from my previous ways of aquarium keeping, and try something I’ll have a little more success with, and will also be much more rewarding. However, this means much of my aquarium will have to be done unconventionally, and will likely take a little longer to do. But time is not an immediate concern (5-6 years down the line, maybe ).
So I ask the members of Aquarium Advice, to help me a tad here and a tad there, to help me form my tank, basically from scratch. I have two 55gallon’s sitting in my house – I decided to start out in the middle ground as far as size is concerned, because I don’t want a 100+ gallon disaster.
I’ve talked w/ FishFreek previously in AA’s chat, and he’s been very helpful, we came up with several solutions for things such as live rock and live sand, which cannot be purchased online.
My live rock will eventually become live rock, it’ll be base rock seeded w/ ocean algae .. and my sandbed, will be seeded w/ live sand from the ocean, preferably a decent amount off shore of course. (1.) I came to realize though, that it’s not likely Hawaii has imported sand, and the sand offered at hardware stores is left outside all day, and shoveled either into bags or into the back of your truck when it’s bought. Assuming I go there and the sand doesn’t look horribly dirty and what not, will this suffice? Is there a way to wash the sand?
Secondly, my cleanup crew. Due to the fact that sand is not commonly used in Aquariums in Hawaii, it’ll be difficult to form a cleanup crew. (2.) Snails and Blennies/Gobies can be acquired, will this suffice, or will I need hermit crabs and the like as well?
Does anyone have experience with the following species of Blennies/Gobies? I assume the majority of Blennies/Gobies feed heavily on algae and these are some species that I can likely get a hold of.
1. Scarface Blenny (Cirripectes vanderbilti) (this would probably be my preferred choice, although I’ve seen several big ones in the wild, and perhaps the several fish books I own are wrong when they list it’s size)
2. Zebra Blenny (Istiblennius zebra)
3. Golden Green Goby (Priolepis aureoviridis)
(I’ll list several more if the above won’t do the job of a cleaner effectively)
(3.) Do cleaner shrimp put enough of a dent in the waste to be relied on?
The last thing I want is a slop of a sandbed due to the fact that it’s not being properly cleaned.
Anyway, I felt I’ve already said a bit too much. I’d be thrilled if I at least stirred some interest and could get some help. Any and all advice will be helpful. And instead of making multiple threads, I’ll keep all my questions to one thread. Thanks in advance to anyone who can help.
I apologize for it’s length, but it’s not something that can be covered in several sentences