Freshy thinking of taking the plunge...

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is the hypersalinity treatment of new liverock worth it? I've heard it can be very effective at clearing out critters you don't want but i've also heard it's not really that effective. Do you guys have any experience with it?

I'm also thinking of going the DIY LED route for lighting cause of the difference in cost. What are some recommended kits or suggestions to help point me in the right direction?
 
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I've never done hyper salinity treatments, jus make sure you trust the person who is selling it to you. Only get a few pounds to cut down on cost and get the rest base rock.

To the LEDs... What diodes would you want? The only reason to do diy is if you understand why you would want to go that route, because it shouldn't be much cheaper if you do it for the right reasons. If you just want a basic dimmable led unit that can take care of all corals, go with a chinese fixture, I can give you a link if your interested. If you want the most color out of your coral, and you want the pros of halides combined with the pros of led. If your going diy, you would really want to get more than just cool white and royal blue, which is what most store bought LEDs have at the moment, other than the sol, radion, and highs end fixtures like that. I don't want to steer you away from diy, because I really regret not doing it in the first place, but it is definitely going to be pricey. Worth every penny though.
 
Right now i'm just looking for something that will be able to handle softs, SPS, and LPS corals. I do want to get something that also brings out the colors of the corals too.

Too many options...
 
needmorecowbell said:
Hey that's at least something. My parents just see the money I spend, I don't think they even like the tank, the only thing they say is, " where's the fish?"

I hear that to much when people see my tank :/ got four fish in a 46g and think it looks perfect but apparently everyone expects there to be 20-30 fish In there haha
 
With the SW tank i'm actually thinking maybe 2-3 fish. I like the idea of quite a few inverts though :)
 
needmorecowbell said:
Even easier on you then! As long as these fish arent huge, that's perfect. Less maintenance for you, lucky!

I was thinking a clown, maybe a Goby, maybe a Blenny. The stocking is very up in the air right now lol. First thing i have to do is get the tank setup
 
So i've read about some different hitchhikers that can come with live rock. Some of them are just inherantly bad but the majority of them seem to be in a gray area. What are some of the hitchhikers i should be aware of from your experiences?
 
Crabs. Keep an eye out for any and all crabs. Finding them early and ID'ing them will make sure you won't have any of the nasties in your tank before you start populating your tank.
 
Apstasia is a big one too. Just make sure you buy from a trustworthy supplier and look before you buy. It shouldn't have nuisance algae on it.
 
Are all crabs bad to have other than the ones i specifically acquire? How about bristleworms, i've heard some horror stories about them...
 
I got a couple bristle worms haven't had a problem yet. Crab I got three emeralds there cool but last night I lost a pajama cardinal I noticed him goin down do I sat there and watched not much I could do at that point. But as soon as he was out for the count the current carried he by this one rock and one of the crabs snatch him up quick. Luckily I was there to get it out before he got too much so I couldnt take him back. But that just went to show they will snack on a small fish I they have the chance.
 
Steve silbernagel said:
I got a couple bristle worms haven't had a problem yet. Crab I got three emeralds there cool but last night I lost a pajama cardinal I noticed him goin down do I sat there and watched not much I could do at that point. But as soon as he was out for the count the current carried he by this one rock and one of the crabs snatch him up quick. Luckily I was there to get it out before he got too much so I couldnt take him back. But that just went to show they will snack on a small fish I they have the chance.

Emeralds will catch fish and so do sallylightfoot
 
Very rare. You will probably end up buying an emerald crab, they are helpful. They really dont eat fish unless the fish is sick and the crab can get its claws on it.
 
That's what happened to my cardinal. I live to watch my emeralds move around the tank. Just make sure your rocks are stable. They will move them around which I found out the hard way
 
Steve silbernagel said:
That's what happened to my cardinal. I live to watch my emeralds move around the tank. Just make sure your rocks are stable. They will move them around which I found out the hard way

If you need cuc id recommend serpent star nassarius snails and couple turbos ive witnessed in my own tank an emerald caught a perfectly healthy diamond goby it didn eat it but it damaged its gill so it couldn eat and then died after about 2 weeks emeralds get big after a year or so mine was almost 3" wide with legs and sally lightfoot used to hang upside down in a cranny and try and catch fish as they passed it ended up gettin a blue hippo and a mandarin
 
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