90g fowlr (newbie alert)

[begginersluck]

So it's a wonder why many reef enthusiasts are completely against sand and have either none at all or a very minimal amount at the front for decoration purposes only.

I would never reuse sand. Everything that doesn't go down your overflow or eaten by your cuc will sit in the sand bed and stew. Why would you want to stir that up and allow it into a new system? I would much rather rise it and reuse it or for the sake of a few quid buy new stuff. Even if you buy dry sand and rinse it it will become 'live sand' before you know it.

 

[kjacks]

This morning the nem positioned itself better... and we found we have a glass nem that was burrowed in one of the rocks.. i grabbed some frozen food today a salt water mix i think it was called had emerald mix, marine mix, squid & brine shrimp.. then i grabbed marine pellets with garlic by omega one.

I also grabbed a digital thermo. and a hydrometer .. i got lucky we actually measured the salinity to 1.026 with nothing but my moms food scale..

Puffs my fav ...

 

[huma-huma]

Check out Marine Depot | Aquarium Supplies, Fish Tanks and LED Lights for skimmers. Id suggest looking at the bubble magus curve series (i have a 7 on my 125) you could prob do the curve 5.
Reef octopus is another great skimmer.
Eshopps, ive heard from a few hobbyists and from reading reviews, that they tend to be a bit louder than normal. Ive never heard one in person but it seems as though thats a reoccurring problem

 

[kjacks]

K thanks... i actually just finished searching some on ebay and was heading over to marinedepot

 

[baron1282]

Aquarium Marine Supplement RED SEA Aiptasia X Glass 60ml Anemone Killer | eBay

I used that and it killed my Aiptasia fast. The fish also ate it and no ill effects. I think the fish got a little drunk. So just do what the directions say and inject that little bugger and you should be good to go!

 

[baron1282]

So it's a wonder why many reef enthusiasts are completely against sand and have either none at all or a very minimal amount at the front for decoration purposes only.

I would never reuse sand. Everything that doesn't go down your overflow or eaten by your cuc will sit in the sand bed and stew. Why would you want to stir that up and allow it into a new system? I would much rather rise it and reuse it or for the sake of a few quid buy new stuff. Even if you buy dry sand and rinse it it will become 'live sand' before you know it.

If you got the CUC in the sand bed, why would you want to kill them? They will eat what is mostly in the sand bad. You stir up the sand bed to release the gases before moving it. That way the pockets of gas will not release in the new tank. Of course if your moving the sand to a new tank it's going to be release anyway when you move the sand. Where some people get in trouble is when they move the tank and set the tank back up with the sand bed hardly being touched. The gas pockets might release than and kill the fish!

When You rinse live sand you kill everything that is in it. All the beneficial Bactria would be gone. Sure it becomes live again in a few months, but why kill everything when you already got it? That's like buying live sand at the store and rinsing it out effectively making it no longer live and wasting your money. Some people tell people to do that on this website! I was told to take the live sand I just bought and rinse it from the bag with fresh water. Why? Why waste what some people pay loads of money for?

When I moved my sand over, I simply took the top layer off and threw it away, but the deep stuff I kept and used it for my tank. It still looks good and white with no issues. It's been close to 8 months and my tank is still going strong, and I have not had a single water quality issue! Plus my sand is still as white as the day I bought it!

 

[huma-huma]

If you got the CUC in the sand bed, why would you want to kill them? They will eat what is mostly in the sand bad. You stir up the sand bed to release the gases before moving it. That way the pockets of gas will not release in the new tank. Of course if your moving the sand to a new tank it's going to be release anyway when you move the sand. Where some people get in trouble is when they move the tank and set the tank back up with the sand bed hardly being touched. The gas pockets might release than and kill the fish!

When You rinse live sand you kill everything that is in it. All the beneficial Bactria would be gone. Sure it becomes live again in a few months, but why kill everything when you already got it? That's like buying live sand at the store and rinsing it out effectively making it no longer live and wasting your money. Some people tell people to do that on this website! I was told to take the live sand I just bought and rinse it from the bag with fresh water. Why? Why waste what some people pay loads of money for?

When I moved my sand over, I simply took the top layer off and threw it away, but the deep stuff I kept and used it for my tank. It still looks good and white with no issues. It's been close to 8 months and my tank is still going strong, and I have not had a single water quality issue! Plus my sand is still as white as the day I bought it!

we already discussed cleaning the sand on page 2. no need to go over it again. point is its a gamble anytime you don't thoroughly wash the sand when moving tanks.

 

[kjacks]

Ok so i have been told different things and wonder whats best .. my mom is wanting to possibly start adding fish in 2weeks.. told her to wait and make sure the levels stay safe.. all the fish she wants basically range from 3-4inches except the 2 clarkii clowns 6in and the long nose hawk fish 5in according to liveaquaria

Ok also was told she needs a larger cleaning crew of like 15-20 hermit crabs 20snails then since she wants feather dusters 6-8... does that sound accurate ?


So far everything is going good with the tank except the temp she is buying a fan now to help keep the water cooler it stays at pretty much 80-82° without a heater

 

[bribo12]

Ok so i have been told different things and wonder whats best .. my mom is wanting to possibly start adding fish in 2weeks.. told her to wait and make sure the levels stay safe.. all the fish she wants basically range from 3-4inches except the 2 clarkii clowns 6in and the long nose hawk fish 5in according to liveaquaria

Ok also was told she needs a larger cleaning crew of like 15-20 hermit crabs 20snails then since she wants feather dusters 6-8... does that sound accurate ?

So far everything is going good with the tank except the temp she is buying a fan now to help keep the water cooler it stays at pretty much 80-82° without a heater

You don't "need" a cuc. They help with algae and stuff but they also need to be fed once algae runs out. I have a hermit and 4 snails left from my initial 7 hermit, 12 snail cuc. You don't need that many of either IMO. Hermits are a pain as well as they kill snails for shells and steal food from coral. Feather dusters aren't cuc, they are filter feeders that eat microscopic particles in the water column. If you want 6-8 that's entirely up to you. I don't think your tank will cycle in 2 weeks, more like a month but it could just watch all your parameters. Once they go up and come back to 0 you are cycled.

 

[kjacks]

Oh.. i was actually under the impression that since it was setup until and hour before we got it that it didnt really need to cycle as it had all the bacteria and what not already there but to be cautious as it may minicycle due to moving it ..

So far only had a small ammonia spike of 0.25 ..

I think 1 feather duster is all she really wants 2 at the most .. i figure moms puff will eat the snails or crabs eventually .. i brought a few baby ramshorns and the triggee and puff really enjoyd them.. i plan to get some shrimp or clam on a half shell to feed them too..

 

[bribo12]

Oh.. i was actually under the impression that since it was setup until and hour before we got it that it didnt really need to cycle as it had all the bacteria and what not already there but to be cautious as it may minicycle due to moving it ..

So far only had a small ammonia spike of 0.25 ..

I think 1 feather duster is all she really wants 2 at the most .. i figure moms puff will eat the snails or crabs eventually .. i brought a few baby ramshorns and the triggee and puff really enjoyd them.. i plan to get some shrimp or clam on a half shell to feed them too..

Oh true you're right my bad I completely forgot. It should be cycled then. Yeah I'd give it those 2 weeks and you should be good to add more fish.

 

[kjacks]

Good... so far all levels have been 0 i have had her testing and me testing as well.. actually today the ammonia was 0.25 i change about 10g of water and she is checking the levels now bc i ran out of time n had to leave for work...

 

[kjacks]

Picked up a reef octopus 150 protein skimmer today.. also grabbed some sand sifting snails..

Mom looked at 4 different places to see what fish she likes and decided to get rid of the chocolate chip starfish as well as the trigger.. but now we worry he will bite through the bag and if we feel he wont arrive safely we will bring him in for a store credit.. mom wants a scooter blenny and a goby possible diamond ... she loved the long nose hawk fish and decided she doesnt like the clarkii clowbs but maybe the ocellaris or maroon and yellow clown...

 

[bribo12]

Scooter blennies aren't actually blennies but rather dragonet a and have specific dietary needs. They need a pretty established tank so I'd wait a little while to get one. Maroons are mean, ocellaris are peaceful lol.

 

[carey]

I agree with bribo. scooters are actually a very difficult fish to get eating frozen food so its best to wait a good long while for one of those. ANd yeah, maroons are the nastiest of all clowns and the biggest too I believe. lol

How about some snowflake or picasso clowns? they have very cool markings and have come down quite a bit in price over the last few years.

 

[kjacks]

I like the picasso but they are still pretty high priced here as they are a rare find according to all the lfs we talked to today.. i know the maroon clown was $40 which im not sure if thats good bad or what exactly since she has planned on the clarkii from day one...

We were told the scooter blennies were easy.. hmm ill definately do some more research.. i actually prefer the bicolored blenny myself ... not my tank hoping to move soon and set me one up .. found out today we are getting a petco and our lfs is being reopened ubder new management so they took down all the things mom would want or need and plan to order some of it in the next few weeks.. they did mention something specific that was needed to feed anemones and the mandarin gobies something thats a liquid like photoplankton maybe :/ not sure gonna research that too .. kinda hard when everyone has a different opinion on what to do or not to do ya know

Oh we were also told 10-15 fish would be a good number for her tank considering all her fish were smaller ... does that sound accurate someone else told me 8 but that mayb pushing it so here again alil confusing

 

[bribo12]

I like the picasso but they are still pretty high priced here as they are a rare find according to all the lfs we talked to today.. i know the maroon clown was $40 which im not sure if thats good bad or what exactly since she has planned on the clarkii from day one...

We were told the scooter blennies were easy.. hmm ill definately do some more research.. i actually prefer the bicolored blenny myself ... not my tank hoping to move soon and set me one up .. found out today we are getting a petco and our lfs is being reopened ubder new management so they took down all the things mom would want or need and plan to order some of it in the next few weeks.. they did mention something specific that was needed to feed anemones and the mandarin gobies something thats a liquid like photoplankton maybe :/ not sure gonna research that too .. kinda hard when everyone has a different opinion on what to do or not to do ya know

Oh we were also told 10-15 fish would be a good number for her tank considering all her fish were smaller ... does that sound accurate someone else told me 8 but that mayb pushing it so here again alil confusing

The bicolored would be a much better choice since it is actually a blenny. Neither anemones nor mandarins eat phyto, mandarins require copepods like scooter blennies and anemones require high light and occasional feelings of meaty foods. I'd say 10ish small fish

 

[kjacks]

Ok... the guy mentioned something like the anemone needed to be fed like corals... but we have been dropping frozen brine shrimp and mysis to the anemone with a turkey baster..

 

[bribo12]

Only feed it like once a week, they don't need much more than that. But yeah you are feeding it the right stuff

 

[huma-huma]

I agree with Carey on looking into PIcassos or snowflakes, don't be afraid to order online. liveaquaria.com is a solid reliable source and even has free shipping over a set amount, (not to mention a 14 day guarantee.) id be careful with maroons (more specifically the gold-stripe maroons) as they tend to be more aggressive than other clowns. the gold-stripes are also one of the biggest clowns