Crushed Coral / Fish compatibility ?

[wun68]

Hey everyone,



I recently took the plunge and bought 100lbs of CC for a 150g tank. Thinking about the ease of cleaning (sand would siphone up to easily) but now that I've been reading more, it looks like I made the wrong decision because I'll be doing more cleaning. I talked to the LFS about exchanging it for Sand but they said that I've already placed it in my tank and wouldn't take it back.

I want to do a Nemo style tank for my kids, but with more Live Rock then the movie and I wanted to know if I am limited to certain species because of the large jagged CC.

We want to have all the fish in the tank except for Gill (I read he was hard to maintain) and I was concerned that I made a mistake. Since I only have 50lbs of Live Rock and the CC in it, if recommended by experts here, I'd sacrafice the CC and use it for another project in the future and buy the sand.

Thanks

 

[sqrle]

If the coral has not been used,(put in the tank and then filled) you should be able to sell it localy(hopefuly). I say localy because, I am sure that nobody wants to pay shipping for a 100lb box. I personaly run a deep sand bed, 6", so you don't even need to vacuum it. It takes care of itself. Oh, stay away from the puffer to, unless you want it to eat you invertabrates, which it will. Just make sure that the fish that you get are compatable before you go an promise your kids that they can have a "nemo" tank. I noticed a few in the movie that are not compatable but are friends in the movie. I am not sure what they are now, it has been a while. I would advise that you think of at least doubling the amount of live rock that you have as well.

 

[wun68]

The sandbed in my tank looks to be about 2.5"-3" thick. Do you think I'll need more so I don't have to worry about siphoning it constantly?

I've read up on "Nemo" tanks and there are a lot of guides on what are compatible or not. I definitely won't get a puffer since I know their pretty aggressive. My focus on the setup is to get it as colorful and and maintenance free as possible(aside from monthly water changes).

Thanks for the advice.

 

[sqrle]

Well, in a 150g tank you would need about 2-3 more bags to bring it up to a 6" level, if it is already at 3". It certainly wouldn't hurt. There are other ways around vacuuming. I have a golden headed sleeper goby, and he does a fantastic job of sifting the sand and eating all the "garbage" on the bottom. I bet your kids would love to see that guy in action to. There are all kinds of clams and hermit crabs and starfish that you can get that also clean the sand very well to, and would make a more lively tank.
Well, your post got me intrigued to watch the movie again, so I just started it. I have also been doing a bit of poking around to and found a link for you that might realy help out List of Finding Nemo characters - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is a list of all of the characters, and then from there you can figure out wich ones are compatable or not.

Oh, and I noticed you said "monthly water changes" I know a lot of people that would want you shot for doing them that rarely. I do a %5 2 times a week. I have read about some people that have an automatic system that does a water change everyday(but a small amount) The more frequent the changes the better. Just do them smaller. I always have some salt water going. It is easy once you get a routine. I can get it done in 2 minutes, no problem. But if that often is too much for you right now, 2 weeks is pretty much maximmum that you should go.

 

[austinsdad]

If you can afford it now, I'd ditch the crushed coral and replace with sand. Consider it a loss, but you'll be sorry later and go thru a lot of effort to switch it out and buy new sand anyway IMO. Or is that what you already did?

What's next on the checklist?

Read the articles section at this site on fishless cycling? That's a must.

 

[melosu58]

I agree with Ray. If possible sand is the way to go but if you can not then vacuuming your CC will help. I only have a 2 inch sand bed. DSB`s serve their purpose but I personally dont like the look. Not saying anything bad about them.

 

[wun68]

I've read tons of articles in the past week and my head is losing memory space. I'll read something new and lose something old =(

So far, just the rock and coral. I've added damsels as well but I'm taking them out in a couple of weeks so I can replace the CC with sand. 100lbs of sand should get me up to about 1"-1.5" deep, do you guys think I need more?

 

[wun68]

I just noticed something weird in my tank. This thing has 5 or 6 legs all coming out of a center head looking thing. The legs look like tentacles, kind of bristled haired and moves like a worm. I'll try and snap a photo, but it hides its heads so his legs stick out looking like bristle worms.

 

[austinsdad]

You didn't read the fishless cycling article did you.

 

[sqrle]

If it is what I am thinking about, then they are nothing to worry about. You will notice a lot more on the bottom of rocks and stuff. I caught this one on the glass one day while doing something. Usualy you just see their arms sticking out of rocks. Wait until night and go and look when most of the light are off, with a flashlight, and you might find all kinds of other things to.

 

[sqrle]

You didn't read the fishless cycling article did you.

Maybe that was one of those things that he pushed out of his brain with something new.

 

[wun68]

Maybe that was one of those things that he pushed out of his brain with something new.

I actually did, 3 raw shrimp for 3 days, treated the tank with some bacteria solution from the lfs (I was told I didn't need the shrimp with the bacteria but I did it anyway) and I bought 50lbs of really established live rock (thats why that weird spider starfish looking thingy came from along with other weird critters).

Damsels are doing fine, eating well, playing and really bright blue! I am going to give them away or return for store credit once I'm ready for the other fish.

My nitrate started to rise today so I'm doing a water change tonight. I'll probably start off slow with about 5% and do this daily for the next couple of nights.

 

[wun68]

If it is what I am thinking about, then they are nothing to worry about. You will notice a lot more on the bottom of rocks and stuff. I caught this one on the glass one day while doing something. Usualy you just see their arms sticking out of rocks. Wait until night and go and look when most of the light are off, with a flashlight, and you might find all kinds of other things to.

That is exactly what it is.. What is that called? It looks really cool and if he's not a danger to any other things I want to make sure I feed it the right stuff. Does it just eat the scraps of food that fall to the bottom?

 

[sqrle]

Yeah, they just scavenge. I am not sure exactly what it is called, but it is some sort of bristle star.

 

[wun68]

Brittle Star, Awesome! I guess he was living in the LR that I bought last week and decided to show himself this morning.

brittle star fish - Google Image Search

 

[sqrle]

I saw a huge green one at this guys place that sells salt water stuff in my area. He had like 8 black ones and a GIANT green one. I think (am not sure) that these are a smaller breed and don't grow big. I have quite few hanging around.

 

[wun68]

Here is a shot of tank I took with my phone this morning (sorry about the horrible quality), Day 7. Also, my wife called me this morning and said the kids found a small Green Star Fish coming out of hiding and a Red Flower looking thingy.

 

[goisles1]

nice tank... I'd like to see alot more LR in there

 

[austinsdad]

Your gonna find the joy of discovering little things in your tank. In order to have established bacteria sufficient to handle fish loads, feeding, and ammonia sources, yhour' gonna need a LOT more live rock for it to live on.

If I were you, I'd get a 20g tank, HOB skimmer, basic flourescent light, and a small heater. Put the damsels and the rock in it. No sand or cc. Kids can still enjoy it and discover.

Then remove the crushed coral, rinse, rinse, and rinse some more the new dry aragonite sand for the big tank. Get some base rock, and some more live rock - uncured. Then fix all those things you learned when you first set the tank up and said, "hmmmm, I coulda done that better".

Now, with that base rock and new uncured live rock, take your time to aquascape/stak it and monitor the ammonia. Add shrimp IF needed.

Now you got a good cyle with sufficient rock (100 to 150 lbs total) to handle a large tank fish bio-load. You got a QT tank to introduce new fish and ensure their health before they go in the main - where you'll never catch them by the way, as they infect and kill others.

Read article at this site on Quarantine tank (QT) setup.

Take the QT down easily after you're fully stocked and set it back up as/if needed to QT new fish or treat fish from the main with medications your main tank won't do well in.

Sorry.... I got a little winded.

P.S. - you going fish only or reef?

 

[wun68]

Thanks for the great advice! It's obvious you've been through this many times =)

I plan on doing fowlr. I want to add a lot of colorful coral too, but I won't get into that until I know the tank is fully stable.

Just so everyone knows, I am planning to put about 200lbs of Live Rock in this tank so don't worry, I'm just doing this slowly. I should have a total of 100lbs in the tank by Friday night.

Question:

I put some very established live rock (50lbs) in this tank already and there are lots of little critters popping out now. I'm getting an additional 50lbs from the same guy but I'm getting pieces with mushroom growth on it and probably more critters. Would these mushrooms, live rock and established algae die when introduced into my tank?