Texas Holey Rock with Clownfish

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Arget

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Jun 11, 2017
Messages
259
Location
SE Kansas
I asked my LFS about how to convert a 20g freshwater to a clownfish tank. The advice that they gave me was how I planned on converting the tank. It already has a 107, with a spray bar, hooked up. I can get the live sand there, I've seen it before. I'd need to buffer the ph with rocks, but I don't need live rock. Would Texas Holey Rock be fine for them? It'd look rather striking with my plan of black sand. I also plan on getting some crushed coral or aragonite to put in a bag in the filter, that would also help to buffer the ph.
 
I’d go with dry “live” rock over the Texas holey. The reason we use live rock over fw rocks in saltwater is because it has pores and tiny holes all over it for bacteria growth. Live rock is your main filtration in saltwater and honestly dry rock isn’t that expensive. You’ll want to lose the spray bar too if it’s what I’m thinking of, you’ll just get tons of salt creep. Idk if you’ll be able to keep your levels properly without Aragonite based sand. When converting freshwater to saltwater you are pretty much changing everything as the biological processes involved are completely different and thus your freshwater substrate and media does nothing for saltwater. I know it’s easy to want to skimp on things but if you want a nice algae free saltwater tank I’d do it the right way.
 
I plan on getting a black live Caribsea sand. I'm mainly concerned about the weight of live rock, and that it could break the tank. I don't even use much actual rock in my Mbuna tank for that reason.
 
Just to be clear, I didn't mean to be snarky. There is no need to buffer oh if you are adding salt to the system. Using dry or live rock eould be more beneficial for the bacteria colony over texas holey rock, you can use the holey rock though, it wont harm anything.
 
Would a bit of lava rock work? I've got a fair sized piece that I can add to it aas well.
 
Don't worry about the weight. If it is something you are concerned about, get some egg crate for under the sand. You can get it at any home improvement store as light defuser. That will keep the rocks off the bottom glass, though it is still tempered and unlikely to have an issue.
I run the black sand in my current reef. I always loved it. The black color fades some over time, but the real thing to watch with it is that it is magnetic. The magfloats and such we use to keep our glass clean can easily grab a piece and scrape your glass. I have one scrape form not being careful and upgraded to a different device from then after.
 
Would a bit of lava rock work? I've got a fair sized piece that I can add to it aas well.

Do not use lava rock. The pH of saltwater will break it down and release whatever toxins are inside the rock. Years ago we had a member that lost an entire tank when he tried to save some bucks and used a lava rock.
 
Caribsea's Hawaiian Black sand is magnetic? That's what I plan on getting for the substrate. I've heard of using egg crate before, but never tried it, Mbuna and other cichlids like to dig. The main concern is how much live rock I'd need. If you don't stack it right it could fall, hit the side of the tank, and break it.
 
Do not use lava rock. The pH of saltwater will break it down and release whatever toxins are inside the rock. Years ago we had a member that lost an entire tank when he tried to save some bucks and used a lava rock.


That's very nice to know in advance. So no lava rock, only dead coral or the like then.
 
You only really have to worry about rock falling if you have fish that dig like gobies. You can also glue the rocks together with putty so they stay together. I’ve never had a rock fall fast or hard enough to hit the glass and crack it in my 6ish years of keeping sw.
 
You only really have to worry about rock falling if you have fish that dig like gobies. You can also glue the rocks together with putty so they stay together. I’ve never had a rock fall fast or hard enough to hit the glass and crack it in my 6ish years of keeping sw.




Good to know. I've heard of Clownfish digging when spawning though.
 
clowns spawn by laying their eggs on a hard surface. They’ll clean the surface but they usually lay their eggs on the glass or rocks of the tank. I don’t think I’ve ever seen any of my clowns try to dig
 
It takes some serious digging on top of things settling to cause a catastrophic collapse. Though, one can easily use things like epoxy, glue, or dowel rods to secure them.
 
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