55gal reef is going well now 55gal FO

[melissasreef]

Ok, we have enjoyed this so much we are doing it again. We are getting a 55 gal with stand and all needed accessories for $20.00. We want to have this one be Fish only as we have several desires that just cant be fullfilled in the reef tank as some fish aren't reef compatable. The first question I have is will I still need a cleaning crew since I will have no live rock to clean? I am sure I will have more, but this is something that we already discussed and could not come to a good conclusion. Thank you everyone!

[fishmonkey]

$20.00 for a tank and stand! holy cow!

you should probably get a clean-up-crew, just mainly for cleaning the substrate

[melissasreef]

Ya, trust me with the economy as it is we would not be doing this, but I can't pass that up. Anyone have any knowledge on puffer fish. Like what are they compatable with? What can they total not be placed with? What is there level of care and specific needs?

[roka64]

You could go with a Canthigaster valentini, they will eat inverts and might nip at other fish's fins. Pretty neat little puffers. If you are looking at them, you will need something for them to chew on to keep their "teeth" (fused beaks) trimmed.
Why no LR? That is going to help house your beneficial bacteria.

[fishmonkey]

go here: http://www.pufferfish.net/

[melissasreef]

Honestly I do not mind live rock. It is my husband that is trying to acheive a completly differant looking tank. I have mentioned lr and have gotten shot down a number of times. We also are trying to keep the tank so it can easily be medicated if a problem sound arise. We had a case of ich go through our reef tank and learned it can be difficult to deal with when invetibrates, coral are in the tank. We do have a smaller tank we used and can continue to use for qt, but we were trying to make this second tank 1 look ver differant from the other and 2 easier to care of the fish themselves.

[melissasreef]

Originally Posted by fishmonkey

go here: Puffer Fish Information

Thank you for the link fishmonkey! My two little boys love the puffer fish, and I am trying to educate myself and decide if it is something I want to encourage.

[roka64]

Hmmm, rock provides protection, territory and sleeping areas for the fish. If you have to medicate the tank, the substrate will need to be changed possibly...
I also meant to say a puffer is a messy eater so you want to make sure you have decent biological filtration as well.

[melissasreef]

Well still thinking about the puffer. Have to get the tank up and cycled first. I do understand the benefits of the lr for the bio filter. We are going to but some shale rock in for coverage and hiding places. We actually added some shale to the reef tank and used it to make shlves for our smaller coral frags. The fish love swimming under and around it. We are meeting with someone from area who has some frags, and he mentioned he had some lr he cured in a basement tank. He is selling that for $2 a pound. I can probally conviced hubby to get some at that price. For our ich proplem that we had I did take a few fish out that were showing signs and put them in qt and used CopperSafe by Merdel. That did not indicate that the substrate would need to be cleaned. In fact it indicated that it stays in the water for 30 days with one dase, and afterward a 20% water change would be needed. It did work well I was able to save the fish. The rest of the reef tank I did hyposalinity. Everyone is now safe and sound. The hard part was removing all the rock from the reek tank to catch the sick fish to qt. I think that is more of what he is trying to provent.

[roka64]

Ahhh, ok...
$2 for LR, that's a great deal!

[Zer0]

That is a pretty good deal. Did he mention what kind of LR it was? If i didnt know better i'd say it was probably Caribbean LR. If its vanautu LR then your getting a freakin amazing deal.

[melissasreef]

So I picked up the tank today. The stand isn't very much to look at, but I can work on that. I have the tank out side filled with regular water just to make sure there are no leaks. It is holding water fine. We are going to set it up tonight in the house. For $20 the tank alone is worth it. It is old, but in good condition. It is 1/2 " think glass. I also got all the equipment with it.

[Zer0]

..Thats some thick glass lol. My tank isnt nearly half an inch thick lol. But for 20$ you really cant complain.