Converting 60 to FOWLR

[George9]

I dont think that stock list looks bad at all. I have heard that all butterflys are not reef safe either, more of a hit or miss type thing.My copperband was fine with my corals but not sure about the other kinds.

Just one clown? You dont want a pair? You could for sure add another. I tend to be overly conservative with stocking usually and I think your list looks good. In fact, I would probably add a couple smaller fish as well as time goes on. Lawnmower blennies are another awesome fish, love mine. He leaves little kissie marks on the glass where he has eaten/sucked the algae from. They get along with everyone and are really quite cool. Mine loves to perch on my powerhead and just watches me when I work on the tank. Almost as cool as a hawk fish. That guy sits and watches everyone who goes near the tank. his little eyes will follow you around too when you move. he is such a character! lol

It's all about what you like and can live in that size tank along with the tankmates.

Yeah, I've heard the long nose is pretty reef safe due to its long mouth. It really can't peck or rip apart corals like an angel, or a, say, raccoon butterfly would. I'm going to test it out soon though! Fingers crossed! And if he ends up killing my first corals, then, I'll just do a fowlr. I love that fish too much lol

Hm, well, is there a benefit to having a pair? Two is always better than one lol, but I'd have to find one thats either bigger or smaller than my current One, right? Could I do a black with my orange one?

Lawnmower blennies definitely look really cool! I love midas blennies as well, but the ones I've seen in stores around here always look soo thin and sick.

 

[carey]

You would get a clown that is smaller than yours. The larger one will become the female and the smaller the male. Ypu can usually mix clowns, I would stay away from the gold maroon ones, they are quite aggressive. But theres no reason why you couldnt have two, or if you want, just the one. I have a pair on the 60g and a single black one in my 90g that my g/f passed to me. It's up to you. You dont NEED a pair, unless you want a pair
I havent had much luck with midas blennies. I had two. One just disappeared one day and the other jumped ship and made his way into the kitchen which is where my b/f stepped on him during the night. :-(((

The ones I've seen locally arent very nice either, they just dont look healthy/ i got mine from liveaquaria and they both were bright yellow and healthy.

 

[George9]

You would get a clown that is smaller than yours. The larger one will become the female and the smaller the male. Ypu can usually mix clowns, I would stay away from the gold maroon ones, they are quite aggressive. But theres no reason why you couldnt have two, or if you want, just the one. I have a pair on the 60g and a single black one in my 90g that my g/f passed to me. It's up to you. You dont NEED a pair, unless you want a pair
I havent had much luck with midas blennies. I had two. One just disappeared one day and the other jumped ship and made his way into the kitchen which is where my b/f stepped on him during the night. :-(((

The ones I've seen locally arent very nice either, they just dont look healthy/ i got mine from liveaquaria and they both were bright yellow and healthy.

Cool maybe ill get some weird kind of misbar or a cool ORA clown

Oh no poor guys.

I've been thinking about ordering from live aquaria, I've heard nothing but good things!!

 

[carey]

I always try to get a fish or critter that is a little off the beaten track, I love when people go what is THAT?? Even my engineer goby is kinda different as he is over a foot long and most people think it's an eel. lol I have a hogfish which you dont see every day either. lol
Even my citron goby isnt seen much in the trade but is hella cool.
It's all about you and what you like, I keep saying that but its true. lol I happen to be kinda odd and unique myself so I want my tanks to be odd and unique.

 

[George9]

I always try to get a fish or critter that is a little off the beaten track, I love when people go what is THAT?? Even my engineer goby is kinda different as he is over a foot long and most people think it's an eel. lol I have a hogfish which you dont see every day either. lol
Even my citron goby isnt seen much in the trade but is hella cool.
It's all about you and what you like, I keep saying that but its true. lol I happen to be kinda odd and unique myself so I want my tanks to be odd and unique.

I love weird fish too! And its always cool to have a fish that no ones seen before.

What if I decided against firefish and went with a snowflake eel instead? Would my fish become dinner? Lol

Edit: nevermind . bad idea!!

 

[carey]

iF the eel can fit it in his mouth and catch it, it's dinner. Plus they can squeeze out of the tiniest hole so you'd have to really cover any gaps so he wouldnt get out. They are really cool though, I watched my friend feed hers and it was very neat.

 

[George9]

iF the eel can fit it in his mouth and catch it, it's dinner. Plus they can squeeze out of the tiniest hole so you'd have to really cover any gaps so he wouldnt get out. They are really cool though, I watched my friend feed hers and it was very neat.

They are super cool. I'd be scared crapless to do things in the tank though. They are really cool looking with the white and black, and the little yellow noses.

Lol I'm gonna have to look up what do to when I get stung by a foxface, because it might happen

Also, these diatoms are just getting horrific. I reduced my lights to 1.5 hrs a day, I have had chemi pure elite in the filter for 5 days and phosban in the filter for a couple days. Hopefully they will clear it up because they both absorb silicates. Its only been a few days, but man they spread fast. My phosphates are also at .25, and that's not helping anything either I bet. What are the best snails for diatoms?

Should I hold off on a few mushrooms for now until the diatoms taper off?

 

[carey]

The diatoms will go away, just gotta keep your water good and they will be gone. Check out Reef Cleaners| Clean up Crews and Macroalgae they have snails that will specifically eat diatoms supposedly. I usually just let them run their course and have never added anything to actually gobble them up. lol

If your tank is fully cycled and everything reads ok I wouldnt think a few polyps could hurt, you have to start stocking sometime. lol I believe i have added fish to a new tankl with diatoms and they were fine so coral should be ok too. I wouldnt invest a crapload of money into your first corals though, your tank will go through changes as it matures and corals are always the first to go south. I started with all $10 frags and one of them made it through to now a few years later and is a monster colony of GSP. It is the second thing you notice when looking at my tank, right behind the uber big toadstool I have. lol

 

[George9]

The diatoms will go away, just gotta keep your water good and they will be gone. Check out Reef Cleaners| Clean up Crews and Macroalgae they have snails that will specifically eat diatoms supposedly. I usually just let them run their course and have never added anything to actually gobble them up. lol

If your tank is fully cycled and everything reads ok I wouldnt think a few polyps could hurt, you have to start stocking sometime. lol I believe i have added fish to a new tankl with diatoms and they were fine so coral should be ok too. I wouldnt invest a crapload of money into your first corals though, your tank will go through changes as it matures and corals are always the first to go south. I started with all $10 frags and one of them made it through to now a few years later and is a monster colony of GSP. It is the second thing you notice when looking at my tank, right behind the uber big toadstool I have. lol

Agh they're just so ugly lol. I'll get a few snails to eat them I was going to get a clean up crew anyway.

And yeah, I wouldn't want to blow $50 on my first coral ever lol. My Lfs has small frags for like 5 bucks, they have single mushrooms and some small zoas in there. I think they'd be perfect.

 

[carey]

I agree. Start slow and small and work your way up. This is from experience, I went through ALOT of coral before I got on track. even now my limit is $50 for a coral or fish. I can't afford to lose more than that in one shot lol and it seems reasonable.

 

[George9]

I agree. Start slow and small and work your way up. This is from experience, I went through ALOT of coral before I got on track. even now my limit is $50 for a coral or fish. I can't afford to lose more than that in one shot lol and it seems reasonable.

that was my limit too! Any coral over $50 is probably too big anyway. Part of the fun is growing the coral from tiny to huge, IMO. Maybe tomorrow ill pick up a couple

Edit- I also just noticed my longnose is wiggling his head occasionally. I just did a water Change, could there be something in the water that he doesn't like? It's not like a parasite kinda twitch (I've seen that before, not a pretty sight lol). If it was a parasite, he would probably be dead by now because I've had him 2 months! Of maybe he's just being silly like usual and I'm just super paranoid. I'm gonna add some prime to be sure

 

[George9]

I was concerned the "wiggle-twitch" might be flukes, sooooo I tried to do a fw bath to see and he's too hard to catch. I didn't want to stress him too much. So, long story short, doing prazipro in the dt. I hear it works wonders in deworming fish and killing flukes. We'll see. There's always setbacks! Ugh, and it always happens to me. Lol

I feel like since I seemed to always pick out the sick fish, I have every med I will ever need lol. I got culramine, prazipro, paraguard, melafix, pimafix, maracyn, quick cure, ich attack. I feel like a drug dealer....for fish!!

And since prazipro is pretty darn reef safe, I might still get my mushroom tomorrow

 

[George9]

Crap, Carey I remember you told me that you only temp acclimated corals and have never had a problem, right? I forgot to ask earlier.

 

[carey]

I temp acclimate by floating the bag, just like fish. Then I dip each coral in a dip such as coralrx or the new one I just got which is revive by 2 little fishies. If you dont dip you risk bringing in flatworms and other icky critters. I just dipped 5 corals the other day and a bunch of crap came floating out, bristleworms and some other tiny worms.

 

[George9]

I temp acclimate by floating the bag, just like fish. Then I dip each coral in a dip such as coralrx or the new one I just got which is revive by 2 little fishies. If you dont dip you risk bringing in flatworms and other icky critters. I just dipped 5 corals the other day and a bunch of crap came floating out, bristleworms and some other tiny worms.

Oh yeah, I'm done with parasites. I bought two little fishes revive to dip them in. So, you just temp acclimate then dip in coralrx with tank water, and add it to the tank?

 

[carey]

I rinse the frags or corals in fresh saltwater after the dip but yeah, pretty simple. Just follow the directions, swirl it around for awhile and leave it for like 10 minutes.

 

[George9]

I rinse the frags or corals in fresh saltwater after the dip but yeah, pretty simple. Just follow the directions, swirl it around for awhile and leave it for like 10 minutes.

Thanks!

 

[George9]

I swear. I am going to drive myself crazy. I change my mind too much.

I was thinking, and thought I'd rather have non reef safe fish than reef safe with corals. Plus, Ted (my current butterfly) could rip apart any I may get. I am definitely getting an angel now, and a puffer (divers den just got a GORGEOUS Papuan Toby and SOMEONE BOUGHT IT right before I could). I plan on ordering a couple fish from LA tomorrow and throw them in quarantine so they will be ready for the tank by mid August

Updates to come!

 

[redsea]

You should sign up for the LA alert system! It is really helpful and great!
https://www.liveaquaria.com/DiversDen/DDemailSignUp_form.cfm

 

[George9]

You should sign up for the LA alert system! It is really helpful and great!
https://www.liveaquaria.com/DiversDen/DDemailSignUp_form.cfm

Thanks!! I just did now I'll be the first to know lol. I placed an order with LA this morning, it wasnt divers den, so they'll be in qt for a while. I've always wanted to order from divers den though.

I'll post pics tomorrow!!