Begging for answers

karenjo

karenjo

Member
Recently, I have set-up my old 55 gal freshwater into a saltwater aquarium.
Penguin 330 Biowheel
100 watt heater
1 Maxi Jet 600 Powerhead
2 inch live agronite sand substrate
plan on getting a seaclone protein skimmer in a few months after it cycles really well.
I am 1 week into my cycle and I plan on making this a reef aquarium. I started with five damsels and 11 lbs of live rock. Yesterday, I added 50 lbs of more live rock from SWF online. Saturday, I plan to add 20-25lbs more live rock. After that, I plan letting it finish cycling before I do anything else at all.
Questions:
1. Am I on the right track here with equipment and the above plan?
2. If any of the damsels die should I leave them in the tank to decay and will this help the cycle?
3. When can I add a cleanup crew package like SWF offers online?
4. What animals are best for cleanup?
5. What fish are best for this size REEF aquarium?
Plan to add later: fish, ( a few picked with your guys help), soft corals, anemones etc. suggs?????
Thanx in advance!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Your pal forever,
Karenjo
 
a&m aggie 04'

a&m aggie 04'

Active Member
id recommend making your sand bed a little deeper, add another 2 inches if possible-- this will aid in alot of your filtration. i dont know what kind of turnover that biowheel has but make sure you have at least 10x turnover rate in your tank (with powerheads and biowheel)
the damsels shouldnt die, the usually withstand pretty bad water conditions, but i would take it out if dead.
you can add a cleanup crew when your cycle is over, make sure you params are stable (Temp, SG, ect.)
Best for cleanup- hermits, snails, shrimp, fighting conches.
HTH,
Mark
 
jacksonpt

jacksonpt

Active Member
Originally posted by karenjo 1. Am I on the right track here with equipment and the above plan?
I personally don't care for biowheels, but that doesn't mean it can't work for you. If you want to keep anemones and corals, you will probably need to increase your lighting (I'm just guessing since you didn't mention lighting in your equipment list). I'd also recommend adding more LS - another 2-4" would give you a nice DSB that will greatly help with biological filtration. Sounds like you'll have plenty of LR - good job. LR is pretty expensive and it's common for people to cut corners with LR to save money. You might also want another powerhead, but I'm not sure what kind of water movement the penguin gives you. The skimmer might not be necessary... once your tank is good and established, your water params will be the deciding factor. Skimmers are never bad, always help, though not always necessary.
2. If any of the damsels die should I leave them in the tank to decay and will this help the cycle?
Yes, leave them in... but generally speaking, if the damsels were healthy when you bought them, they should survive the cycle - the are pretty tough little buggers.
3. When can I add a cleanup crew package like SWF offers online?
Clean up crews are intended to clean up your tank. most crews consists of scavengers and algae eaters, so you can add a clean-up crew when you have stuff to support the scavengers and algae eaters. Most snails (though not all) will eat algae, so snails should be fine at the first sign of algae. Most hermits will pick at dead critters, left over food, algae, etc.. Hermits can be added once you have something for them to eat.
4. What animals are best for cleanup?
There is no best animal for cleanup, though there are a few key players. Worms, snails and hermits (reef safe varieties of all) are a safe bet. Untimately, diversity is the key to a good cleanup crew. Go with fewer numbers but more types rather than few types in larger numbers (i.e. 10 different types of critters, 5 each will generally clean better that 2 different types, 25 each). Each critter has preferences for what it will/won't eat. The more species you have, the more stuff will get eaten. That's a little oversimplified, but it should make sense.
5. What fish are best for this size REEF aquarium?
Lots here... clowns, damsels, gobies, blennies, cardinals, some wrasses, some hawks. Do a little research paying close attention to max size of the fish - you'll find tons that you can pick from.
 
flydan

flydan

Active Member
Hey,
To save money on lr, you can buy tufa or lace rock and put that down as a base. Then stack your nice lr on top. Tufa/Lace rock will become lr over time.
I'd stay away from anemones until you have about a years worth of experience. Their survival rate isn't very good. They'll live over 100 years in the ocean and a couple of months in captivity.
I hope you want to keep those damsels in your tank. Once the lr is in it's a real bummer trying to get them out. I've seen dozens of posts from people trying to figure out how to catch them!
Good luck and enjoy.
Dan'l
 
karenjo

karenjo

Member
Thanx for th posts. The lighting will be 4 (65) watt bulbs. Power Compacts. Is this a good lighting for a reef? Please others respond to all my questions also. The more info the better in this hobby.
 
jumpfrog

jumpfrog

Active Member
Lighting should be fine for most everything except clams and SPSs. With the amount of LR you're planning your filtration should be fine. The additional sand at this time would be a nice bonus and easy. Won't be once you start adding inverts.
Cycling with the damsels and rock should get you in good shape. But, once done you will have 5 fish in a 55 before you even start adding anything else. You didn't say what kind of damels but full grown that just about maxes out your bioload.
This may be a good time to remove the damsels and return them if you can. You can cycle without fish and you won't have to tear apart ~80lbs of rock to get them out later.
Just a thought!
Good Luck!
 
karenjo

karenjo

Member
Another question:
Everyone that I talk to says that I should add another 2inches of live sand. Is this the aquarist choice or does it rally help that much with filtration. I will have 80-90 lbs of live rock in the aquarium by Saturday.
If I need it , I will add it. I dread getting it off of the existing rock
Any suggestions are greatly appreciated
 
foulbrew

foulbrew

Member
Karenjo, what they're referring to is a deep sand bed, in my opinion an excellent idea. To be effective it needs to be a minimum of 4" deep and up to 6". The benefits are many, but the main reason most folks go this way is to finish the nitrogen cycle. Organism create proteins/waste that create ammonia, aerobic bacteria convert the ammonia to nitrite (just like fresh water). More aerobic bacteria change the nitrite to nitrate (again just like freshwater). This is the fertilizer that feeds all that algae. A deep sand bed (if deep enough) has anaerobic areas where another bacteria can grow that changes nitrate into nitrogen (yes, the gas) which will bubble up out of the DSB and out of your tank.
In addition to completing the nitrogen cycle a DSB adds dimension to the critters you can put int your tank. I've gone on long enough... I'm sure others will offer their opinions.
Good luck.
 
foulbrew

foulbrew

Member
Oh, forgot to mention - do not add any of the clean-up crew until your tank is completely cycled - Ammonia 0 and Nitrite 0. Then do a water change to get some of those nitrates out of there, maybe a 50%. Then you can add some live stock.
Just a note on the damsels - you probably did not need them to cycle your tank with that much new rock. They are mean little fish - and you might want to think about getting em out and returning them. No sense using up your bio-load on those suckers.
 
kimkissyfish

kimkissyfish

Member
Hi,
I AGREE 1 MILLION percent about the damsels.. I had to dismantle my 75G with 80lbs of LR TWICE to get the little BUGGERS OUT! It wasnt pretty, It wasnt FUN, and It was a nightmare!!!! The are quick..........
Also, with that much live rock, I would just go to the supermarket and get a shrimp from the fish counter, drop it in and BOOM kick start the cycle and you wont have to catch it later.. LOLOL Well, you WILL but it wont be much of a fight.. lLOL
Good luck, Kim
 
justchillin

justchillin

Member
i also would say to add a few more inches of sand...loose the damsels and throw in a few shrimp to get a good cycle going...
i would also add another ph to eliminate dead spots where you don't have much water movement...this will also help you skimmer work better by keeping waste from simply dropping to the bottom of your tank, instead it floats around untill you skimmer pulls it out...
hth,
mike
 
karenjo

karenjo

Member
Thanx everyone for those replies!!! I am learning a lot from the veterans. Do any others have suggestions? ANY IDEAS ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED!
THANX IN ADVANCE
KAREN
 
karenjo

karenjo

Member
Another question comes to mind also.
How do u Quarantine a 20 gal tank
What should be in the tank etc...?
 
foulbrew

foulbrew

Member
Karenjo,
FWIW I rarely revisit a post - thinking that anything I had to offer has been offered. When changing questions you may want to start a new thread.
I do not maintain a quantine tank - when needed I have and empty 30 gal tank I setup with some old power heads, heaters, etc. I have only had to treat fish twice so maintaining a quarantine tank was a bit much.
Plus I only have four fish - who'm I've had for years.
 
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