inkman2004
Member
Definately stay away from the mandarins in a tank that small. I have one in a 55, but my tank has been up for a while and I have been lucky that mine will eat frozen food also.
Help Lots Of Questions & Pics!
- Thread starter reefman22
- Start date
f1shman
Active Member
LoL who is? who wants to spend money on a fish that they rarely see!! Also I'd recommend you get a shrimp for your tank, they are great cleaners and are very fun to watch. I have a cleaner shrimp right now, hes so funny, the second I added those 2 chromis he jumped on them and started cleaning them!! they just sat there and let him clean them lol.
f1shman
Active Member
Well I added mine after a while of having my tank setup, but I'm still asking questions about "cleaner crews" on another thread of mine. I'll let you know when I find out. I'm not used to a cleaning crew (crabs, snails, starfish, shrimp taht clean the substrate etc..) because in my 75 gallon my triggers eat EVERYTHING lol
f1shman
Active Member
Just click package deals, then prebuilt, then reef cleaner packs
I can get
10 Nassarius Snails
10 Astrea Snails
10 Cerith Snails
1 Banded Coral Shrimp
20 Dwarf Blue Leg Hermit Crabs
12 Scarlet Reef Hermit Crabs
3 Peppermint shrimps
2 Emerald Crabs
for only $89.99 that includes shipping
Thats what I'm ordering after my tank cycles (its for tanks 30-50 gallons) I'll tell you how actual livestock ordering is after that.
I can get
10 Nassarius Snails
10 Astrea Snails
10 Cerith Snails
1 Banded Coral Shrimp
20 Dwarf Blue Leg Hermit Crabs
12 Scarlet Reef Hermit Crabs
3 Peppermint shrimps
2 Emerald Crabs
for only $89.99 that includes shipping
Thats what I'm ordering after my tank cycles (its for tanks 30-50 gallons) I'll tell you how actual livestock ordering is after that.
reefman22
Member
ya haha i dont know waht time zone u guys are on but im one eastern and its 12:06 and im beat but tomorrow is a busy day!!! fishman ru gonna be on tomorrow? if so what time(s) i will probably get my water/sand/maybe rock tomorrow at about 4:30 my time so if you are on then i will go and talk about it on this thread (just to keep it goin) WOW to think this started as me thinkin I needed a r/o kit for my tank. lol well all I have to say is thanks to everyone who talked to me today. i think my knowledge grew about 200% today and especially u fishman uve been a big help. check my site for updates and pictures and i will talk to you tomorrow.
reply back on times to talk tomorrow and uh nite i guess
fishieness
Active Member
haha jsut got home!! you guys got far!!
yeah right now its 12:16 here
f1shman: i wouldnt try a dragonette unless you get a refugium to grow pods in your tank. I tried one in mine when the tank was newer because i had literaly thousands of pods and each side of the glass!!! Unfortunatly, the mandarin was unhealthy from the fish store and wouldnt eat. she would literaly just sit in a pile of little amphiopods
and you said you didnt know what pods are... soooo.... pods are little crustaceans that come into your tank via live rock or live sand. They are benificial scavengers eating marco-algae or even detrius (food that you feed your fish taht is not eated). There are 3 main branches of "pods" that include but are not limited to isopods, amphiopods, and copepods. They range in sizes too. Copepods are about the size of a pin-head, while amphiopods can be as big as half a centemeter or larger! A refugium will give these pods a safe place to breed free of preditors for your madarin to eat once you/if you get one. Prety much everything in your tank eats them. My clown fish picks them off the glass. my coral banded shrimp picks them out of rock crevaces, and i have a hitchicker pistol shrimp who i believe hutns them. because ive only see half of him and he is very small but i always hear him hunting. They are an overall good thing and a sign of an established ecosystem.
as far as the sand: another thread, someone wanted to get their own florida live rock off of a pier or something, but that was infact illegal. I believe all you need for trapping and taking home livestock form the ocean in florida is a fishing lisence. you are going to want to check your regulations before you try this.
about ordering live rock online: ive always wanted to do it. the only problem is that im worried about the curing process and that i will end up with dead-rock one way or another. However, if you do it in your actual tank before you put any fish or inverts in there, it will cycle your tank and everything would be perfect by the time your tank arrives.
for fish compatibility: i agree fully with what f1shman said, except a bi-colored blennie and a royal gramma might not get along. Both, although classified as peaceful, have been known to be territorial, so if you have 2 docile, rock-hiding, bottom-dwelling fish, you might have some problems with those two.
and for adding base rock: this wold work out fine, but base rock is not as porus as live rock. If you were to look at live rock under a microscope, there are tons of crevices and holes that weaves into the rock. This provides the rock with more surface area and gives bacteria more places to grow and do its thing. This is why the lighter the rock you have by volume, the better.
base rock is made of different materials. It is either lime-rock or lava rock. there arae other types too. Most likely the type of rock in the tanks at your LFS is live rock. But it may be base rock. I know at petcos they have baserock
good night all!! ill talk to you tomorrow morning no doubt!
yeah right now its 12:16 here
f1shman: i wouldnt try a dragonette unless you get a refugium to grow pods in your tank. I tried one in mine when the tank was newer because i had literaly thousands of pods and each side of the glass!!! Unfortunatly, the mandarin was unhealthy from the fish store and wouldnt eat. she would literaly just sit in a pile of little amphiopods
and you said you didnt know what pods are... soooo.... pods are little crustaceans that come into your tank via live rock or live sand. They are benificial scavengers eating marco-algae or even detrius (food that you feed your fish taht is not eated). There are 3 main branches of "pods" that include but are not limited to isopods, amphiopods, and copepods. They range in sizes too. Copepods are about the size of a pin-head, while amphiopods can be as big as half a centemeter or larger! A refugium will give these pods a safe place to breed free of preditors for your madarin to eat once you/if you get one. Prety much everything in your tank eats them. My clown fish picks them off the glass. my coral banded shrimp picks them out of rock crevaces, and i have a hitchicker pistol shrimp who i believe hutns them. because ive only see half of him and he is very small but i always hear him hunting. They are an overall good thing and a sign of an established ecosystem.
as far as the sand: another thread, someone wanted to get their own florida live rock off of a pier or something, but that was infact illegal. I believe all you need for trapping and taking home livestock form the ocean in florida is a fishing lisence. you are going to want to check your regulations before you try this.
about ordering live rock online: ive always wanted to do it. the only problem is that im worried about the curing process and that i will end up with dead-rock one way or another. However, if you do it in your actual tank before you put any fish or inverts in there, it will cycle your tank and everything would be perfect by the time your tank arrives.
for fish compatibility: i agree fully with what f1shman said, except a bi-colored blennie and a royal gramma might not get along. Both, although classified as peaceful, have been known to be territorial, so if you have 2 docile, rock-hiding, bottom-dwelling fish, you might have some problems with those two.
and for adding base rock: this wold work out fine, but base rock is not as porus as live rock. If you were to look at live rock under a microscope, there are tons of crevices and holes that weaves into the rock. This provides the rock with more surface area and gives bacteria more places to grow and do its thing. This is why the lighter the rock you have by volume, the better.
base rock is made of different materials. It is either lime-rock or lava rock. there arae other types too. Most likely the type of rock in the tanks at your LFS is live rock. But it may be base rock. I know at petcos they have baserock
good night all!! ill talk to you tomorrow morning no doubt!
R
red79
Guest
You 2 are so cute. Keep up the good work.
reefman22
Member
hey im up! anyone here wanna talk? OK this is what I'm thinkin, today to put into my 24 nano (empty) I'm gonna go to my LFS and get 15 gallons of water, 20 pounds of sand, test kits, i may get a thermometer but if I buy of the internet I'm goin to get a hydrometer from Dr., and ill check out the LR at my LFS and if I get help with the price ( :cheer: ) I may buy it there. It is 6.99 per pound. I think 22 pounds would be ideal for my tank so I'm looin at about $154 but....... on Dr. I saw 22 pounds for 89.99 or 45 pounds for 99.99 so I may end up getting my LR from Dr. ( or any cheaper internet site if I can find it) but the problem is that I wanted to get it all in right away to get my tank cycling and if i get it from Dr., it wont arrive till thursday
So I'm in a jam.... give me your input and I will appreciate. Fishiness or Fisman, you around?
fishieness
Active Member
psh... im ALWAYS around here haha
it wont arrive until thursday? well your cycle wouldnt be over by then anyways. you can put all the water and sand in there now, and also a dead shrimp to help start the cycle, and when the live rock gets here, scrub a little bit to get all the huge parts off, take out the shrimp,and stick in the rock! your water will already have started to cycle and the live sand and the water form your LFS will help for a quicker cycle.
i would recomend a little more than 15 gallosn of water though. Maybe closer to 20 or something, then you can take the water out as you add in live rock. That is up to you though, you may not need to take any out at all. Keep in mind you have a few extra gallosn to fill from the sump too
Pluse if you have some left over, you could always save it for when you start doing water changes.
it wont arrive until thursday? well your cycle wouldnt be over by then anyways. you can put all the water and sand in there now, and also a dead shrimp to help start the cycle, and when the live rock gets here, scrub a little bit to get all the huge parts off, take out the shrimp,and stick in the rock! your water will already have started to cycle and the live sand and the water form your LFS will help for a quicker cycle.
i would recomend a little more than 15 gallosn of water though. Maybe closer to 20 or something, then you can take the water out as you add in live rock. That is up to you though, you may not need to take any out at all. Keep in mind you have a few extra gallosn to fill from the sump too
Pluse if you have some left over, you could always save it for when you start doing water changes.
reefman22
Member
Ya I was only gonna get 15 gallons of water if I got rock today. But I'm really lookin at the 45 pounds of Dr. But I dont know what to do with the excess
I would like to sell it over the internet, maybe on this message board. Do you think that would be good? And also, do I have to let the tank cycle before adding shrimp? Or can they go in with the LR?
fishieness
Active Member
let the tank cycle first. The amonia spike will most likely kill the shrimp. If any creatures come in via the live rock, then let those remain. Might as well.
most people have 1-2 pounds of live rock per gallon of water. if you get 45 pounds, that is not quite 2x. i bet it would fit. But if you think it would be too crammed, then you can always take someout. My recomendation is to put it all in there to cycle it. you wouldnt be able to sell it over the internet because you will recieve it uncured from all the thigns on it that died through shipping. If you sent uncured live rock in the main, whoever will end up with it will end up with a mess and wouldnt be very happy. Then after it is all cured, you can pick out the best pieces, then sell the rest either online or even to your local fish store.
i might be interested in buying any that you dont want. But think of it this way, you can get 22 pounds of live rock at your LFS (i dont know about your LFS, but the live rock at mine looks no where near as cool as any ive seen online) for 160 bucks. Or for probalby 120 with shipping you can get twice that online, and then sell any stuff you dont want!
man... all this talkign about live rock is convincing me to want to get some online. haha
i should set up a cureing area.
oo and what testers are you expecting to get?
a good starter kit is nitrates-nitrites-amonia-ph... those are the basics and probably all you will need before adding anything more sensitive like corals. You can get all these in different packet-kits. it would be less expensive this way. DO NOT GO FOR THE CHEAPEST ONES THOUGH! many are un accurate or will give false readings.
oh!! and one more thing. i dont think my question was ever awnsered about how much your tank cost! i was looking at them but was jsut wondering the price.
and you said you had 2x36 watts....... is this of PC? How high is your tank? This will determin the types of corals you can keep.
most people have 1-2 pounds of live rock per gallon of water. if you get 45 pounds, that is not quite 2x. i bet it would fit. But if you think it would be too crammed, then you can always take someout. My recomendation is to put it all in there to cycle it. you wouldnt be able to sell it over the internet because you will recieve it uncured from all the thigns on it that died through shipping. If you sent uncured live rock in the main, whoever will end up with it will end up with a mess and wouldnt be very happy. Then after it is all cured, you can pick out the best pieces, then sell the rest either online or even to your local fish store.
i might be interested in buying any that you dont want. But think of it this way, you can get 22 pounds of live rock at your LFS (i dont know about your LFS, but the live rock at mine looks no where near as cool as any ive seen online) for 160 bucks. Or for probalby 120 with shipping you can get twice that online, and then sell any stuff you dont want!
man... all this talkign about live rock is convincing me to want to get some online. haha
i should set up a cureing area.
oo and what testers are you expecting to get?
a good starter kit is nitrates-nitrites-amonia-ph... those are the basics and probably all you will need before adding anything more sensitive like corals. You can get all these in different packet-kits. it would be less expensive this way. DO NOT GO FOR THE CHEAPEST ONES THOUGH! many are un accurate or will give false readings.
oh!! and one more thing. i dont think my question was ever awnsered about how much your tank cost! i was looking at them but was jsut wondering the price.
and you said you had 2x36 watts....... is this of PC? How high is your tank? This will determin the types of corals you can keep.