Live Rock question

murph

murph

Active Member
The puffer is considered semi aggressive and not reef safe and most likely will do a number on a invert based cleanup crew and any fish it can bully. If the tank is to end up as an aggressive tank then the puffer is fine but with the fish he has now it is out of place.
If the tank is going to be aggressive everything but the puffer should most likely go. In this case I wouldn't even bother removing the CC and just add some liver rock. Problem here is the tank is not large enough for an overall aggressive schemed tank so the removal of the puffer and the tang would still be my advice and possibly the removal of the mandarin if there is any lack of confidence or ability to feed it properly.
 
drewdog82

drewdog82

Member
The reason why I did crushed coral instead of sand was the LFS told me sand would get caught in the filter. Also, when doing water changes that it would go through the siphon to quickly. Are either of these true???
 
turningtim

turningtim

Active Member
Originally Posted by drewdog82
The reason why I did crushed coral instead of sand was the LFS told me sand would get caught in the filter. Also, when doing water changes that it would go through the siphon to quickly. Are either of these true???
No. You don't need to clean sand like you do CC. A good clean up crew including some sand sifting critters will take care of the sand. I've had sand in my tank going on 2 years and when I do maintenance to the pumps/power heads I have never seen any sand........
HTH
Tim
 
drewdog82

drewdog82

Member
So, when I do a water change I should just put the siphon in the water and around the live rock, and not put it into the sand, right???
 
salty444

salty444

Member
drewdog,
I have a 55 with about 120 pounds of LR. I also have a small purple tang, valentini puffer, large tomato clown, coral beauty, mandarin, algea blenny and a sand shifting goby. I have 2 candy anenomes, about 6 hermits and 8 turbo snails.. You can listen to all this garbage about your puffer and tang having to go back but honestly you will be wasting your gas. They will thrive fine in your 55 especially since a valentini puffer gets no larger than 3" in legnth. Your mandarin will need lots of rock to live. They eat pods that are either on your rocks or are reintroduced via FUGE (chalerpa).
answeres to your questions..
get about 80 pounds of figi or any other live rock as long as it is cured.. otherwise you will have to cure it yourself and it is a PITA and takes about 3 weeks.
You can keep you puffer. They are cool and will not harm larger hermits and snails. I know this because I have one that ate all my small snails immediately.
Get yourself a nice Coralife super skimmer 125.. they work amazing.
get yourself a nice 4x65 watt PC lighting system and a timer..You will be happy.
throw a couple powerheads on each end forcing the water through the rocks and you will be all set!
Good luck
 
drewdog82

drewdog82

Member
Salty 444...... Thanks for your advice, I really didn't want to give them back.... the mandarin I will probably give back though... One quick question for you, if you look to my original question it states my dilemma with starting my tank w/out live rock or sand. My question is.... Would you suggest moving my fish temporarily into a 30 while I take out the crushed coral and add live rock and sand, or would you suggest keeping the fish in and doing this slowly in stages????
 
salty444

salty444

Member
take them out. put the water you have in the tank right now into a 30g. Transfer the fish. make sure you put a skimmer and a powerhead and a heater on that 30 to make sure they are ok. Then strip your 55, add your sand or CC whichever you prefer.. I have a mix. I wish I would have used all sand. Then add new water.. Let it cycle for a while with some nice cured rock. It will definitely be cloudy for a while but will be ok. Doing it in stages will become a pita and it will be cloudy no matter how little you add.. I do not know what your budget is but I would go for a 75g tank.. I noticed that a 55 is not great to aquascape. Definitely look into the Coralife 125 and the lighting. Do you have a sump or a refugium?
Set up that 30 and expect the fish to be in there for a week or so.. Your project will not be one of those "overnighters" especially if you want rock in there which will benefit your tank in more ways than any other thing you buy
 
drewdog82

drewdog82

Member
Salty 444---- Also when you say to set up powerheads so that they push the water throught the rocks, do you mean to move them lower in the tank.... I have 2 right now that are close to the top of my tank just for water circulation...?
 
salty444

salty444

Member
however you position your rocks you want to force the water through the anerobic areas to help filter the water. This will help lower any nitrates as the "live rock" will consume any unwanted nitrate material. I have a 500 gph powerhead pumping water through the rocks while 2 others make the current for the fish to swim around in.
here are a few pics of my tank, I have since re arranged the rocks and it looks 100 times better.. I have to take some new pics.
http://hvreef.org/yabb/index.php?topic=4706.0
I am still learning like yourself but have learned alot from these forums... The biggest thing I have learned is to trust your "trial and error" instincts. What works for one person may not work for you.
 
drewdog82

drewdog82

Member
I do not have a sump or a refugium, so I was hoping to get a hanging protein skimmer, is the one you're talking about a hanging one or do you need a sump?
Also, I don't have the money right now to invest in a 75, so would you say you are still happy with your 55???
 
firedog

firedog

Member
Originally Posted by Saltwater8
Can you purchase copepods?


Yes you can purchase copepods. Marc Weiss has a new product, also look up copepods on the net.
 
salty444

salty444

Member
the 55 is nice.. the 75 is a bit nicer and easier to aquascape.. that's just my opinion though..
that custom flow looks like it could have some potential..
 
firedog

firedog

Member
Ok I have a few issues here with some of the info.
As for reducing nitrates: the anaerobic bacteria exist inside the rock, and below the surface of the sand, where there is less water circulation, therefore less oxygenation of the water. Hence it is called anaerobic. Those are the bacteria that process nitrates into nitrogen gas. Increasing the circulation in those areas will increase the oxygen, thus reducing the anaerobic bacteria.
This maybe was was intended in a previous post,but it wasn't quite clear. The aerobic bacteria that exist on the surface of the rock and the shallow areas of the sand (and on the surface of bio balls) convert ammonia to nitrite to nitrate. An anaerobic area is needed to reduce nitrate to either ammonium or nitrogen gas.
What I have stated here might not be 100% technically correct, but I think the basic concepts are there.
Now as for the purple tang, most recommendations seem to indicate a 100 gal tank, not because of the size of the fish, but because it needs the grazing area, and because it needs the room to swim. Apparently they are strong swimmers that require more room than some other similar sized tangs.
In addition, most tangs seem to have a recommended tank size of at least 70 gals. Smaller tanks may cause stress that cause their ich glands to go into overdrive and make everythings sick. (ok they don't really have ich glands. Lighten up Francis.
)
 
jonny bolt

jonny bolt

Member
Puffiz can be semi-aggressive, but when fed correctly, they will usually not bother other fish......they are more interested in crunching shells to "get at the meat"
I have a Valentini, and my friend has one as well....and he has it in his 75 with Clowns, Damsels, a Basslet and Chromis, his Puffer could care less about them all.
Dont feel bad that your LFS told you to go with CC instead of LS.....there is still a LFS here that does the same, when my friend bought his first marine tank there, the guy who runs the place told him the same thing. He has since switched to LS. Like stated above, you dont need to "vacuum" the sand. Just siphon your water out.
I didnt see you list a bunch of inverts......but I have successfully kept a Valentini with a Coral Banded Shrimp, big hermit crabs, and some Turbo and Cerith snails. He did eat some snails, but left me with some. But if'n you DO want to do a big clean-up crew, with smaller inverts, then you should find a new home for tha Valentini Puffah, as you will be upset when you spend all the coin on a big clean-up crew, only to have tha Puff dessimate the population of your crew.
 
murph

murph

Active Member
I guess the size of a tank necessary to house a full grown purple tang is open to debate.
IMO is its going to look quite out of place in a fifty five gallon reef tank when full grown. There is no doubt its going to look big and clumsy trying to find maneuvering room not to mention adding a significant bio load.
 
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