Looking to refresh the reef...

[sman]

Well ive been spending alot of time (and money) working on the camaro. (thats a whole nother story) And the reef is looking boring, and ive gone through the biggest loss yet. Just last week I lost my beloved 6.5in male blue throat trigger.
There are a couple of times ive wanted to add and some equipment that needs upgrading.
First off I REALLY want to get a midas blenny, im 90% sure it wont be an issue, just want to verify with current stock.
Second is a jawfish, how much sand do these guys really need? If there isnt enough will they just pile it up till there satisfied?
Third is my skimmer, currently useing an aqua c urchin pro, driven by a mag 3. Just doesnt seem to be pulling much in the way of skimmate. Its either clear and watery or nothing. There has to be more in there... What are your guys thoughts on this....
Fourth, How careful do you really have to be when aquascaping not to stir up the sand? Current setup has rock all along the back wall, looking to go to a 2 pile/island setup.
Fifth, do bangiaiis do ok in higher flow tanks? They seem so docile and non active, id feel bad if he was always getting blown around, dont currently have one but its kinda on my must have list.
Heres the current tank specs
90g drilled, single overflow
26 gallon sump w/fuge, mag 7 return
uv sterilizer
koralia 3 & 4
nova extreme pro
100ish lbs of LR
xenia
finger leather
open brain
green and purple candy canes
gsp
random zoas
frogspawn
hammers
torches
sure i missed something here
pair of false percs
coral beauty
solar fairy wrasse
tomini tang
ton of snails
25ish hermits
tiger pistol
Sorry this was so terribly long but I hate it when people make 15 different posts all related.
EDIT: Started my 50g in January of 08, moved to the 90g in June of 08. So this has been up for almost a year now.
Probably the most recent picture, pretty much looks the same, minus the trigger

 

[t316]

Downsize the pic so we can read the post

Well ive been spending alot of time (and money) working on the camaro. (thats a whole nother story) And the reef is looking boring, and ive gone through the biggest loss yet. Just last week I lost my beloved 6.5in male blue throat trigger.
There are a couple of times ive wanted to add and some equipment that needs upgrading.
First off I REALLY want to get a midas blenny, im 90% sure it wont be an issue, just want to verify with current stock.
I have no idea
Second is a jawfish, how much sand do these guys really need? If there isnt enough will they just pile it up till there satisfied?
You have plenty of sand...Go for a Diamond Goby instead
Third is my skimmer, currently useing an aqua c urchin pro, driven by a mag 3. Just doesnt seem to be pulling much in the way of skimmate. Its either clear and watery or nothing. There has to be more in there... What are your guys thoughts on this....
Fourth, How careful do you really have to be when aquascaping not to stir up the sand? Current setup has rock all along the back wall, looking to go to a 2 pile/island setup.
Fifth, do bangiaiis do ok in higher flow tanks? They seem so docile and non active, id feel bad if he was always getting blown around, dont currently have one but its kinda on my must have list.
Bangs have no problem with flow, they will find cover.
Heres the current tank specs
90g drilled, single overflow
26 gallon sump w/fuge, mag 7 return
uv sterilizer
koralia 3 & 4
nova extreme pro
100ish lbs of LR
xenia
finger leather
open brain
green and purple candy canes
gsp
random zoas
frogspawn
hammers
torches
sure i missed something here
pair of false percs
coral beauty
solar fairy wrasse
tomini tang
ton of snails
25ish hermits
tiger pistol
Sorry this was so terribly long but I hate it when people make 15 different posts all related.
EDIT: Started my 50g in January of 08, moved to the 90g in June of 08. So this has been up for almost a year now.
Probably the most recent picture, pretty much looks the same, minus the trigger

Recommend scraping ALL sides of the glass...will really clean it up a bit...

 

[sman]

Fixt! (sorry about the picture, forget im working on quite a big monitor)
Why the diamond goby over the jawfish?
See a problem with making those 3 additions? Not all at the same time obviously.

 

[sman]

No one has any input?

 

[d-dzel]

I have a question for you! I have a 55g and I'm looking to upgrade to a 90g. On yours, did you just moved everything from the old one to the new one? I mean, the sand, LR water, etc. I can't afford to buy new sand and I was just wondering if I could just move my live sand from one to the other as it is and since you already went through this, I wanted to see if you could share your input on this

Your tank's coraline looks sick!

How often do you scrape it from the front? Wish mine was like that. I had a Jawfish(until he decided to jump) and he had about 5-6" of sand, but he preferred to hide inside a rock and just dig around it

 

[sman]

I wouldnt recomend moving the sand. Can cause a spike pretty easily. I ended up buying new sand, not live of course, its such a waste of money. Got the 90 setup with the new sand and water, pumps etc. Then once it was all going I moved about half of the rock from the 50 to the 90 and checked it after a few days to see if the amm ever came up. Never did so I moved the rest of the rock and the live stock and never had a problem.
I have to mag float the front once a day to keep it 100%, and I do the back once ever couple months. the right side I never did because it just faces a brick wall, and the left side I do with the mag float with the front.
I really dont know how I grow the coraline so fast, its actually quite a pain, I was thinking about getting some kind of urchine. I have a couple friends in SW and couldnt get coraline to grow if their lives depended on it, must be the combination or light, water quality, and salt that I use?

 

[t316]

Originally Posted by sman
http:///forum/post/3042794
Fixt! (sorry about the picture, forget im working on quite a big monitor)
Why the diamond goby over the jawfish?
See a problem with making those 3 additions? Not all at the same time obviously.

Now since I "quoted" you from the first post, I have the big pic that I don't know how to get rid of.
I'm just a diamond goby fan, that's all. Some of the jawfish are cool too, but it depends on your reasons for wanting the fish. Do you just plain like the fish, or are you going for sand sifting? In my opinion, DG's are great for both.
Those other additions you are talking about sound okay, but I'm not totally sure about compatability on those specific species, which is why I didn't respond on the question.
Nice tank though...

 

[t316]

I just deleted the pic from my post, so now we are all reading normal size screens

 

[sman]

I like the jawfish it self. Sand sifting is just a bonus. I like something thats different, and has a personality.