Quote:
Originally Posted by
slipbob http:///t/392060/starting-all-over-again#post_3479557
Back in the late 80's, I used to be quite good @ this hobby, however I was in an accident that left me disabled, I have lost a lot of my memory, and can't remember how I did everything. I am fixing to start again, and would appreciate any advice anyone could give me. I have a 90 gal. long. My set up will be 4-48" floresant bulbs 2-Atinic & 2- Day-glo.W/ 2 night-glo LEDs (T5). I am going to have a canister filter, over the side filter,air pump W/ sponge, and finally, I know I will get negative feedback from this, a UGF W/ 2 big powerheads. I see that UGFs seem to be obsolete, but I am one of those hard-headed, old-school, tried & true kinda person.Because I Am disabled, I wont be able to vacuum the gravel,nor go to the floor to maintain a wet/dry or refugium, or I would go that route. What I need to know If I could add Live Rock to my tank W/ that light system? I plan on elevating the rock, so it will be closer to the lights. Do I acclimate live rock the same way as fish? Is there any kind of coral that I could add that would live with this lighting?. I can add 6" sq. LED if needed. I cant use a Halide for heat & energy reasons. 1 more question, as I can remember I had a juvenile Anularias in the same tank with a Flame angel, with no problems of fighting. I may be mistaken, and had them in seperate aquariums, I just can't remember. I want a peaceful aquarium! If this is a mistake to put them together, I will just get a Flame. While this aquarium is getting established, I am going to get a 120 gal. going as well. I can still remember that years ago I was able to raise seahorses and clownfish,but that is all just a cloudy memory at best, all because of a drunk-driver hitting me head on 2001. I hope someone reads this and replies, I would really like to hear about your tanks, and your achievements, at this most wonderful hobby of all!
Welcome to the forum and back into the hobby.
Firstly, I'd like to say how truly sorry I am for your accident and what you've had to endure as a result of someone stupidity!
I'm going to address the UGF first (you knew it was coming). In all honesty, live sand and a good clean up crew and good flow in your tank and you shouldn't have to vacuum. I don't clean my sand, in ANY of my tanks. IMO, the UGF will actually be more work than going the live sand way.
I'm not sure what you're getting at with wanting the light to reach the live rock. The light is enough for the live rock to turn purple with coralline algae if that's what you're wanting to see on your rocks. Live rock doesn't need light at all. The coralline (purple) algae grows with light and calcium. The salt mix will provide calcium and your lighting is enough for coralline growth. Your lighting will allow you lower light requiring corals such as mushrooms, zoanthids, palythoas, and other soft corals. You can probably get away with some LPS (torches, brain corals, etc) if you place them up higher on your rock work. Stay away from SPS (aka fuzzy colorful sticks).
Live rock can go in the tank at start up. You're going to need to cycle the tank before fish are added, and you should add your live rock at the beginning and let it cycle with the tank, especially if you're planning on using uncured live rock or dry rock. Look into cycling a tank with a raw cocktail shrimp. It's one of the most common methods for cycling a tank, and everyone has their own little tweak on how to do it.
You may have very well had the Annularis angel and the flame in the same tank. The Annularis is considered a "large" angel while the flame is a "dwarf" variety. While angels usually fight when mixed, dwarves and large angels usually don't fight with each other.
There are some recommended threads here in the New Hobbyist section that will go into detail about cycling a tank, etc. They're good reads. I would go through them and ask any questions to things you don't quite get. There's a lot of language used in this hobby that is confusing even to seasoned hobbyists.
