upgrading to 75 G with live rock, couple ?'s

khilgers

Member
Well I will be soon upgrading to a 75 gallon FOWLR to host my picasso trigger, niger trigger, and SFE. I had a couple ?'s on substrate and the use of live rock. I talked to the LFS today and they recommended that I stay away from live rock with the triggers since they will most likely chew it apart. Is this true? Also, they said to go with a sand bed as opposed to cruched coral that I currently have. If I do go with sand how deep of a sand bed? I am still pretty new to the hobby so help me out if you can.
 

justchillin

Member
never kept triggers so i'll leave that question for those who have (although i don't think its the the rock that they bother so much as some corals that live on the rock)...
as for the your other question...i would suggest a sandbed as it's better for the sfe's stomach. if this is the only reason you're using sand for your substate than an inch is fine...i've always used a dsb (deep sand bed) which would be 4-6 inches deep. a dsb works as a excellent biological filter for your system and i've always been happy with it...
hth,
mike
 

julius

Member
Yea your Humu will nip at the rocks mines do it 24/7 but my niger dosen't there in a 75gal also I dont really worry about it. I have about 200lbs of sand. 100lbs of DSB and a 100lbs of LS my sand bed is about 5 to 6in deep. I have 3 corals my triggers never bother with them at all. The Eel should be fine in sand. So go with the sand bedding with the LR it looks a lot better than CC.
 

khilgers

Member
so what exactly is the point of a deeper sand. Also can I just put in a DSB and over the time the live rock will make it live sand? And what kind of corals can I keep with triggers?
 

julius

Member
you dont have to have it that deep if you dont want, you need to add some LS over your DSB over time it will become live. I keep polyps with my triggers Button polyps and star polyps planning on adding mushrooms soon.
 

justchillin

Member

Originally posted by khilgers
so what exactly is the point of a deeper sand. Also can I just put in a DSB and over the time the live rock will make it live sand? And what kind of corals can I keep with triggers?

the bacteria and other goodies needed for a heathy dsb are different to those that live on lr....you can get the sand availabel at your lfs or southdown at hd if you can find it and add ls to it to get it started. it will take a little time for things to reproduce and spread throughout the sand bed (verses all ls) but will save you a good amount of $$...you'll need between 4-6 inches in order to get good bio-filtration...
 

khilgers

Member
So would a 4" DSB with 1" of live sand over it be good enough to get things started. Also, plan on adding at least 50 lbs of live rock. Does this sound like a good start? I can always add more live sand in the future, right?
 

justchillin

Member

Originally posted by khilgers
So would a 4" DSB with 1" of live sand over it be good enough to get things started. Also, plan on adding at least 50 lbs of live rock. Does this sound like a good start? I can always add more live sand in the future, right?

that sounds like a better start than i had...i didn't use nearly as much ls....your dsb will start benefiting your tank much faster than mine did...
 

justchillin

Member
also i just re-read your initial post and saw that you were upgrading...
assuming you don't have any issues in your current tank i would suggest running the new 75 thru a full cycle and add some of the water from the current tank to help it along...
one other thing, imo a 75 is two small for two triggers and an eel...definatly don't add anything else...
what other filtration are you planning on using?
-mike
 

lion_crazz

Active Member
I don't see any problems in your plan. The more live rock, the better you are off. If you added another 25 to 40 lbs. to the 50 you plan to have, you could remove your bio balls and have a more natural filtration system. This is the whole idea to the deep sand bed as well.
I don't see why you are running a live sand bed however. You do not have a reef tank, and you will not really be able to keep too many sand-sifting critters to keep your substrate clean because of your triggers, and you will not be able to disturb it too often or too much to clean it because that will harm the sand bed more than it will help it. I think you would probably be better off going with a 1" aragonite substrate, an oversized protein skimmer to remove wastes, a few powerheads for good water circulation, and a wet/dry to remove particles and to move water. However, you know your triggers. If you can keep snails, stars, and hermit crabs with no problems, then the sand bed is a great idea for natural filtration. I am all about the natural way, but in your case, it sounds like it would be more detrimental than helpful.
Also, I really don't see you maxing yourself out with those 3 fish. With the filtration system I described above, only feeding every few days, and regular water changes, you should be able to keep one more good sized fish in the tank with no problems.
 

liontamer

Member
If ur already upgrading u might as well go ahead and get a larger tank while yer at it. 75 will be too small for yer triggers in the long run, a 125 would be decent but a 180 would be best. A 75 gallon just doesnt offer as much swimming room as a trigger really needs, and as i say "the bigger the better". IF u upgrade to a 75, ull just need to upgrade again in the future anyway. And always get as much liverock as u think is necessary, have enough so tat they can swim, but also make caves and tunnels and such. They do like to chew on the rock, just like puffers, to keep their teeth filed.
 
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