where to begin?

[daisy]

I've got two tanks, a 40 gal and a 55 gal. Both have crushed coral substrate, lots of rockwork, but not liverock. I'm afraid to do reef because I'll be moving in the next three years, and I don't want to disturb a reef with a move. Actually, it's because I'm intimidated by the reef. Anyway, the thing is that I don't know what fish to get. Both tanks are mature and have been up for over a year and a half. Right now the 40 gal is empty and the 55 has a maroon clown and a large sailfin tang. What can I put in these tanks other than hermits, snails, a sally lightfoot?
btw, both tanks have bristleworm thanks to some lousy live rock I got at the beginning of my adventure nearly two years ago, but I've read that while many say bristleworms are bad, bad, bad, in fact, they are not so bad after all... What do you think?
I love angels, but am afraid I'll kill them. I love mandarins, but do I have enough in the tank to keep them happy, or do they require live rock? If they do, how much do I need in order to keep them happy? How much live rock would I put into a 40 gallon tank or a 55 gallon tank, anyway? And is liverock a waste if I'm not going to make it a reef tank anyway?
Also, one of my snails has feather dusters on its shell (bonus!) What do I do to keep them alive and happy?
Basically, help and thank you so much!

 

[thewolfman777]

as to your question on l/r. people say that 1-1.5 lbs. of l/r per gallon is good. l/r is very beneficial to your tank because acts kind of like a filter. it has all the good bacteria you want in your tank anyway. l/r imo is not a waste if you are doing a fo tank, i feel it is a bonus and a must. Also, make sure you buy cured l/r.

 

[fshhub]

feed teh feather dusters plankton
bristle worms are good, just do not touch!!!
befor i'd consider reef, i would, while nothing is in the tanks, change them over to a dsb(deep sand bed), no coral or ugf(under gravel..), then i would add the rock, the only reason isay this is that the sand would be much easier to do now, MUCH,
as for the lr(live rock) yes you can add it to a fo, this would make it a fowlr(fish only with live rock), the lr will help with breaking down your organics, and hosts alot of live good stuff, that will clean the tank, plus the lr creates hiding places for your fish, and adds something to the appearance of the tank
i myself like 1.5 lbs of lr per gallon and a 4" sand bed
then, i wold move your fish to the 40, and set up the 55 the same, just because it would be easier and safer this way
then after you move, it would be alot less of an expense to convert to a reef system, but after htis is done, you could start to add some more fish, i would keep the tang in teh 55 and the clown in th e40(just because of size), and add more fish ot both, but would stay with smalller species, since theose 2 will get larger tehmselves
as far as what you can add, shrimp are nice, ilike cleaner and blood shrimp, they add color and clean your fish
and some smaller fishes, there are 100s+ of different possibilities there, maybe look at a dwarf angel, like a coral beauty or flame, if you wnat an angel, especially with having other larger fish in already
HTH

 

[diatom]

Daisy~
The best place to start would be to get a good book.
Don't be intimidated by a reef...the biggest problem with a reef is the expense of setting one up.
If you do decide to start one...start with the 40...pull out that CC and replace it with 4" of fine grade sand. Buy some good live rock (BTW good LR has bristle worms, they are a good thing.) Get a good skimmer and some good lights and you're off to the races.
I wouldn't get a Mandarin...I think it would be better if yo had some more experience before adding a had to keep fish like that. A dwarf angel perhaps in your 55.
LR is not a waste because it helps with filtration. It is good to have in almost all systems.
YOu've got a lot of good questions that I think yould be best served by first reading something like Bob Fenners Conscienious Aquarist book.
HTH,
D~

 

[daisy]

So I have some follow-up questions to all your advice:
1. Do I have to remove all the crushed coral and replace with a dsb? If I do so, I'll end up removing the bristleworms, right? But why is a dsb so much better than the cc?
2. If I change the 40 gal into mixedreef/fish, what type of lighting do I get? I have a regular hood with a fluorescent bulb now. Also, what filtration do I need? I have a bio-wheel filter now. Do I need a protein skimmer? A wet/dry trickle? Is the bio-wheel enough?
3. Should I buy live sand or cured live rock from saltwaterfish.com, or should I go to my lfs for these things? They are selling the lr at $6/lb. I have to ask them if it's cured lr, but is this a good price? Also, what does "good" lr look like?
Thanks again!
Daisy

 

[fshhub]

if you can, youare better off replacing all the cc now with a dsb, you'll be better off in the long run
a skimmer would be a grat help, and for filtration, you are fine now, BUT you will probably eventually get rid of the biowheel altogether, i wouldn't even consider a wet dry(as i said you will probably get rid of any filters later on anyhow, most of us use none with lr and adsb AND IT WORKS BETTER)later on, you do hawever need alot of circulation, about 10x's your gallons per hour total, and enough sources to eliminate any dead spots
6$ a pound is a good deal for locally bought rock, but swf dot com ahs @ 50 lbs for $200, if you mail orderr, you just need to be sure and cure it well before adding it to a tank with any creatures in it, good live rock will have a lot of life on it theat you cannot see, and it may be colored by coraline algae(purple red and or green), but not having it does not mean it is not good either

 

[daisy]

How do I cure live rock myself? I do have a lfs that I could give both the sailfin and the maroon clown to if need be. Is this what i should do,and start over?
How do you not have any filters in the tank at all? The live rock and the dsb do all the filtration? What about activated carbon? A protein skimmer? What happens to the fish poop? If your answer is "hermit crabs," don't they poop too? What happens to that?
I must sound like such a dummy. I've been doing fish since I was 12. I've been doing salt for two years. I thought I was so smart until recently. Oh well. I had been using the MacMillan book of the marine aquarium adn the Marine Aquarium problem solver, both by Nick Dakin, for the past two years. Great pix, lots of advice. But it seems the advice I'm getting here is totally different. They're copyrighted 1993 and 1996 respectively. I need something newer?
So please, please, please tell me what I need to have on the 55 gal and on the 40 gal -- best case scenario -- so that I can put fish in and they'll be really healthy, and that I can make the 40 a reef tank. I need to know what types of filters and what types of lights. I think I'll do the 40 over the next few months (because of money) and then the 50 a few months later.

 

[krusk]

book about equiments with the date of 1996 is way too old, because of the technology always improve.

 

[fshhub]

to cure, you put it in saltwater with a heater and powerhead, and clean it a bit if you'd like, then wait, doing regular water changes, until the ammonia comes down to zero, then u can put it in the tank, or if it is an empty tank, cycle the tank while it cures(put the lr in the tank, and let it go, doing water changes)