starting a tropical reef tank

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Discuss all topics related to saltwater / reef tanks.


stubbysmom
 
Posts: 8
Joined: Thu Jul 24, 2008 5:09 pm

starting a tropical reef tank

by stubbysmom

Hi, my name is Tonya and I'm new here. We are setting up a tropical reef tank and I have some questions. We have done saltwater before so have some knowlege through trial and error. We have a 75 gal with good filter, protein skimmer, heater, undergravel filter, some live rock, crushed coral and sand. We need more live rock, but have to do a little at a time. Our tank is cycling and everything is withing normal range so far. We are getting some algea growth. We want to try some invertabrates, eventually soft and hard coral. We are not sure what species can go with what.
Last time we had some crabs to eat the algea, but they ended up killing alot of fish too. What kinds of fish or invertabrates are best to start with? Last time around, we rushed things and didn't find out enough about what species can go with what. Will anenomes eat starfish? Will starfish eat coral and what kinds? Will anenomes eat coral? What about different kinds of small eels? Or shrimp?
I have a bunch more questions but will save those for later. Of course we are going to go slow.
Thanks!


jweb1369
 
Posts: 547
Joined: Thu Jul 10, 2008 2:55 am

by jweb1369

blue linkia starfish are awesome and work with coral and live rock. I had one and it was beautiful, just make sure your water parameters are PERFECT, mine got sick and I had to take it back to the LPS. I believe blood red shrimp are good with coral and live rock, about 90% sure, but they cost about $30. The good thing about this shrimp is that it will actually clean your fish of paracites and set up a home/fish cleaning station, it is truly amazing to watch the fish stay still while they clean them. I think that most anemones eat coral. Oh also all those little hermits and snails will be fine. Get as many as you can of those.


stubbysmom
 
Posts: 8
Joined: Thu Jul 24, 2008 5:09 pm

by stubbysmom

The hermits won't eat the starfish? I had a blue linkia starfish before and one of the crabs ate the starfish but I can't remember what kind of crab it was. I don't think it was a hermit. Also, is it possible to have a reef tank and a lionfish at the same time?


singapore
 
Posts: 238
Joined: Sun Feb 10, 2008 6:47 pm

by singapore

choc chip starfish wil eat coral and pretty much anything they cn get ahold of, including anemones. they rule for starfish i think is that if its bumpy/thorny, it probably isnt safe with corals. as far as i know, most anemones are safe with coral, except for condylactus anemones....and pretty much any other atlantic anemone species. they dont eat the coral, but they roam about the tank alot and can sting and damage coral. all anemones will do this initially, but most (except atlantic species) will find a place in the tank they like and stay there eels will eat shrimp and other inverts without shells (crabs shrimp ect.). while small, eels are fine with fish, but once they start to grow up, anything small enough to fit in their mouth...will be dinner. as for hermit crabs, i reccomend blue leg hermits. they stay small, arent aggressive, and are bright and active. they dont bother any of my stars or urchins and pretty much stick to themselves. a good way to get rid of algae is to buy snails. they arent usually as interesting as crabs, but they are efficient. turbo snails are what i use. i also got Nassarius snails to sift through my sand and eat fish poop and whatnot. Lionfish are very cool, but they will eat any fish that will fit in their mouth...and will eat your $30 blood shrimp. lions are safe with coral, anemones, sponges, snails, hermits, and im pretty sure they are okay with tube worms too, but i may be wrong. before you buy any fish or decorative inverts/corals, think about wheather you really want a peaceful reef with shrimp, coral, and many small peaceful fish. or if you want a more predatory reef with just a few larger, predators like lions and eels. or if you just want to go the other way and not have a reef, and just keep a few interesting specemins of fish/inverts.


stubbysmom
 
Posts: 8
Joined: Thu Jul 24, 2008 5:09 pm

by stubbysmom

Last time we didn't have a reef, just a few fish and inverts like you suggested. This time we would like to try a reef, but my hubby also really liked our lionfish we had. We had thought we couldn't mix a lionfish with other specimins found on a tropical reef. If we were to go with a reef with predators, what would go well together? Are there any types of eels that stay small? Our eel we had got too large for our tank. Do Blennies stay hidden in the rock and things, to be safe from a predator? I remember our lionfish was rather slow. It was the triggerfish that was more aggressive and fast. I am really thinking the more predatory reef is what we might go with, but we have to discuss it further first and also get some more information. It seems the pet store people in our area (petco and pet expo) are knowlegable on the basics but not when you ask more in depth questions.


jweb1369
 
Posts: 547
Joined: Thu Jul 10, 2008 2:55 am

by jweb1369

If you go with a lionfish the usual rule is whatever can fit into its mouth is considered its prey. I don't know much about eels, but I would imagine most smaller fish would not be safe. A general rule is if it is a predator make sure the other fish are bigger or same in size. A puffer fish would be cool. Picasso trigger fish also.


singapore
 
Posts: 238
Joined: Sun Feb 10, 2008 6:47 pm

by singapore

puffers are cool, but they would decimate any coral or invert in the tank. and i mean ANY. . .so they are not reef safe by any means. if u wanted the more aggressive tank with coral, i would reccomend lions, eels, foxface, scorpions, and maybe anglers if you want to take the time to care for them. blennies can hide in the rocks, but if you have an eel, then he may just follow the blenny into his cave and eat him rite up.

in my 55gal predator tank rite now, i have the following fish: small Snowflake moray eel (8-10"), a pair of oc. clowns (1.25", >1"), a blue damsel (2"), engineer goby (3"), and a bicolor angel (4"). as far as inverts: snails, hermits, condylactus anemone, longspine urchin, and a choc chip star. the eel i have will gro to about two feet. but i figure by the time he is that big, my clowns will be about 4" and living safely in their anemone, away from the eel. the goby grows to around a fool, and should be alrite. the damsel is quick, and shud outrun the eel. and im just not worried about the angel. I too want a predator reef, and plan on trading in my choc chip star to start this reef at some point.

most people dont keep them because the are VERY difficult to acclimate, but ribbon eels, although they grow large, are reef safe with everyting except shrimp.

so yeah...i dont know what else i can tell you other than to do some real planning and get back to us with some more questions!

welcome to the site btw


stubbysmom
 
Posts: 8
Joined: Thu Jul 24, 2008 5:09 pm

by stubbysmom

ok, so I had a chance to talk with my hubby over the weekend and went to the petstore and found a few knowlegable people. We decided to go with the passive tropical reef tank. No lionfish in the near future here. Our tank is still cycling and I noticed the nitrate levels and ph is bouncing around some. Not too much but it's not steady yet. We are getting a brown algea growth on the sand. It's been probably 6 years since we had saltwater and I forgot some stuff. Is the brown algea because of the higher nitrate level, or is that just the tank cycling? Over the weekend I added 3 and 1/2 lb live rock, 2 chromes, 2 turbo snails. Should I just let the tank keep cycling and keep checking the levels or should I add something for the nitrates? I couldn't find anything about that in my books.
btw, singapore, thanks for the welcome! It's fun going through all the posts and pictures!
I have something that came in on one of my live rocks and I can't figure out what it is. I can't find any pictures of it. Hopefully someone can help me here. Are there different kinds of tubeworms? That's what this looks like except the whole thing is a dark red. The base even looks a little fuzzy.
Thanks!


stubbysmom
 
Posts: 8
Joined: Thu Jul 24, 2008 5:09 pm

by stubbysmom

Oh, forgot to ask, has anyone ever been taken by the sale of live rock? I did. I was told it was figi live rock and it's not. I thought it looked different but the salesperson swore up and down that it was and it has different things growing on it so I beleived them. I bought the rock, put it in my tank and then found it is not live rock. It's volcanic rock and dead coral with algea growth on it. Would you take it out of the tank and try to return it or leave it alone and stew about it? The way I found out was I had bought more and then gone to another store and shown someone. I ended up returning that right away before putting it in my tank and had no problems with that return, but they still swore up and down it was figi live rock. Too bad every peice had a tag on it!


singapore
 
Posts: 238
Joined: Sun Feb 10, 2008 6:47 pm

by singapore

live rock is really only rock...whatever kind...or fossilized coral, with algae, and critters on it. ive got some peices that are figi, some base rock, some lava rock, and some fossilized coral. i even made some with cement and play sand. it is all covered in purple coraline algae, and it all has critters on it. to me, it doesnt matter.

as for the brown algea, its from the raised nitrates caused during the cycling period. i just got rid of my brown algae problem with a few astrea snails. to get it off my sand i bought a sand sifting star and nassarous snails. i thinks sea cucumbers would do the trick too. the chromis will help to cycle the tank a bit faster.

liquid nitrate removers dont really work in the long run. they only cover up the problem. once your tank is done cycling, the nitrases should lower. and ur protein skimmer will help with that. marine plants also lower them. xenia corals also lower it. plants and xenia are natural ways to filter the tank.

yeah its prolly some sort of worm...or maybe a cucumber. but prolly a worm.

starting a tropical reef tank

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