live sand and rock rubble with chaeto

[alaska clowns]

I ordered some chaeto that will have some live sand and rock rubble and pods with it and I was wondering if you think I can just add it right to my 26 gallon tank? My reason for asking is I was wondering if there would be any die-off from the rock/sand that I would need to "cure" it for a few days first before adding it to my tank? I think it will be about a cup of sand and then some rock rubble- enough to keep the pods alive. Thank you for your input!

[100%hydrophylic]

i dont think it would do any harm just putting it straight in. if it does have an effect it will be really small. nothing a quick water change couldnt help.

[Sisterlimonpot]

With such a small tank it might be problematic. How much live sand and live rock rubble are we talking about here?

[thegrun]

There is a risk of introducing unwanted hitchhikers. How much rock and sand are you adding? If there is a lot of it, you could start another cycle if you have much die-off. If there isn't that much, then the only problem would be the potential for unwanted pests.

[suzimcmullen]

I used to add everything directly to my main tanks. But I've had so many types of hitch hikers, I am now fond of having multiple tanks. I started a separate tank for copepods and amphipods. I collect those for my seahorses. I put everything new in that tank.

For me, I don't want any hydroids and I don't keep any snails that won't survive panacur. I don't keep feather dusters or worms because panacur kills everything that could hurt seahorses.

If you don't have sensitive corals or creatures, it might not matter what you do. But it's so much easier to watch these things in a 10 gallon tank for a few weeks so you can see what you have.

Suzi

[alaska clowns]

Originally posted by suzimcmullen
I used to add everything directly to my main tanks. But I've had so many types of hitch hikers, I am now fond of having multiple tanks. I started a separate tank for copepods and amphipods. I collect those for my seahorses. I put everything new in that tank.

For me, I don't want any hydroids and I don't keep any snails that won't survive panacur. I don't keep feather dusters or worms because panacur kills everything that could hurt seahorses.

If you don't have sensitive corals or creatures, it might not matter what you do. But it's so much easier to watch these things in a 10 gallon tank for a few weeks so you can see what you have.

Suzi, thanks for your ideas. What kind of equipment do you have on the small tanks that you use for raising copepods and amphipods? What do you feed them? That sounds like a great idea!

[suzimcmullen]

I moved my 3 10 gallon glass tanks into a 30 gallon plastic black trash can recently. So I can't really watch any new rock or plants anymore.

I cut a hole in the top of the can to hang one of those in tank filters in it. It's just a cheap one. I fill it with filter floss (those blue loose fibrous like pads) just so that I can let the detritus collect there for easy collection of pods. So I don't really filter this tank. I have about 20 pounds of rock and rubble in the tank and maybe 10 pounds of sand. So there is natural filtration. I check the ammonia from time to time and it's always okay. I remove about 10-20 percent of the water every week or two and replace with clean water or water from my main tanks. From time to time I go ahead and start over with clean filter floss. I HATE to throw away the detritus knowing how many pods are in there.

I also float sponges in there. I am referring to the ones meant for aqua clear filters. I cut the big ones up. These are great for the copepods and amphipods. They love to lay eggs in there and grow up in there. Any time I want to transfer the small pods to the other tanks I just take them and carefully squeeze them and dunk them in and out of the water. I see all size pods, mostly small to medium, swim out of the sponges. Then I throw them back in the pod tank.

Feeding is a mixture of things. I get a lot of items that I know has recently been in the ocean. So I like for my critters to be treated for parasites. I use the parasite medicated sinking pellets so that the amphipods and copepods will be gut loaded. I use a little bit of everything else from flakes to green water, to leftover meaty foods that I syringe back out of my display tanks if my seahorses don't eat all the food I feed them sometimes.

Oh yeah, I also drilled holes in the top so that I could wire on a clamp light. I just use a normal light-bulb for lighting. I keep chaeto and other plants in there. I also use this tank to swap out rock and plants from the display tanks if they begin to get hair algae on them. I keep this tank in a closet so that it's pitch dark in there. If a rock has hair algae on it, about 1 week in utter darkness will kill the hair algae and it comes out nice and clean and ready to go back in the tank. So the rocks are always in rotation for the same reason as the plants. I don't let the hair algae get longer than about 1/2 inch and never very thick. This way it dies off quick.

I did add a smoke detector to this closet since I have extension cords going in this closet to run the filter. I have to use a heater in the winter since that closet gets really cold.

Suzi

[alaska clowns]

Suzi, thank you so much for sharing your great set up!