New member, new to SW. Saying hi and have some questions.

[tmz]

Originally Posted by FishInABarrel

Hello, I'm from Alberta, canada. New to saltwater but not keeping aquariums. I have 400 gallons of freshwater with mostly cichlids. And a couple shrimp colony and oddball tanks.


So here are the questions

I've added my opinions

1. Ideas/suggestions for coral, inverts and fish.

There are so many to choose from ;pick some easy/hardy ones to start.

2. Should I get a UV sterilizer?

No,it's not very useful.

3. The refugium is currently miracle mud. Is that a good system? I like the idea of having live rock and inverts in the refugium.

I don't think much of miracle mud. I like refugia though.

4. What is a good salt? I can get fluval sea and instant ocean reef crystals locally.

Don't know about fluval salt. Lots off folks are happy with Reef Crystals. I've used use Coral life for over ten years.

5. I'm looking at a used tunze nano wavebox. Is it worth getting? Or are power heads better?

Many ways to go for flow. The wave maker is probably fine;so are a variety of powerheads and other devices.

Thanks in advance and sorry it's so long. Lol.

[FishInABarrel]

Ok so I've been reading on curing, cycling, dipping dry rock to get the organics and phosphates out. I have read anything from rinse it and put it in the tank to soak it in acid. I have marco dry rock, what should I do? I have muriatic acid and was going to soak it.

[tmz]

I would just cure it like regular live rock. Test for phosphates after a few days. If it's leaching treat the curing water with lanthanum chloride. Let it cylce out the organics via decay and the normal nitrogen cycle while in the curing bin.

Alternatively, you could give it a bath in bleach and water at abut 10 parts water to one part bleach for sevreal hours and then bathe it in muriatic acid. The bleach destroys the organics ; the acid melts off the top layer of live rock. Ther is a thread on this process in this forum ;search rock reincarnation. Welcome and good luck.

[FishInABarrel]

Alright thanks. Now with my new tank, do I glue/epoxy/putty my dry rock, fill tank and cycle? Or do I put my live rock in at the start too?

[FishInABarrel]

Ok so I got about 80-100lbs of live rock locally from someone shutting down a tank. It had green hair algae on it so I tried to scrub off as much as I could. I did tests today and have nitrate and phosphate levels at the moment. I know the nitrate is part of the cycle but should I be getting phosphate readings? Should I keep the lights off? Or do organisms on my live rock need light?

[Fishyoga]

Just stumbled across this thread while browsing....
Welcome to a fellow Albertan!
You've posted some really good questions that I can take some answers from as well
I'm new to fish keeping, currently running my second SW tank.
I've found the RC people really helpful with a number of the simpler questions I've come up with, so I'll follow along this thread to keep notes.
Looking to upgrade in a couple years if I can keep this tank alive for that long.

[FishInABarrel]

Haha thanks. Where in ab are you? I'm in grande prairie and there isn't much here for SW stuff. Pretty much have to go to edmonton or air freight stuff in.
I had a 30 gallon salt tank about 14 years ago, so I don't really have much much experience with it.

[Fishyoga]

Just moved up to St. Albert. If you are picking up in Edmonton, so far I've found Aquarium Illusions to be a pretty responsible store. The guy there is an RC member (no idea of handle), and usually has the page open at the front computer.
For livestock though, Calgary had much better variety and quantity- 'Big Al's'
Instant Ocean is the salt I use. Funny thing is the pet store here has the salt, but doesn't deal in SW anything. A pail of it sells for a little over $50. But it is not reef salt.

[FishInABarrel]

Yeah, I can get salt, calcium and other supplements, and a few odds and ends here. No livestock though. I was in big als in edmonton a couple weeks ago to have a look and decide the direction I'm going with my tank. I have been told aquarium illusions and red coral are good but haven't been to them.
I went with the fluval sea salt. I read people were having good results with it. Now I have to rig up something to hang my lighting since the metal halide in my fixture was raising the water temp. And I think I got my skimmer going alright, even though I had no instructions or anything about where water/bubble level should be. Lol.
Now I'm waiting for it to cycle and then go to edm for a couple first critters for it.

[FishInABarrel]

I have been enjoying looking in to see what sort of critters I got with my live rock. So far I've seen mysis shrimp, bristle worms, yellow sponge, what I think is a peanut worm, asterina stars, tiny brittle stars, tube worm (fans? Feather dusters?) and pods. I have some tenticle things but not sure if it's coral or anenomes or what.

[FishInABarrel]

Here's the tube worm things. Saw them on a live rock critter id but can't remember the name.

[FishInABarrel]

Here's my tank. Still a bit of hair algae that came with my live rock. Something that will eat it (lettuce nudibranch or lawnmower blenny) might be one of the first additions to it.

[FishInABarrel]

I have a coral question. I see that some corals are agressive, how important is it to try and keep corals with the same aggression level? Or is it ok to mix some peaceful and agressive corals? I'm interested in zoas, ricordia, pagoda, brain and torch.

[Fishyoga]

Best suggestion....
Post this in the 'Reef' Forum, and guys there will be able to answer.

[FishInABarrel]

Is there a "what's this critter?" Thread to post pics for getting id of some stuff in my tank?

[tmz]

Corals use nematocysts or their mesenteries to attack their neighbors to take over space.

The nematocysts hold organic compounds toxic to others of different species which are transferred when they touch. Many put out long tentacles with the nematocysts at the end to extend their reach. Some put out these compounds into the water column.

They all need their own need space; some more than others.


The corals you noted:

Torch, euphyllia glabrescens, often extends long tentacles; needs about 6 inches all around it.

Pagoda( turbinaria spp.) do not put out long tentacles /considered non aggressive.

Zoanthids -non aagressive unless touching other corals.

Ricordea do fine if they don't touch others.

Brain describes many different species of corals. Some are quite aggressive and put out long tentacles; some put out their mesenteries and digest their neighbors; others are fine if not touching theiri neigbors and don't reach out to attack.

[G_Sanab922]

Just to add to what was said earlier in the thread.

Lionfish aren't directly harmful to reefs, but they eat anything that is associated with the reef, such as, different reef fish species and crustaceans. Hence, the negative affects on reefs in general. So yea, basically not reef safe.
I live in the Florida Keys (home to BEAUTIFUL reefs), we can get paid to kill lionfish. That's how invasive they are. And also they have tournaments on who could kill the most.
All in all, keep them away from your reef lol

[FishInABarrel]

Yeah lionfish is off the list. Probably be a couple gobys and wrasses for fish. Everything I really like isn't reef safe or gets too big for my tank for fish. And I want to have coral. Lol.

[G_Sanab922]

Nice ! Sounds good. Im setting up a 60g hexagonal tank. So I'm sort of in the same boat as you. Can't go too big. And I'm doing coral too

[machote]

Those wrasses are bad ***