Need LPS Help for new REEF & INVERTEBRATES Tank

[r0cksteady]

Read through the whole thread and if anything for someone new it makes it more confusing due to the conflicting opinions.

I am doing a deep sea bed (6 Inches) in my main tank and am planning on running a refugium as my sump. Can you at least kindly give me a "range" if it causes too much conflict to be too specific.

Am I well over the appropriate ammount of live rock in my main tank (224 gallons) and in my sump of 48 gallons (small I know but im limited on space) can you give me a rough guide?

 

[Aquarist007]

rocksteady---I just posted on the other thread and asked them for help on this question
we are on opposite tilme zones--its 9.30 am est here--so it might be a little later to receive the post

 

[Nola]

oops

 

[Nola]

I'm surprised you haven't included any Percnon gibbesi crabs ... also called "sally lightfoots". They are really fun to watch and look a bit spidery and they consume great quantities of unwanted algae. They do a lot better job of keeping the tank clean than the hermits

 

[sunfish11]

Rocksteady,

Here is the thing. There are a lot of "right" ways to do things. You will just have to weed through it all and decide how you want to proceed. There is not absolute right answer or right way to do things. Just because I would rather see more live rock doesn't mean that that is the only way. Each tank is little different and what works for one person may not work for another. I wish you the best of sucess with whatever you decide to do and I commend you for seeking opinions.

Lisa

 

[Underwaterparadise]

Most of the fish on your list are fairly small but I would suggest another 75-100lbs of LR. ( remember too that 5 rocks totaling 50lbs is better then 1 50lb rock) Also make sure you have great flow in this tank. With that many fish you will have a lot of waste that you don't want settling in the rock work. IMO 4 Koralia's is not nearly enough. I would look into doing a closed loop with a Sequence Dart or larger pump and them maybe filling in dead spots with the Koralia's. I would opt for some Sea Swirls or an Oceans Motion hooked up to the closed loop.

Another concern I have is the depth of the tank. If you plan on having corals sitting on the bottom of the tank you may want to go with 400w Halides or at least 3x250w and maybe more T5 as well. Anything at the top iof the rock work will be fine with 2x250w but any corals at the bottom may not thrive for you.

Just my .02c

 

[NirvanaFan]

When sally lightfoots get large they have been known to catch and eat small fish. I wouldn't add one to my tank.

 

[Underwaterparadise]

I am biased when it comes to crabs.....................NONE in my reef tanks!! Maybe an emerald but for me that is even a stretch. I have seen them cause too much damage

 

[mikekman]

Boxer crabs are reef safe and very neat to look at. They do hide a lot so it will be like a "Wheres Waldo" when you try and look for it.

Keep asking questions and researching on RC.

 

[r0cksteady]

Hi All,

Thank you for all your wise advice and I take everything people say on board and have then been reading a few books and other web pages cross checking the info to make sure there is a general concensis. So far I havent had anyproblems doing such and these forums have been the absolute best source of information I could ever want.

So feel free to post what you believe even if it is something someone has said that opposite too as long as it doesnt turn into an argument I guess. Moving away from the live rock side of things one question I do have is....

Do you all feel my tank is still over populated in the sense of fish and corals? The bad thing (though good depending on how you look at this) is that because everything is so expensive its not humanly possible to take my list to the store and go "When can you have it all delivered?" lol.

So because of that I dont feel I will hit my bio-limit for quite some time as each week I will add something new but probably only 1-2 items.

Once I get a general "tick" so to speak of approval from you guys that everything on my list seems reasonable and theres no major "YOU CANT DO THAT!" then I need help in figuring out what order to add things.

Obviously "after" the cycling with live rock period is finished you add the clean up crew (cuc) but after that am I best to add all corals (whether that be a period of months or years) and THEN start to add fish or for every coral I add can I then add a fish?

Do you guys have any general opinions or guidelines for that?

 

[r0cksteady]

Wow I hadnt heard that more smaller rocks are better than larger ones, I will take that on board thanks.

Can you give me an example of a recommended product for the water flow issue so I may research local available products to AUSTRALIA?

I think the key with the crabs and all from the sounds of it is to add everything slowly and enjoy watching things integrate and see how they interact.

 

[Aquarist007]

here is a great article on types of snails:

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rs/index.php

 

[r0cksteady]

Wow I hadnt heard that more smaller rocks are better than larger ones, I will take that on board thanks.

Can you give me an example of a recommended product for the water flow issue so I may research local available products to AUSTRALIA?

I think the key with the crabs and all from the sounds of it is to add everything slowly and enjoy watching things integrate and see how they interact.