new to reef and need some help

[granty]

hey everyone im new to salt water and have just set up my 20 gallon tank and am wondering afew things. the first thing im wondering is light as i just bought a sunblaster t5ho light and am wondering what the best bulbwhould be as i plan on installing 2 of these. can i use a 50/50 bulb and then a second bulb being purple of should i just use 1 10000k and 1 actinic as i will be growing corals and afew small fish? also my second question is that i have had a 4 pound piece of live rock in my tank alone for about 2 weeks now and cant see any life on it except when i got it it had alot of blownish algae on it but i brushed it off and now it looks good with alot of coraline algae on it but still no life but afew small clam shells have fallen off it as it definitly is real live rock. will life/bugs come out of it later as i was told it was uncured?

 

[SLOreefer805]

Argh, I cant say much about lighting as I took the easy way out and got a current marine led light which is inexpensive and is ready to start growing softies and lps. However I would like to comment on the live piece of rock that you are talking about. If clam shells are falling off that means the clams are dead or dying. Also not a good idea to scrub live rock unless it has something really really bad on it. DO you have a picture of the rock. Also you should always cure your live rock before starting your aquarium. Before I go too far into it, lets get a picture of this rock. Also did you purchase this rock or someone give it to you?

 

[granty]

this is what it looked like when i put it in my tank and i got it from a fish store (big als fish store in london ontario) ill also post the pics of it now

 

[granty]

this is after i brushed it off and its been about 2 weeks

 

[MikeyAl]

I've used ati bulbs for some time. I've used true actinic with coral plus. If I didn't have ATi I would seriously consider E5 from euroquatics. They have a 3 year warranty and look to have an 8 year use life. I will switch mine out slowly for the E5. That's just me. Others will disagree I'm sure.

http://www.euroquatics.com

 

[granty]

here are the pics

 

[MikeyAl]

Btw. What type of corals will you be adding?

 

[SLOreefer805]

It looks dry. Was it in the water at all when you purchased it? It could have been live rock in the past but now everything is dead. If that is the case I would wash it really really good in your sink. Do not use soap or any cleaners. Also take a tooth brush and scrub the heck out of that thing. Knock off any dead clams or whatever. Once you get it clean. Put it out side for a day or two and let the sun kill any bacteria remaining. Then It should be good to put back in your tank, as long as you haven't started cycling the tank yet.

 

[SLOreefer805]

One more thing, You will also want to add more rock for that size tank. The more rock surface you have in your tank, the healthier the tank will be.

 

[granty]

im not sure what corals i want yet but just easy ones as i will be upgrading to a tank over 100 gallons when i buy a house and also it was in the water at the store and it wasnt dry at all and there a pretty well known store around here and i already scrubbed it as much as i can and also im just starting this aquarium from scratch so im all for curing the rock in the aquarium before i add any fish or coral

 

[MikeyAl]

im not sure what corals i want yet but just easy ones as i will be upgrading to a tank over 100 gallons when i buy a house and also it was in the water at the store and it wasnt dry at all and there a pretty well known store around here and i already scrubbed it as much as i can and also im just starting this aquarium from scratch so im all for curing the rock in the aquarium before i add any fish or coral

Good idea.

Easy corals - palys, zoas, mushrooms. Good starter corals IMo

 

[granty]

im using the live rock as a seeding rock as i will be adding dry clean rock to the tank and ill be adding more than the 20 pounds everything asks for and also i will be adding a sump as im just building the system as i go

 

[MikeyAl]

Okay. When I moved I had to start over and I tried an experiment with my lfs (many will disagree with this process)

I had my lfs keep an air driven sponge in his sump

 

[MikeyAl]

Sorry. So to finish....
I then bought artificial rock and Dr Tims one and only nitrifying bacteria. I put in the rock along with the aping and the bacteria. 1 day later added 2 damsels. Neither died- process helped cycle the tank easily. After a month traded back the 2 damsels and added 2 clowns (3 years later they are going strong). Within a few months I had live rock and added more fish and corals. The experiment was a success. No loss fish, no rock curing, no hitchhikers.

 

[granty]

That's cool I thought of doing that but I really wanted live critters and do it somewhat natural for the nitrogen cycle

 

[MikeyAl]

I added pods as well.

 

[granty]

when you made your set up did you use purple up or add anything with coraline algae or did it just grow on its own?

 

[SaltwaterShoup]

The coraline will start to grow slowly over time if it's introduced in the tank- it isn't a quick process. As long as you get it in the tank with the live rock it should start growing soon enough

 

[SaltwaterShoup]

Coraline will start to grow if it's introduced into your tank on the live rock. This is a very slow process so you'll need to be patient, could take months before everything is covered in purple

 

[granty]

what are these

what are these

hey so i flipped my live rock around and found these wierd anemone tip things all over the cave area and i have no clue what they are and didnt see them before that i remember? also theres a worm or something in the middle there and it doesnt move so im not sure what it is eather and i dont want to poke at it to see if its alive lol any info would be much appreciated