Octo tank...not a reef tank.

[O. Eye]

Still learning alot from you guys before taking the plunge.

I was planning on getting some uncured live rock and cycling my tank with it. I thought it would be cool to see what comes with it.

I just saw a pic of a guy's tank on Tonmo and all of the rock looked like base rock - the neat thing was is that it looked neat/clean.

This got me thinking - I'm not setting up a reef tank. I'm setting up an octo tank. I already know that I don't need crazy 4" from the surface of the sun simulating lights.

I don't want to add more time, more money, and more frustration than I have to in setting up a tank for my future bimac. I don't want to miss out on any good experiences either.

Guys and Gals, what are some other considerations when setting up an octo tank vs. a reef tank?

I know about skimmers, sumps, live rock, cycling, not having lights too dim, Southdown Sand, and other basic stuff that shows up in the 'New to the Hobby' forum. I don't know tons about this stuff - but I feel pretty good about what I've learned.

How much does it cost to maintain an octo tank a month (the octo too)?

How much to maintain...in IOWA? Heh, only thing I've seen with 8 legs in the Mississippi are cows grazing too close to the nuclear power plant.

I ask this because I want to make sure that I don't do unnecessary things on the way to getting me creature!

Thanks

 

[OctoMonkey]

Hi

As far as costs are concerned..... I spend Ã"šÃ‚£10 every month or so on fuel going to the beach to catch crabs. The electricity costs about Ã"šÃ‚£1.00 per week and water changes about Ã"šÃ‚£2.00 per month.... thats it! ~Ã"šÃ‚£16 per month which is about $20???? or so...

 

[Brimarbio]

Either you're driving the most inefficient car in the world or gas prices are through the roof out there!

 

[goodman770]

O.Eye,
First thanks for doing your homework and asking all these questions for the sake of the animals. I'm sure you can tell by now that we take our ceph care pretty seriously. Here is my 2 cents on the live rock question.
Live rock typicaly has living things growing in it and on it. In order for these to live and thrive, you will need some type of decent light. This light, typicaly PC, VHO or MH, inherently raises the temp to a degree not suitable for most Octo's (most choose a Bimac).
So, what's a cepher to do? IMHO you have 2 practical choices. Use a non-live rock to decorate, I use lace rock and it looks great. It's maint. free looks pretty cool and is easier to set up and maintain. Or you could use "cured" live rock that may not have as much growth on it, but you won't get as much creature/algae death on it, thus pro-longing your cycle time. If you go this route you could use 50/50 or atinic fourescants (you should prob. use both) but your growth will not be as good as with the other brighter bulbs.

I may have missed something here, but IMHO, those are your options. Good Luck and let us know what you decide....

Bill :bum:

 

[OctoMonkey]

Hi

Let me just put an addition onto all of Bill's good comments...

The live rock is home to beneficial bacteria and will help a lot in the denitrification process as well as having all the growths on it.

Normally in a 'sterile' reef tank with very bright MH lights above it, certain animals and plants thrive and are obviously apparant. However, in a normally nutrient rich octopus tank with duller lights, a totally different group of plants and animals will become apparant.

So although we may not be encouraging light loving flora and fauna that is encoraged to grow on a reef tank's live rock. We are simply encouraging different species with different requirements to take over the live rock.... one of the most commonly seen animals would be a sponge, whereas they normally dont last long in an average reef tank much passsed its first 6 months!

Colin

 

[OctoMonkey]

Hey Brimarbio,

yeah the price of fuel is stupid out here!

A round trip to beach and back is about 120 miles and it costs ~Ã"šÃ‚£10. It works out at about 73p per litre.... about $1.00 per litre??????


C

 

[Brimarbio]

Holy smokes! If my calculations are correct that works out to about $3.78 a gallon! That's crazy! I think the price of gas this morning was $1.35 a gallon, but I remember not all that long ago (3 years maybe) it was well below a dollar... Man that's a stinker, sorry.
Brian