Thinking into getting into small propagation for my other tanks...

[lbv]

Dang, I envy you both. The thing is MH throw off too much heat, in my basment right now im running airconditioning in the winter (NJ its 28F right now). My basment has 2 computers, 2 tanks with PC, Heater unit for my house in the closet, TV. Get very hot, right now without AC my basement would be at 120+F (my 1 new computer is a full blown gaming computer, has 2 Vid cards and throws off 102F).

I got something funny to tell you!

I found my old fish tank equipment and rigged it to my sump. 1 Prizem protein skimmer, 1 (don't know brand skimmer), and 1 Customized Lee. I'm thinking about using all 3 since they don't skim that well, but i figued, combined they can boost the aeration and prolly skim the same amout as my AquaC Remora

 

[lbv]

Really honestly hopefully, this is my last question.

As for cycling since I am not replacing the water completly, do I need to re-cycle the tank? The tank has been set up for 1 year about, and the only water I am adding is the 5 gallons of new salt water.

Think I should leave the sand in the tank so pylops cant attach to the bottom of the class?

 

[tekknoschtev]

The thing about "the cycle" is that its not in the water. The goal of the cycle is to build up colonies of bacteria and while some of that exists in the water, the majority of the bacteria colonize the porus live rock. So if you are using cured liverock, stuff that has been in the system you say for a year, you might not notice a cycle, or if you do, it will be minimal. Best to get your test kits ready just in case.

As for the sand - thats up to you. I'm giving this whole barebottom thing a try, which a lot of people opt to do with prop tanks just for ease of maintenence and with barebottom, the flow can go up by leaps and bounds without worry of creating a sand storm. I've got some crazy flow in my tanks - or rather I will, so barebottom is the only option for me. IF you use the sand however, make sure to rinse it when transfering it, or at the very least, only use the top 1/2" of sand (I'm told that the top 1/2" is ok to use without causing issues).

I envy you in having live rock. I've got about 15-20lbs I'm bringing up from home for my tank this sunday, unfortunately the system is nearly 110gallons, so who knows if its going to be enough to cycle the tank. I certainly know that its not going to be enough to maintain enough biological filtration for what I'm planning but I've got plans to fix that...

Anyways, dont feel bad about the questions - keep them coming.

 

[CoralNutz]

That's awsome Mark, yours is coming along good Steve. Hope to see it full soon...

Here's how I set mine up. It's just a oceanic 37 that was originally setup behind where my computer is. When I decided I wanted a dedicated tank to prop corals in I just plumbed this 33 to it.

 

[lbv]

How did you get the zoo's off the main colony? Scrape them off or let the main colony expand on the disc?

Also I heard that if you place two differnt colored zoo's next to each other, when they multiply they will have hybrid characteristics


Say you have a Green zoo colony, and orange. Will they intermingle to be Green Skirt, Orange outside of vice versa?

 

[CoralNutz]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6600444#post6600444 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by lbv
How did you get the zoo's off the main colony? Scrape them off or let the main colony expand on the disc?

Also I heard that if you place two differnt colored zoo's next to each other, when they multiply they will have hybrid characteristics


Say you have a Green zoo colony, and orange. Will they intermingle to be Green Skirt, Orange outside of vice versa?

I fragged them off rocks and mounted them to acrylic. I do that to lots of zoas that I plan on fragging in the future. IMO it's easier to gently peal the zoas off of the acrylic vs. off of a rock.

I have never known any zoas to crossbread and create hybrids... typically when you have two different types on one rock, if they are both similar in size and species they will probably coexist, but not mix to create hybrids. If they are different sizes/species, usually the larger ones will just overgrow the smaller ones taking over the rock.

 

[lbv]

OK I have planned out my tank... Stay with me here, the picture I drew is too hard to see.


10" of the length of the tank is going to be eggcrate (1/2 tank).

Now I'm going to make that section in tiers. The first tier is going to be 5" above the bottom of the tank and 4" long. The second tier is going to be 8" above the bottom and 2.5" long. The right 10" left w/o eggcrate will be for LR that has nothing on it (or maby some polyps or something). The egg crate section is going to have 5" infront with bare class, thus making in essence 3 tiers.

______________________surface
4" between surface and 3rd tier
___
xxx|
xxx|8"
xxx|
xxx\_____
xxxxxxxxx |
xxxxxxxxx | 5"
xxxxxxxxx |
__________________|
10 inches total but 5" for eggcrate (width)

Height is 12", second tier is 5" from bottom, 3rd 8" from bottom

Hope that helped

 

[lbv]

Question for Ricordia / Mushroom and any other critter with a foot that attatches to a rock. Can I used FIBERGLASS Screen to hold them to a rock? Right now I'm using a rubber band since I just got some corals in, and liveaquria shipped me a blue ricordia with nothing attactched to it.

 

[CoralNutz]

bridal veil netting from any craft store will work great. You can get it by the yard very cheap and it'll last you a long time.

 

[tekknoschtev]

Is tiering it really worth it to you in a 10/20gal tank? We did in our 40, but thats because its 22" tall and certain corals need to be 6" from the PC lights, but in a 10gal you might end up with more headaches than its worth. I hate the tiering because getting behind it to find things that fell is a PITA. Just something to think about.