Too early for CUC?

[iteched]

Hi Everyone,

My 55G tank is about 8 weeks old now and my Marco "Dry" rock is now starting to turn brown - looks like the typical algae issue "normal" to new tanks.

My goal with this tank is FOWLR. It has about 70lbs of rock (50lb Marco and 20lbs purple "live" from the LFS. I don't know why the LFS rock was purple / red - but it looks nice.

Anyway - my stocking will be minimum - two or three small fish - and maybe one Coral Beauty. Maybe a Dottyback, Wrasse, Blenny, and the CB.

I'd like to know, before I add the fish, if a small CUC would be helpful? I have about 1.5" sand and would like that to be "sifted" by either a fish or CUC member. Will they be able to supplement their diet with typical fish food?

I am not seeing anything but algae (no copepods or other critters). Would it be helpful to get another small piece of LR from an established tank with "critters"? If so, I'm in Van, TX (Near Tyler, TX) and would love to buy a piece.

Thanks!

Ed

 

[jchassie6312]

You could buy I peice of live rock to introduce so more life. That's what I did, but then theres the chance of introducing pests as well. I think its worth doing

 

[thegrun]

Did the tank cycle? Did you ever have ammo is readings?

 

[iteched]

Did the tank cycle? Did you ever have ammo is readings?

I put some shrimp in couple of weeks ago and got some readings...they are now zero.

I used two shrimp - the first try was with a small piece - only produced marginal readings. The next week I put in a much larger "jumbo" piece and got better readings.

I am showing slight nitrates currently - about 5 ppm. Nitrite is zero.

 

[sde1500]

It would be safe at this point to add them. And your rocks will start to change color to that purple as well, as the coraline algae spreads. I had two rock structures when my tank started one was partly purple, one was pure white. That white one is now all shades of bright green and purple, and the other is entirely covered in purple now.

 

[scooter31707]

I think you should be ok, but if you want to be safe I would get a few CUC and see how they do before buying your whole crew.

 

[davehead86]

My LFS told me that purple / red colored live rock was manufatucred live rock. This is how I was able to add a shelf and pillars into my setup.

 

[iteched]

My LFS told me that purple / red colored live rock was manufatucred live rock. This is how I was able to add a shelf and pillars into my setup.

I wondered if it was manufactured - if so it was a pretty darn good job as they look about as real as they come. I suppose I could ask them - at any rate the store is a provider to quite a lot of tanks in the area and generally trustworthy.

The "live" rock was all sitting in giant plastic bins with water circulation (and the room was kept dark). I'm guessing, since I received no hitchhikers, that this particular rock was very new "live" rock. I'm sure they use this stock when setting up the tanks you see in businesses.

Still no fish yet at eight weeks into operation. We looked last weekend but I wasn't happy with the LFS current stock condition. One store had a very pretty dottyback but it was in the same system as an ich infected bannerfish...so... :-(