Trying to move forward...lots of questions

[FanmanKC]

I have some nice chunks of Fiji rock in my 29 gallon, and I'm ready to move forward with my setup. I plan to order some mushrooms and polyps in the coming week and have some questions.

Do I need to "glue" these to my rocks?? Or will they just kind of grab a hold on their own??

Also, will I need to buy a cleanup crew?? I see them advertised, and am curious of their effectiveness?

I guess I am not sure if their is an order of doing things correctly as far as my setup goes....if there is, could someone please direct me to an article, thread or something?? I am new to the SW game, and wan't to get started on the right foot.

 

[Blown 346]

The mushrooms and polyps you buy will already come attached to rock when you buy them.
A cleanup crew will definitly help out with keeping algae in control as well askepping the rock and glass clean.

The first thing you will want to buy is the cleanup crew, also you have to have certain strenght lighting to keep mushrooms and polyps happy.

 

[Avi]

Fanman...make sure you test the water for the usual things...pH, ammonia and nitrates, that are associated with making certain your tank is finished cycling and it's ready for the addition of a "cleanup crew." It's a good idea to have some hermits and snails because you will have some bouts with various kinds of micro-algaes and they'll help consume some of that, at least. After you've had some inverts like that in the tank for a few weeks...you should keep testing the water by the way and if all is well you can add some coral. Like Blown says, the mushrooms and polyps (zoanthids) you buy will most likely be mounted on rock or rubble of some kind. Usually, you can just place it somewhere on the rockwork in your reef. If you should decide to though, use epoxy to mount that rock or rubble on your live rock in the tank. There are ways to do that and if you want to know how, do a search here in the RC forums or post the question.

By the way, pay attention to Blowns advice about the lighting if you haven't already looked into that.

Good luck with that new reef of yours.

 

[supertech3]

When you do get the mushrooms and polyps like BLOWN states they will be attached to a rock but some may fall off or at times may do so, you can let them attach themselves just has to be in a low flow area or do as AVI states.

 

[FanmanKC]

Thanks for the replies. I am running a 20,000k Coralife, as well as Coralife Actinic. The crabs that I have currently come with some rock and they have been in there approx. 3 weeks. I have about 30 lbs. of rock. I am using 15lbs. pool filter sand, and 20 lbs. of Caribsea Aragalive sand. If any of you have some suggestions on what are some good things to add to my rock, I'm all ears. I just liked the looks of the polyps, and some of the mushrooms. I would just like to get the ball rolling on my setup.

 

[mg426]

FanmanKC. All of the advice above is very sound. I might add making sure you have all of the proper test kits on hand before adding your corals. make sure your system is in balance before you buy, Might not be a bad time to do some more reading and get used to your testing and dosing if you have not allready done so. just trying to be helpfull.

 

[Avi]

If you intend to have just the mushrooms and zoanthids, then it's not so critical to maintain higher calcium levels, but no matter which you keep, you should also test for alkalinity...that's a staple of water maintenance.

This dosing "assistant" is very helpful:

http://home.comcast.net/~jdieck1/chem_calc3.html

 

[FanmanKC]

Thanks again for the replies.

I was interested in a few different things and wanted to get your opinions. Would this stuff be good??

http://www.petsolutions.com/Colony+Rock-I-165650L-I-C-76-C-.aspx

Also these....
http://www.petsolutions.com/Trumpet+Coral-I-156500L-I-C-76-C-.aspx

I want something along these lines. If any of you have any suggestions or advice, I would certainly appreciate it.

 

[Avi]

Those are both nice additions to a reef. There are an infinite variety of zoanthids like the first of those two with colors so incredible that they become addictive to a reefer. When it comes to the second, there are a number of color varieties, though not so varied. They are still really nice and they are hardy, though, remember that they are more sensitive to poor water quality than the zoanthids are. And, when it comes to Candycane, or Trumpet Coral, they do have a calcerous skeleton, being LPS...and need more attention to the calcium levels in the water of your reef.

Use this as a reference for maintaining the correct water in your reef:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/index.htm