Moving Right Along

[beancntr]

I haven't posted in a while, but have been here everyday keeping up with the posts. I finally got my rock - but only 1/2. The other 1/2 will be here next week. I tried to upload some pictures last night, but they are too big and wouldn't go. Haven't found any hitchhikers yet. I'm really happy with the caribbean rock, though. We've been scouting the local LFS's, seeing what's out there. My ammonia is at 0, but my nitrites are high, so it's cycling. Will have to do it again when the rest of the rock comes in. I am trying to learn as much as I can about lighting, but I am still in the dark. HAHAHA! I'm pretty sure that I need to go with the halides for anenomes, which I really want. I am looking at the HQ halides on liveaquaria - 560 watts. Is this enough for a 72g bow? Or are T5's ok? I don't understand half the language they use. But I'm catching on at a snails pace. Speaking of snails - how soon should I get a cleanup crew?

Yote - Rock looks good
Biffer - did you ever catch that snail?

 

[Bifferwine]

The one that ate my xenia? Yeah I caught him and traded him for a coral at my LFS. I miss him though, he was pretty. The two crabs that chase my fish? I haven't made much of an effort to catch those though.

You can use T5s for anemones, but you should probably go with halides for a 72 gallon tank, unless your tank is shallow. T5 don't do the best job penetrating below 18 to 20 inches, so if your tank is much deeper than that, halides are the way to go. 560 watts for your tank would enable you to keep pretty much everything you could want to.

You can add a cleanup crew when your nitrates get down to safe levels (below 20). Try to get a diversity of animals that will clean up different areas and different things in your tank.

 

[beancntr]

Snail, crab - one of those crustaceans! There was talk about getting a trap - I don't remember the thread. It was an entertaining thread though! :)
I figured with the halides I was better off than buying a lower watt and finding out I wanted to keep something that required more - think twice, buy once. Will this affect the temp of the tank? I've heard of people putting thier heater in the sump. Is this a better way to go?
Thanks!

 

[Bifferwine]

Halides are much hotter than T5s. If you go with halides you may need to buy a chiller to go with it, depending on what you see happen in your tank. No need for a chiller with T5s. You can put your heater in the sump -- I keep all of my equipment in the sump except for 2 powerheads. It just makes the tank look nicer. Some people say that moving the heater to the sump will help keep your tank cooler, but not so in my case, it's still the same temp. I think that's up to you.

 

[bobby]

When picking out a clean up crew heres some food for thought. Unless you have to have hermit crabs dont get them. They can be very mean and kill or eat off things in the tank. I have a chacolate chip star and the hermits keep eating the skin off of him, they have also killed 2 snails, so unless you, I would just stick with snails, sand siffting starfish,goby or other cleaners and sand stirers. Just my opinion though. Biff is right wait till the trites and trates go down before you add anything.

 

[Bifferwine]

Yep I wish I hadn't used hermits. They've killed a lot of my snails, even though they have more than enough empty shells that I've thrown in there for them to grow into. They pick on my conchs mercilessly, I have to knock four or five crabs off of them once in a while.

 

[reeffreak]

What kind of hermits do you guys(and gals) have.Just curious on which ones to avoid.I have always only keep the dwarf blue legged variety since they stay small and seems to always ignore the snails.

 

[Bifferwine]

I have blue legged, red legged and the scarlet ones. The blue ones will eventually get big too, I have some that started small and are now massive. The scarlets seem to be the best at cleaning in my tank, but they all bother snails.

 

[reeffreak]

Why in the heck they call them Dwarf blue legged anyways then.Now I'm fearing for my snail safety.:sniffles: :sniffles: :sniffles: :sniffles: :sniffles: :sniffles

an putting the heater in the sump helps the snails from getting their mouths burn.Nothin' worst than a cook snail.

 

[beancntr]

Awww.. My daughter will be disappointed. She wanted a hermit. But I'm not putting some killer in my tank!! Lol. I'm not fond of snails, but if they clean and are peaceful, then that's the route I will take. Is there a kind of shrimp that are better than others?

 

[Bifferwine]

Hermits may be okay at low levels, like 1 per 10 gallons. Some say stay away altogether. If I were you I would definitely get an emerald crab or two. Those guys are cool looking (green), very active and personable, completely harmless to other animals and will keep algae down. Your daughter will probably love one of those :).

A cleaner shrimp is definitely a good choice (they are the white ones with the big red stripe down their back). They'll pick the parasites off your fish and are interesting to watch interact with the other animals. I have one of those plus I have two peppermint shrimp, which will keep your tank free of any pest anemones that might hitchhike in on live rock. Some people have noted that their peppermint shrimps are not reef safe, but mine have been fine in my tank. There are many many types of shrimp, so I can only speak for the ones I've had experience with.

 

[beancntr]

That is good to know. No offense, Biffer, but I don't want to join the AFT. That will be good news to my girl. She's already named the fish we don't have after every character in Nemo (what kid hasn't?) I'm trying to be patient, but now the rock is getting boring. Tested today, and my nitrites are down and trates are spiking. Will have to go through the cycle again when the rest of my rock comes. (SIGH) So I know it will be a few more weeks before we add fish.

 

[bobby]

Also if you add shrimp you might have to add iodine so that the shrimp can molt.