not reef, but...

[Doc]

I am a fan of Picasso triggers (humu humu triggers). They stay about a foot or so in length at their largest and will be fine in a 120 IMHO. Some people confuse the Picasso with the massive clown trigger, which tops out at about 2 feet and will eat your entire hand if you are not careful. Triggers as a whole are extremely aggressive and will likely kill a dwarf lionfish. I would be careful with trying to have both. lionfish are not aggressive toward large tankmates, but like to eat smaller ones. Kinda like grade-school bullies.

If your LFS will baby-sit your fish for a while, great! Take a month to make sure your tank is stable and ready for fish before you put them back in. I have a big tank with a sump and my 90 gallon reef is without a sump or a protein skimmer. How you set it up is up to you, but a sump does make things easier. Good luck

-Doc

 

[sicklids]

thank you guys for all your advice, i really enjoy this forum! on another forum i attend, they said i technically didnt need live rock! is this true? they also said that my FW filter will work fine as long as i dont have corals. is this true as well? i went and bought 10- lbs. of live rock yesterday and got 15 lbs. that will be here tomorrow along with like 20 lbs. or dry live rock that i will use for base rock.

 

[sicklids]

here is the post

Originally Posted by krzr3000
Maybe for a reef tank...you do NOT need live rock for a fish only setup. Sure, its beneficial...but a fish only tank can easily be dealt with the same as FW. Take a look at fish shops using marineland units, they consist of foam/floss pads, bio wheels, protein skimmer and heater.
Technically... you CAN'T have live rock in a FO system...


otherwise it's a FOWLR

but yes, for a non-reef tank without any rather delicate fish.. a FW setup would work fine in most cases..

 

[yote]

Basically,the only difference between a FOWLR and a reef,Is a FOWLR dont have corals.
Other than that,there the same set up and maintance except you dont have to invest as much into lights.

 

[sicklids]

yeah i knew that , but these guys are talking about the live rock. saying you dont really need it.

 

[yote]

I wouldnt set a tank up without the live rock.Its just to good a biological filter not to have it.

 

[lightcs4]

They are correct ... you don't *need* rock for a fish only tank. However, you don't *need* a lot of things if all you want to do is keep the fish alive. But you won't be able to provide as healthy an environment without it. Yote is 10% correct, the rock will help filter the water and keep it in better condition. You will need to do water changes more frequently to keep your parameters in order, which means more work for you.

 

[Bifferwine]

Live rock serves a very important purpose in water filtration. Live rock houses the bacteria that converts ammonia to nitrite and nitrite to nitrate, then gets rid of nitrate. That's why the more live rock you have, the better quality water you will have.

Yeah, you don't HAVE to have live rock. But your fish will like to live in an environment that they are comfortable in and feels natural. Plus, if you don't have live rock, you will have to do way way way more water changes to compensate for the filtration you are missing.

 

[sicklids]

well, iam definately going to add as much live rock as possible! i just wanted to see if that info was accurate or not. the 10 lbs. i added yesterday is already inhabited bty the dwarf lion and the blue damsel. i also got some "used" water from my buddy at teh LFS, bout 30 gallons or so. everyone seems fine, the lion fish finally ate in front of me!!!!! my 120 should be at the house in about a week or so!!!

 

[lightcs4]

Ideally, you want to aim for 1 - 2 pounds of rock per gallon of water. You probably have plenty of live rock. You could easily get dry rock for $2 - $3 a pound (a LFS here sells it for $1.89 a pound).

 

[sicklids]

hell, i get the dry rock for free here, and theres plenty of it!!! i guess lucky me, but what can this be used for other than base rock?

 

[yote]

Unless you seed it with a piece of live rock,you'll just get whats called live base rock.
Its the bacteria that actually makes live rock "live".But with true live rock,you also get hitch hikers.Some good,some bad.
Also make sure what kind of FREE base rock your putting in there.If the rocks got any heavy metals in it,then it will cause you problems.Its not a good idea to add any rock or sand thats not either calcium carbonate or aragonite.

 

[sicklids]

the dry rock i got used to be in the SW tank at the pet store but they pulled it out and forgot about it and it dried out. its been setting out for about 6 months and is solid white. i rinsed it really good and put it in with the 10 lbs. of live rock i purchased. its really pretty white. will it eventually become "liverock" again?

 

[lightcs4]

Yes, it will eventually become live as the bacteria multiply and spread to the "dead" rock.

 

[sicklids]

so will the sand stone i have in my tank also become "liverock" as well?

 

[lightcs4]

I'm not familiar with the makeup of sandstone. If it is argonite based it will work fine in the tank. Hopefully someone else can chime in as I'm not sure if it is good to use sandstone.

As to your question, it will become live as the bacteria grows on it. The good thing about typical reef rock is it is porous, providing a lot of surface area for beneficial bacteria to grow.

 

[reeffreak]

I have no idea is sandstone is safe for saltwater or not.

If everybodies definition of ''live'' is the beneficial bacteria than every surface underwater will become alive.That includes the sandstone,glass,powerheads,sand,rocks basically everything under water.

 

[lightcs4]

That's basically what I have understood "live" meant. I am open to correction and / or learning if I have misunderstood the term. And no, I'll probably never refer to my power heads as live :D.

 

[sicklids]

seeing as how sandstone is basically sand in stone form i dont see why it would hurt anything. but if it willl its nothing to take it out, its only like 4 pieces. so far the tank is looking good, need to post some pics, but im gonna wait until i get the liverock in there today and then i will try to get a pic in the morning. CANT WAIT UNTIL I GET THE 120 GALLON!!!! i gotta say, this has definately been a learning venture to say the least, so thanks all you guys for such great help!!!

 

[yote]

Sand stone is a silica based rock,which could lead to a lot of diatom attacks.Plus its got a solid makeup to it..Its basically what play sand is made out of.