Tank Limit for crustaceans?

hotimportknight

hotimportknight

New! Big Tank Club!
Well as you all know my tank is maxed out on fish with my blue tang until I get a 125 this summer. I really like my scarlet skunk cleaner shrimp, hes fun to feed by hand and watch, hes got tons of personality for a shrimp! I remember someone saying that critters like shrimp and crabs dont count towards your bio load because they dont really produce waste, but clean it up instead... So what would you guys say to me starting a shrimp collection? I'm too broke now to really load up on coral, and dont really want to get too much before i move to la Crosse and have to deal with coral on all the live rock driving 2+ hours... So my plan to keep me occupied in the mean time is to collect some shrimp or small reef safe crabs. What do you guys think about the idea? I really like the look of the coral banded shrimp, sexy shrimp, blood red fire shrimp, etc. Will they all get along alright? Will the sexy shrimp be safe in my tank? I think my most dangerous fish for them would be the royal gramma or clowns. What do you guys think? I think it would be fun to have a shrimp collection!

And a side question, does it really matter if you have your lights start up and shut down with just the blues on? I was just perfecting my startup and shut down sequence and just the 10k's were on and it looks more like dusk/sunrise light to me than blue, and would probably have less of a chance of waking me up when I'm sleeping in extra late than the blues (460nm). Is there anything special with the wavelengths that people usually do the blues first?
Thanks in advance!
 
Ok, A main reason I was asking is I've got off work this Thursday and was going to run to foster and smith hopefully. My LFS has a few cool shrimp, but they charge 15$ for a peppermint shrimp (F&S charges like 3$...) So it would pretty much pay for the gas just driving there and buying 1 freeking shrimp. So If I drive up there I wanna pick up a few shrimp in 1 shot probably...
 
again, young jedi, we all know you will do whatever you want anyway. I give my advice in vain, but try anyway. your shrimp will be OK, but need great water quality. they tend to die if overstocked tanks impact water quality. that being said, if you think you can swing it, go get 'em.

light cycles that start off gradually don't shock corals. I have found that if I start up with full lights, the corals tend to stay shriveled up for a while. if I start my lights slowly, they open up faster and look better throughout the day

-Doc
 
I know you want to start your light cycle with partial intensity, but does it matter what bulbs your turn on first really? They are all 54w T5 bulbs, will the blues shock the corals less than the 10k's? Is that why most ppl I've heard about start with the blues? Or is it just preference because they are 108 watts either way?
 
Do the blues first,its less intensive than daylights.

Skip the coral banded shrimp-too aggressive.

Fire shrimp will be fine with any shrimp.My favorite shrimp for a reef system.

Sexy shrimps do best in groups of three or more.Make sure you have corals for protection.They do fine with cleaners and fire shrimps.They are tiny so no tankmates that fine crusties delicious.Your list of fish sounds safe around them.

Porcelain crabs and bubble bee shrimps are completely reef safe also.Something you might want to look at,if you see any.
 
I got up there and they had a bunch of corals on sale. All their frags were 19.99 unless otherwise marked. I ended up getting some sort of closed brian, lo0ks like a pineapple brain kinda. A frag of cool colored candy cane with 4 heads, really dark cool looking stuff. and a frag of galaxia they had, I know its aggressive and has long sweepers, I have a spot arranged for him right now while they acclimate leaving a good 6" all around. That galaxia was 19$ candy cane was 15, my LFS wants 20$ a head for candy cane frags... and the brain was sentimental. My girlfriend tried getting me a nice one at the LFS for christmas, he quoted her 80$ and she said she would take it. then he said he didnt want to sell it and told her to wait a few months for frags to drop off. So shes really pissed about that and she hates the LFS now. So i kinda got that one for her... All seem to be moderate light moderate flow, I think the galaxia has to go closer to the bottom due to its long sweeper tentacles and thats the only place it wont kill everything else... Ill get some pics once they are all in and situated
 
Right now I have the galaxea stuck in a rock small to medium sized rock on the substrate, do you guys think that will be ok? My light seems to penetrate the 19" tank pretty well for 216 watt T5's. And is it normal for a brain to change colors? My friend said his dads pineapple brian went from lime green to a few different colors when he got it. Mine is reddish with bright green centers, and it turning a little pinker and lighter after they grabbed it to bag it up, is it just stressed a bit and will gain it back? Or is it a bad sign. Ill go snap some pics in a little bit, waiting for the galaxy to open up a bit.
 
Dude, you type too much. My ADHD ass doesn't have the patients to read your whole post, haha.

Hey, wanna go ride a bike?
 

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