Starting up New Reef Tank Soon... Still have a few burning questions.

psariandras

psariandras

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May 18, 2007
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:) First of all, thanks to everyone who has answered my questions on this forum. :) I appreciate all the help. Also, I apologize that this post is so long.:)


BACKGROUND:headbang2:
I am well on my way towards setting up my reef tank. I have my 55g tank(returned my 29), powerheads and bags of LS, and my stand is almost complete(It is of welded steel and wood-going to post pics soon) I still need a few items(LR,DIY sump/fug,reef lighting) but that is to be expected.
After months of research, I have a plan worked out for setting up the tank, that consists of three stages.


I have a few questions, that if anyone can help me with, I would greatly appreciate. When I finish my summer class I am going to begin the cycling of the tank(next week) I am going to keep a detailed log along with pictures, and if it is a good idea, make posts of my log and pics of my fish so others can see my progress(or lack thereof).

I want to set up the reef in three stages,
stage 1: cycle tank
stage 2: introduce(not all at once) first selection of fish then obtain lighting and sump/fug
stage 3: get some a soft corals and anemones, along with certain other reef fish(if the bioload allows)

QUESTIONS:help:
Stage 1: Cycling
I have a good handle on how the cycling process works, however, I am not sure when to put in LR and LS and when to put in my DIY rock. I am going to have about 45lbs of LR and about 20lbs of DIY rock, I am going to have about 4.5" DSB 25lbs of LS and 25lbs of dead sand.
1)Can I cure it all together, or should I do the tank first, then put in LR, LS and DIY rock?
2)I don't know if I will need more or less LS... I think this combo of LR to LS is good, but I am not sure.

Stage 2: First selection of Fish
I want to start out with a shrimp, a goby, a royal gramma, a chromis, a turbo snail and an urchin.
3)Can I keep more than one shrimp or a combination of pistol shrimp/cleaner shrimp
4)Will one or two chromis survive without being in a shoal? I don't want to get several and limit the amount of inverts that I can have in the future.
5)I want to get a goby that shifts the sand and doesn't get to large, but not one that will burrow so deep as to cause problems. I was looking at three kinds and not sure which one is better, the sleeper blue dot, pinkbar, or diagonal bar, or a watchman.
6)Will I be able to support an urchin(pencil or pincushion) with only basic lighting? I am concerned about how the size of a large urchin or would affect the bioload of the tank, in the future.I can wait and put the urchin in later, if that would be better.
7)will a royal gramma be an unwise choice... I don't want the fish to cause problems with inverts later down the road.

Stage 3: inverts and other fish
I have not done a lot of research for this phase yet, but I know I want to have some soft corals and anemones. At this point I would like to add a blennie and some other fish that is not a bottom dweller and will help the tank(a tang would be great but I think my tank is too small) I don't know what sort of fish would work best here. According to some sources, a tang would work, even though most sites say a much larger tank is necessary.

Thanks for reading this post, sorry it was so long. I really appreciate any help or advice that anyone can give. :) :)
 
I decided to make my responses in red to distinguish between your questions. I hope it's not difficult to read. :)

Stage 1: Cycling
I have a good handle on how the cycling process works, however, I am not sure when to put in LR and LS and when to put in my DIY rock. I am going to have about 45lbs of LR and about 20lbs of DIY rock, I am going to have about 4.5" DSB 25lbs of LS and 25lbs of dead sand.
1)Can I cure it all together, or should I do the tank first, then put in LR, LS and DIY rock?

So are you buying uncured live rock? If so you can cure it in your tank but you may have lots of die-off and I would recommend a good skimmer. You can also cure it in a separate container and when it's finished you can add it to your tank. By "DIY" rock do you mean "dead" rock or something else?

2)I don't know if I will need more or less LS... I think this combo of LR to LS is good, but I am not sure.

You can make your sandbed as thick or thin as you'd like- it's really personal preference. Since you're considering a goby that burrows, you may want to go a little thicker.

Stage 2: First selection of Fish
I want to start out with a shrimp, a goby, a royal gramma, a chromis, a turbo snail and an urchin.
3)Can I keep more than one shrimp or a combination of pistol shrimp/cleaner shrimp

Yes, you can keep more than one shrimp. A pistol shrimp may bother the cleaner, especially if it's smaller than the pistol, but it may not. There's really no telling as these things can be hit or miss.

4)Will one or two chromis survive without being in a shoal? I don't want to get several and limit the amount of inverts that I can have in the future.

Yes 1 or 2 chromis will survive but you don't need to limit your invert number if you decide to get a school of chromis.

5)I want to get a goby that shifts the sand and doesn't get to large, but not one that will burrow so deep as to cause problems. I was looking at three kinds and not sure which one is better, the sleeper blue dot, pinkbar, or diagonal bar, or a watchman.

Well if I rememer correctly the diagonals and pinkbars are burrowing and the yellow watchmans and blue dots are not. Like firefish, pinkbars can be jumpers as well. Yellow watchmans and blue dots form a symbiotic relationship with the pistol shrimp so this could also affect your decision.

6)Will I be able to support an urchin(pencil or pincushion) with only basic lighting? I am concerned about how the size of a large urchin or would affect the bioload of the tank, in the future.I can wait and put the urchin in later, if that would be better.


Pincushions stay smaller than pencils. You would have to make sure your rock is stable and cannot easily be knocked over, especially for the pencil. I wouldn't get one of them until you're starting to see some algae in your tank, which is pretty much guaranteed since it's a new tank.

7)will a royal gramma be an unwise choice... I don't want the fish to cause problems with inverts later down the road.

A Royal Gramma should cause no problems with inverts. I've had 3 and none of them caused problems with anything. They let the shrimp "clean" them too and are not known to have any issues with inverts.

Stage 3: inverts and other fish
I have not done a lot of research for this phase yet, but I know I want to have some soft corals and anemones. At this point I would like to add a blennie and some other fish that is not a bottom dweller and will help the tank(a tang would be great but I think my tank is too small) I don't know what sort of fish would work best here. According to some sources, a tang would work, even though most sites say a much larger tank is necessary.

I really wouldn't get a Tang here. I think a great alternative would be one of the many dwarf angels.

Hope this helps.
 
Some points I'd like to throw in:

- An approximate calculation for how much substrate you need is to use ten pounds, per square foot, per inch of desired depth... so 50 ilbs. would put you at 1.25" not the 4.5" you want. FWIW, it's not completely personal preference - as you probably know DSBs (3"+) have De-nitrifying capabilities, whereas shallow sand beds do not.

- Since you might be going with sand sifting gobies, you will want to make sure that you place fluorescent light diffuser on the bottom (to prevent pressure points on the glass), then your rock on top of that ("dead" rock on the bottom to prevent any of the life on the rock from being suffocated), then add your sand. The reason for this is so that if your goby decides it wants to burrow near the rock structure, it won't affect the stability and cause a rock slide. You may want to look into arranging your rock in pillars as well - it allows better flow through the rock work, and you can get into much more elaborate rock structures (Link
 
About LR:

I was planning on buying cured live rock from online and using rock that I have created myself-thats what I meant by DIY-I am using light hydralic cement mixed with salt and some sand and maybe crushed coral in proportions I haven't decided on yet.
I thought that even with the cured from online it was still necessary to cure it again before it went into the tank.

I am thinking that I can put my DIY rock(with the Light Hydralic Cement method of construction there is not supposed to be any curing time since the cement mix is polymer based) into pillars and secure first, then add the LS and cycle the tank. Once it is cycled I could add the cured live rock from online or should I cycle with tank with dead sand, then add the LS and cured LR?



In order to get a DSB (I can settle for less as long as it has de-nitrfigying capabilities, so depth around 3.5 might be better) I will need another 75lbs of sand?
 
The LFS told me that with sufficent LR and circulation I would not need to have a filter while the tank is up, would a whisper power filter rated for 55 gallons be good enough to use while the tank is cycling?
 
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