Just some equipment questions

[Adam Kasycz]

Hey Evorybody Hows It Going

I Have a 50g and i was just wondering what creatures i can use to help keep the tank clean, like snails and crabs and that. Also how many?

Also Protein Skimmers whats the deal with them are they essential for just a fish and rock tank or are my aquaclear filters enough. If they are essential what is the best kind for the best price. I'me not trying to be cheap but our LPS doesn't sell them so, i have to buy them on the internet and have them shipped to me in CANADA. Which adds more to the bill having spent like 1000$ already i kinda want to find a good deal so i can actually get more than one fish in there.

One More thing Lighting? My tank is 36x16x20 i think and all i have is a 25 watt Marine Glow bulb. Because thats what my hood holds. Will that be enough for just live rock and fish. Also i have like 27 pounds of live rock in my tank already but i cant tell if it is doing well or not what can i look for to tell if its ok. I know the water is good because my fish is doing great.


Thanks For your time Guys

Sincerely Adam Kasycz Charlottetown P.E.I. Canada:( :p

[CHughes]

Adam:
I'm a newbie to, so as to critters to get I'm not sure. From what I have read in this forum you tend to get a lot of hitch-hikers on live rock. Plus, you need to have the tank cycled and a bit dirty to begin with for them to survive. What I mean by this, is the tank should have been populated for about 3 mths (please correct me if I wrong out there) so there is a food source for your scavengers.

As to protein skimmers...well, it seems there are as many opinions as to there usefullness, as there are there uselessness. I have a same size tank as yours without a protein skimmer (granted it is sparcely populated (3 damsels) without live rock right now and so far so good. I have a 4 inch sand bend with a small covering of crushed coral (...I know now that this is a no-no). For filtration I am running a Aqua300 with sponge filters and bio-max; for circulation I have a Power Head 300. The tank is cystal clear and fish seem to be very healthy....just my experience.

Lighting is another matter, I'd appreciate some input here as well from senior and more experienced members. My lighting is similiar. Should Adam & I go to Canadian Tire to get a 4 fixture flourest unit and populate it with 4 - 20 watt Powerglo tube?

Chris

[Adam Kasycz]

Thaks for the info Chris sounds like were in the same situation i have 2 damsels, 2 crabs (hermit) 28 pounds of live rock and like a 4 - 5 inch sand bed with aquaclear 300 and 200 and a small powerhead. I take it that you are from Canada also because of the canadiantire comment. Just wondering how much you pay for fish where you are and if you have a good selection. Also if some of the others on here tell us that a protein skimmer is a good idea big als online has a canadian section and they dont charge shipping and ther is a skimmer for like 56.99 and tax wich is awsome compared to the ones on marine depot that are no cheaper than 200$ American


Thanks Again

Adam Kasycz

[DeltaUguy]

As far as skimming goes, that is up to you. I have a 25 gallon with fish only with live rock (FOWLR) and have gone skimmerless on it since I set it up last fall. Its been just fine.

As far as clean up critters go, I let you know what I'm doing in my new 75 gallon for a clean up crew to give you some ideas. I'm going to use mostly nassarius and cerith snails. They stir the sand bed and eat plenty of different things such as algea and wastes. They don't kill other invertebrates and are interesting to watch sometimes. If you drop a shrimp pellet on the sand, just sit back and watch an army of snails rise out of the sand bed and swarm the pellet! I'm going to throw in group of scarlet reef hermits as well. They are less aggressive and grow larger than the blue leg hermits and therefore have very little interest in the snail's shells. I added a few nassarius to my 25 gallon and the next day there were a couple of blue leg hermits wearing snail shells!!! The scarlet hermits are more expensive, but much more safe, IMO. That's the core of my cleanup crew, but I also have a peppermint shrimp and plan on getting a cleaner shrimp and a few porcelain crabs as well. The porcelain crabs don't help with clean up very much, but they are kinda fun to watch. I haven't decide wether or not to get an Emerald crab. I got one for my 25 gallon and he killed my porcelain crab. All crabs are omnivores and are very opportunistic. They will eat plenty of algea, but if they are undernourished, they will eat other inhabitants.

As far as your lights go, they are good enough for FOWLR. As long as you are happy with it and can see the tank and fish well, then I don't see a problem.

Did you cycle your tank?

[DeltaUguy]

Oh and



WELCOME TO AQUARIA CENTRAL!

[Adam Kasycz]

Thanks Man thats great info Did i cycle my tank a i dont think so i had just water in it for about a month then i had just sand for like two weeks and a bunch of snails i got at the beach then just rock for about another week then i got some fish. So i think i skipped the whole cycling thing i have read so much about.


ADAM KASYCZ

[DeltaUguy]

You haven't really skipped it, you are just starting it. Be sure and test the water everyday. You will probably have to do weekly water changes to keep from killing all the inhabitants.

[Adam Kasycz]

Alright i think i can manage that. So what should i test for i have an amonia test kit. it said the water had zero amonia but should i get a ph test kit and some others. Also how much water should i change. It doesn't really matter how much i change cause i get it all for free anyway so i could do 50% a day and it wouldnt bother me much. Also how long wil this cycle thing last and will my fish make it through it.


Adam Kasycz

[greeneyedlady]

Damsels are usually pretty hardy from what I have read,
Where are you getting your free water from? If from the ocean you should be careful as you don't know what might be in it, microbes and such.
Water changes well, now that is different for everybody with such a light load a 10% water change weekly would probably be fine.

Nope you didn't skip the cycle you are just doing it a little different, as to how long it will last, every tank is different, my cycle for my 75 was 6 weeks total, but then I cycled with shrimp and then I put in partially cured live rock and i threw my tank into a second smaller/shorter cycle.

tests: pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate at the very least.

Good luck:)

[Adam Kasycz]

Man there is no shortage of people looking to lend advice on here. This is great :D I do get my water from the ocean but i put it through a brita filter at least twice to make sure there is no yucky stuff in there all my snails are from the ocean to and i hope soon to find a starfish. So i guess getting somore fish like next week probably wouldn't be a good idea then. Also what sorts of things should i wach out for like fish behavior or excesive algae growth or like dead spots on my rock? Cause i really want to do this right especially since my damsels cost like 30$ each.

Thanks For your Info

Adam Kasycz
:D :D :D

[greeneyedlady]

You might see some die off on your rock but it will bounce back, as long as your fish are eating and active I would say they should be fine. As for adding anymore fish next week, I think I might wait a while. I just put my first fish (5 chromis, 2 peppermint shrimp, 2 cleaner shrimp, 10 little red legged hermits and 1 brittle star) in my 75g two days ago, everybody is happy, but I have no intention of adding any more fish for like a month just to make sure that everybody is well adjusted and healthy. ;)
Especially with the price of the little buggers I would hate to lose any, although I am sure that will happen one day, does to the best of them. I figure after a month I will add about a dozen or so cerith snails.
From what I have read everywhere it is better to error on the side of caution. :)

[Adam Kasycz]

Wow Thats quite the list of critters i want to get a bunch of crabs as well but they are like 10 dollars a peice where i am so like to buy ten of them with taxes and all is like 130$ which i think is alot for just crabs but i guess thats the reality of this hobby its expensive. Do you think i would have room for shrimp in a 50 gallon because i hear they do a good cleaning job.


Adam Kasycz

[latazyo]

order your dry good from bigalsonline.com they have a canadian store as well, so Im assuming that your shipping ownt be that bad, yeah, for 50g you will need a skimmer, especially sinc eyou're using water you get on teh coast, and IM sure in a 50g you'll be tempted to get a big fish that will be messy

and dont just buy any skimmer, find one that is rated for a tank bigger than yours, or it'll just be a mess and waste of money

[CHughes]

Adam;
Sorry for the delay in getting back to you...been a bad week or so at work. Seems like you got a lot of great replies. I'm going skimmerless on the 30 gal for now. I haven't seen any benefits to it so far, as long as the cleanup crew is in place,\.

And yes I'm Canadian in Ontario...I've checked the local Canadian Tire store and haven't found 36" double or 4 tube fixtures. Any luck at Home Depot?

I'm envious of a free salt water supply...how much is it to ship to Cambridge!

Chris

[Adam Kasycz]

I am the same with the 36 inch lights none at canadiantire and we dont have a home depot here. i was thinking that a 48 inch light fixture would probably be ok if a hood was made with some reflective material (sheet metal or something) on the sides so it would reflect the extra 6 inches on each side back down into the tank. but one would have to be somewhat of a handyman to figure out how to get that to work. Id ship all the water you wanted to you but i think with water weighing like 10 pounds a gallon it would get awfully pricy. I figure the free water makes up for the price of fish and critters over at this end of the country.:D

Adam Kasycz :D