Another sand question, and a live rock question

[Corn-Picker]

I added 50 pounds of tropical play sand to my 29 gallon tank, but it only filled about 3" of the tank bottom. I plan to add another 40 or more pounds tonight. I wanted a 5" base for filtration purposes, and also because the yellow head jawfish (http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?siteid=21&pCatId=188) supposedly likes 5-7" of sand. I just hope I'm not "over sanding" my tank, if such a thing is possible. Is 5" too much for a tank that's only a few feet high as mine is?


Also, if I order 30-40 pounds of live rock, is it best to put it all in at once, or should I put the rock in a little at a time, say 10 pounds a day. I'm ordering the rock online, so putting in 5 pounds and waiting a week isn't really an option. Thanks for any advice :)

[OrionGirl]

You'll probably need to cure the rock, but otherwise, adding it all at once is fine.

You can have too much sand, but 5-7 inches shouldn't cause a problem. Keep in mind that you'll end up with 3 inches in some places, and 6-8 in others. In my reef, I have about 4 inches of sand when it's all level. Thanks to the engineer goby, it was level for about 24 hours, max. In the FO tank, the sand doesn't move around as much, only where the trigger decides to snuffle around, and a bit from the snails.

[liquafaction]

off topic, but you keep a trigger and snails together? The trigger does not eat the snails?

[DEmigh]

Originally posted by OrionGirl
[...] Thanks to the engineer goby, it was level for about 24 hours, max.[...]

Engineer Goby?

What is the scientific name for this species? ;)

[OrionGirl]

The snails (and limpets) stay hidden in my tank during the day, and the trigger hides in a hole at night, so the snails are pretty safe. Larger ones are toast if they get knocked off the glass, smaller ones are ignored.

The engineer goby is also called a convict blenny, but is really neither a goby nor a blenny. The scientific name is Pholidichthys leucotaenia . Most books call it the blenny, but say it only gets to about 8 inches. Mine is about 15 inches right now. They can be kept in groups as juveniles, and will form apirs and reproduce in the tank. If they are disturbed, they can turn on each other, though. We had 2, and the smaller one was kicked out of their caves following a re-do of the tank, and was killed.

http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.cfm?genusname=Pholidichthys&speciesname=leucotaenia

[DEmigh]

Thanks for the scientific name. It sounded like a smart fish... :p

Seriously though (really), I was only half kidding. The original thread topic was sand and liverock, so (since I'm converting to DSB) I wanted to know the name of such an efficient sand stirrer.

"Convict Blennies" are regularly available at my LFS. I'll have to give this some consideration for future stocking.

[OrionGirl]

I do not recommend them.

Don't get me wrong--I really like ours--he's a beautiful fish, with striking colors. Very easy to feed (he eat anything), and it is amusing to watch him maintaining his caves--spitting out mouthfuls of sand, etc. He gets along well with everything in the tank--shares his caves happily with shrimp and crabs, never chases other fish out.

However--you will have to build a support shelf for your live rock and corals. I originally had my LR sitting on the sand. This guy dug out underneath the rocks, causing collapses. I tried having a rock shelf that was stable on the bottom of the tank, with sand around them. He moved enough sand to make the rocks move, and things fell apart. I ended up using egg crate with PVC legs, and all the rock sits on this shelf, with just sand below. He has cleared almost all the sand out from under the shelf--it dunes back in, and he moves it out again. Anything on the sand is likely going to be covered with sand. He's buried gorgonians, plate corals, snails and hermit crabs, complete rocks--anything that can't unbury itself requires a dive in and rescue operation.

When the new 120's go up, he's getting moved into the FO. We're getting tufa bricks to put in, then the sand, then rock on top of the tufa bricks. The hope is that the bricks will be stable, even without sand around them. If he created piles of sand, no big deal, there won't be corals to worry about.

[mrbigisbudgood]

Originally posted by OrionGirl
Thanks to the engineer goby, it was level for about 24 hours, max.

Funny, I have a CAE in my fresh tank that feels the need to keep everything perfectly level.

[DEmigh]

Originally posted by OrionGirl
I do not recommend them. [...]

That was plenty clear.

Thanks for elaborating though :)