Tank is up now. . advice about oyster

D

duck

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Nov 30, 2003
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Alrighty.. since that last post I went to my LFS and found a really nice hood with 50/50 lights and all.. I'm not really sure about it other then it cost me around 90 bucks and is supposed to be awesome for coral and reef life.

I got a 190 gph power head buzzing away... I have live sand from the coast.... 2 diffren't kinds.. some coarse sand from
Georgia Coast..... and some finer stuff from the Florida Panhandle.

I layerd it about an inch and a half thick..

(remember this is only a 12 inch high tank... 36x12x12)


I have used instant ocean and a good bit of actual sea water...
my hydrometer is reading at 1.0235
the Tank only stayed couldy for about 3 or 4 hours....
I have done a 20% water change ..

I am also using a HOB Filter for a sump that I had extra from a 40 gallon fresh water.... I have put crushed rock in the filter box instead of the floss.


I had a freind that went fishing along the georgia coast (we go alot we are about 2 hours from 3 very diffren't marine coasts...Ga Island coastal... Jacksonville/Fernadina Atlantic and the Florida Gulf , Keaton beach areas)

He heard of me getting sand and starting to cycle my tank and decided to bring me back some goodies..... I had no idea what to do with this stuff so I did add it to my tank. I am not sure if it is okay, if I will regret adding it, or if it will be good to have.... I figured leaving it in would be good to help introduce some benificial bacteria to the tank and I could always take it out and return it back to the ocean on our next fishing trip.. one or both of us go to a coast to fish atleast once a week or two.

The Oyster Bar rocks look like a big barnicle covered or old oyster bed... big chunks. There are two peices... They have alot of little crabs a few small hermits and a big hermit (scarlet leg)
also there was a Anemone but I took it to the LFS becuase I knew it wouldn't make the cycle and there are 3 small minnows
he brought back. We use a cast net or a minnow trap to
catch these to fish with... I think they might help the tank to cycle as well.

The tank has been going like this for 4 days now... everything in it looks very happy.



I would like to get live rock once the tank cycles... could I use the oyster bar rock for base rock. Will I need to take it out.. How would I get the snails and crabs all out of it If I remove it.
Could I get rubble in hopes it would "LACE" the oyster rock...

AHH

I would like some soft corals or an anemone or two eventually...
I would like some color and some movement to this tank... Right now the crabs are providing alot of movement it is very fun to watch them play around in the sand and climb the rocks... but I lack color.. the oyster bar is pretty bland looking.

Any advice thoughts concerns or ideas are appreciated...

Oh for peice of mind I told my friend how dumb it was to just go grab this stuff that he could probly get in trouble (is this true?)
I don't know if I would have ever wanted this oyster stuff but since he had braught it in a cooler here to me it was either let it dry out and all the little crabs die or just try to temporary use it.. research about it and possibly keep it.
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I'm a little confused. If the oyster bar rock came out of the ocean, then it is live rock, no? It may not be as porous and effective as some rock, but it may be OK. Since it's already full of microorganisms from the ocean, there's no need to seed it. With the barnacles and shellfish starving and being subjected to a cycling tank, they will probably die off and increase the nutrient load.

What may be more worrisome is what some of those hitchhikers may do. Sounds like there's a pile of little guys, some of whom may be troublemakers. There are crabs that will be nice little scavengers, and there are many that will be ravaging demons, and it's hard to know which ones you've got right now. The big hermit is likely to be very troublesome, and should probably go back to the ocean ASAP.

Should you keep it? I don't know. All live rock has the potential for bringing nasty stuff into the tank. For the moment, you have an interesting collection of local fauna that may be suffering from the cycle. [what's your ammonia level, by the way?] You might just watch the tank, try to learn the identities of the animals you have, and try to figure out who should be kept. Certainly safer to just return it.
 
IDENTIFICATION

I have seen most all of the crabs that where living in the rocks..
They mostly all look like tiny blue crabs as far as shape goes and are about a fingernail big.... I have the one big hermit that is living in a shell about 2.5 inches long. The rest are in shells around an inch or so. I also have some black snails (10-15)they are no larger then half inch long. They are solid black shell and spiral into a point. They seems to crawl on the glass and also over the rock and bury a bit into the sand.

I have found a few really tiny shrimp in the tank.. one or two..
(I thought there was 3 or 4 but maybe the crab got them???)

I was told this oyster bar rock (btw what the heck should I call it)
was said to be taken from low tide in the mud.. stayed alittle wet but was actualy not submersed.. he said it looked like it had been there for years.... Would this mean it would have really bad crap on it.. half dead crap on it or maybe extra hardy stuff on it?

I never thought of it as actualy "live rock" I knew it was full of benifical stuff thats why I decided to go ahead and use it for now.. My main concern is it is awefully sharpe and rugged in places... Will that matter if I in the futre would like to add some more decorative live rock with hopes of it spreading to the larger oyster peices. This stuff looks just like a big clump of old oyster shell.... does it have potential to become something colorful and pretty.. or should I be looking at this stuff to cycle the tank and limit its use to that?


the 3 minnows seem to like the sinking pellet food (so do the crab) and they also like the flake stuff...

I will be getting a "better" amonia kit today.. with the strip kit I have it is reading at very little nitrogen if any. I just don't belive it.
 
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new test results

salinaty.. 1.0235
nitrate 15ppm
nitrites .25
alkalinity 0 range
ph 8.4


How the heck do I get that alkalinity up???
Nitrates seems good.. (I think)
Nitrites are almost perfect (I think)
PH is dead on the money
 
alright great

thanks for the advice...

I have pretty much made up my mind and I want to take out the one major hunk of the oyster bar rock... I would like to leave the small peice in there and perhaps sandwich in between or use it for the base of some live rock.. my lfs says he has some nice stuff comming in next week sometime.. I want to check it out.. but I may go with Tampay bay rock.... LFS says 7 a pound.. his is 6 I am about 4 hours from Tampa so maybe shipping wont be too much.

How could I go about getting the majority of little crabs and such out of the larger peice of rock.. If I was to put it in a cooler with some saltwater in the bottom a inch or two deep will the critters migrate down into the water or stay in the drying out rock???

I would like to crush some of this rock and use it in my HOB filter...
 
You might put it in a cooler under seawater, and put some bits of seafood along the sides. Then catch them as they go for the food.
 
Dave

dave you told me I should try and identify my crabs and critters..
I am having a hard time finding a site with diffren't pictures and information about crabs and such. I would like to identify them all and find which ones I should be on the lookout as "bad guys"

I recently found a diffren't kind of crab it is about quarter inch long but arms are really long like half inch long and they stick way out wide with kinda hair on them.. this crab is reddish brown.. I don't notice it being bad only siffting and eating near the rock... I found its special hiding spot he seems to always be there so I can remove him if needed... also I came in from work to find a big hole under the rock.. it ooked like a bulldozer.. I was surprised as heck to find a quarter tohalf dollar sized crab stirring around the sand.. it looked like a small blue crab or a BIG red claw crab or a huge fiddler with both arms being same size.

these little hermits are great I love them They are eating the little snails and some orange/red grass looking algea.
 
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