need advice on adding decor to my tank.

[jacobus]

right now .. i have a fowlr tank .. a few anemones in side ... 3 tubeworms and a tree coral that i recently got .. the coral doesnt seem to be doing well .. and i dont really think i'd be able to set up a good reef tank. so does anyone have any advice on what can i do to make my tank look nice ? i wanna put in sea grass . but im afraid my hippo tang would eat it all up ...

[LittlePuff]

You could try it. You already have a reef tank (anemones, tubeworms, tree coral) How much live rock do you have? Did you cycle the tank? How long has the tank been running?


Kim

[mysis]

How long has the tank been running? And how big is it? basically if you wan't to mimic a reef, LR is essential, i say atleast 1/3 of the tank should be LR, then you want the smaller peices of rock at the fron and larger at the back, you can use puty to stick rocks together and form crevices for fish to hide in, try to have majority of the back of the tank cover with LR IMO it looks better. Also you will need strong circulation from powerheads, i would have atleast 30 x turnover per hour.

[jacobus]

well .. its roughly 50 gallons .. its been up for about a month or so ... it has quite a few things in it coz i transferred all my fish from my smaller tank into it ... the tree coral has been there for about almost 4 days now .. its still limp... i have a 2500 litre per hour return pump from my overflow.. and another power head that i am not sure about ... but its quite strong ... i think my LR is not enough for my tank so im going to get some more soon ... mebbe i'll put in more LR first and think about corals later on ... but what about seagrass ? and also .. my tube anemone is like going all over the place and doesnt seems happy ... is the current too strong for it ?

[LittlePuff]

For now, get more live rock,You will need ~ 50lbs. get a couple of Maxi-jet powerheads. After that, worry about corals and seagrass.


Kim

[skippy2]

What kind of lighting do you have?

[jacobus]

2 24W PL white lights and 1 11W blue light all the double tube sort ... i actually have another blue lighttube ... but my LFS gave me a different blue .. the one i am using is purely blue .. while the other one is more on the purplish side .. i dont like it cause it makes my yellow bubble anemone look pale ..

[LordsSoilder]

First let me make sure I am getting this correct...

You have a 50gallon tank that has only been up and running for a month. you took some of the stuff from your old tank and put it in this one.

You have about 60w total light on the tank,

And you have a bunch of fish and coral in the tank?

If this is correct, I think you need to definitelly add more rock and more light. you reall want to acheive about 3watts per gallon of water, so in your case that would be 150watts. Corals and good algae's are very light dependant. also alot of them require good flow and surface agitation.

Also you water is more than likely going through a new cycle, depending on how big your old tank was, how much rock, sand and water, you moved and how much new water you added, this might be a big cycle. You need to watch your water parameters closely so that you don't loose fish. Also if something does die, remove it immediately. It will creat a chain reaction that will make the cycle spike, and possible kill everything you put in your tank...

I'd suggest buying some livesand from the LFS and doing what you can to safely cycle your tank.

IMO, the hippo tang will outgrow your tank, espeacially if its a tall tank and not a long or wide tank.

I hope this isn't to harsh, but I think its better to know hear it, than it is to find out later when everything dies...

[jacobus]

umm my tank is long ... well my areas doesnt sell live sand .. and i brought over all my sand from my old 2 ft tank .. plus my LR ... i added more LR too ... umm im gettin some allowance on this weekend .. i'd be spending on rocks with a bit of tt .. and yea i know my hippo tang will out grow my tank .. but im giving it away to my LFS or trading it when it comes to that ...

[LittlePuff]

It won't come to that. He will die from being stunted (not a good way to die) He will look the same on the outside, but his insides will keep growing until he dies. Please take him back. :(


Kim

[jacobus]

sigh ... my tang has died ... he contracted an illness i was unable to identify .. some slimy thing all over him ... lost him within the day ..

just another question: i am not sure of the strength of my power head ( this one is just for creating current ) but the fish seem to be having porblems swimming across the stream of water.. is that ok ?

update : i add more LR to my tank .. about 6 KG .. so in total my tank should have about almost 25 - 30 KG of LR.