Up to you but no guarantee the emerald will eat your bubble algae. It's pretty easy to take the affected rocks out and pop them off since your tank isn't stocked at this point. FWIW, I don't trust crabs
!Finally got that salt tank...
- Thread starter Ballyhoo
- Start date
!
Good start!
Most of the stuff you have seems to have been IDed already so I can't help much there. The only thing that sticks out to me is the last picture looks like a starfish leg. I had several asterina starfish split and look similar. Just a guess.
I would also stack your rocks a bit to provide some more caves.
As for the emerald crab it's personal preference. I thought mine was awesome until it started ripping apart my pink feather dusters. It didn't even eat them! Just ripped them up and discarded. Mine also didn't seem to care too much for bubble algae, he did eat a fair share of other algae though.
Most of the stuff you have seems to have been IDed already so I can't help much there. The only thing that sticks out to me is the last picture looks like a starfish leg. I had several asterina starfish split and look similar. Just a guess.
I would also stack your rocks a bit to provide some more caves.
As for the emerald crab it's personal preference. I thought mine was awesome until it started ripping apart my pink feather dusters. It didn't even eat them! Just ripped them up and discarded. Mine also didn't seem to care too much for bubble algae, he did eat a fair share of other algae though.
I'm trying to figure out my rock structure. I'm worried about it toppling. I have 3 large pieces that I put in before the sand and filled in the sand for support, so I'm not sure how they'll move.
If you uproot them just do so slowly and try not tod disturb the bed underneath too much. However, your tank is till very new anyway so it probably won't make much difference at this point. There is no guarantee on how rocks will break but I have had good suucess breaking larger rocks into smaller ones to make better shapes. Aquascaping is a pain for most everyone!
Ill probably just go buy more instead of breaking what I have up. More can't hurt, unless it restricts flow, right?
That's correct! I have 42lbs of Live Rock in my SW set up. Tank is only 30gal. So long as currents and flow can still exist, you're safe!
You need to work on those phosphates. Can't recall if you are using tap water but you may want to consider RO/DI if that is the case. Also might want to use some GFO (Rowaphos, Phosban, etc.).
I'm buying premixed water from my LFS. Phosban can go in a filter bag and into the filter (where the rubble is) correct?
Yes, it will likely need to be replaced more often in the beginning. You should test your mix water and see if this is the source (versus your rocks leaching, etc.). If so you may want to mention this to your LFS so they can change their filters. Lots of sources of phosphates out there so it may not be your water.
