bobioden Posted March 31, 2003 Share Posted March 31, 2003 Just wondering how big of a clean-up crew I need. Currently have a Turbo Snail, Blue Leg Hermit, Scarlet Hermit, Strawberry Crab. I will be adding 15 lbs of LR next week, and needed to know what else to add. Thanks.... Link to comment
Christopher Marks Posted March 31, 2003 Share Posted March 31, 2003 You could add a few more snails to the tank, up to about 10 more. I am a little concerned about you adding 15 pounds of liverock to a seemingly already established system. Do you understand the possible effects that could have? Link to comment
Crakeur Posted March 31, 2003 Share Posted March 31, 2003 is that 4 fish in a 12? also, is that one giant leather or shroom? can't really tell from the photo. Link to comment
freakaccident Posted March 31, 2003 Share Posted March 31, 2003 No mo turbo snails!!! They are bulldozers. Get the little mexican baja snails. Those guys kick butt and don't terrorize your corals. I also suggest Nassarius snails. They really work the sandbed out nicely. I have the baja red leg hermits. They really do a great job at eating any type of algae and don't mess with anything else. Link to comment
Masoch Posted March 31, 2003 Share Posted March 31, 2003 I agree with freak -- zebra / nerite (probably the same as baja) snails + nassarius snails. My nerites generally stick to the glass, clean it pretty well and leave dozens of egg sacs lying around. Each sac contains about 3 dozen tiny planktonic beasties that help feed my hithhiker fan worms and 'n' corals. FWIW, Nassarius help elminate the need for hermit crabs (a good thing), but won't eat algae ... or other snails. Link to comment
bobioden Posted March 31, 2003 Author Share Posted March 31, 2003 I want to eliminate the large decorative piece of coal and go with all live rock. I'm converting the FO tank over to a FOWLR and some corals. Upgraded the lights to 32W and replaced the Crushed Coral with live sand. Yes there are 4 fish. I need to get rid of a couple, but I have had them all for 5 months and have gotten attached to them. I do a 10 percent water change every week, and test the conditions at the same time. There is a mushroom on the middle rock, the largest of them expands quite big. And a piece of coral on the base in the middle. I know it will be a pain to change over to Live Rock but I think in the long run it will be benefitial Appreciate the comments. Here is a before pic... Link to comment
LiQuiD Posted March 31, 2003 Share Posted March 31, 2003 I'm with Chris on adding 15 pounds of rock to that tank. Either be sure it is well cured and out of water for a VERY short amount of time or add it slowly and allow time to adjust. From the looks of the tank as of now, it would appear that any clean up crew currently would die of starvation. That tank is TOO CLEAN for a large crew. Determine what you will need after the rock is in the tank and all the NATURAL things that will begin to grow do so. What I'm getting at is don't add clean up critters if there is nothing to clean up, otherwise, you will be adding food to the tank to feed your crew. Link to comment
bobioden Posted March 31, 2003 Author Share Posted March 31, 2003 Liquid, thanks for the info. I was thinking of ordering the live rock that was aquacultured and using next day shipping. Clean up crew to follow. Link to comment
skierajs Posted March 31, 2003 Share Posted March 31, 2003 You want to minimize die-off so all your fish etc. don't die when you introduce all that rock. I recommend that you buy completely cured rock from your LFS, preferably from some sort of stock/display tank, not their curing tank. You also have the option to buy 1 peice at a time instead of 15 lbs outright. This is perhaps the best way to do it. Also, I have an eclipse 12 and I think Fiji rock would be best for filtration since it is a small tank and Fiji rock tends to be very porous so you get maximum filtration for the space it takes up. Anyone disagree? Link to comment
freakaccident Posted April 1, 2003 Share Posted April 1, 2003 You could buy cured rock from Premium Aquatics and have them ship it next day with some water in the box. They might do it. I went in there last Friday and bought 20lbs of rock. They have some nice looking rock right now. Link to comment
LiQuiD Posted April 1, 2003 Share Posted April 1, 2003 I know of only 2 places selling aquacultured LR and both will tell you to prepare the water changes for the off the wall amonia spike your gonna get once things start to die. The Florida/Gulf aquacultured rock will come with the most life on it I will agree, but what you are looking to do would be bad for such rock. Believe me, stuff is going to die off of it, even if it is only out of the water for a very short time. If this was a new system I would say get the aqua cultured (I would say get twice the weight you are thinking due to the less pourus and heavy the stuff is) and go through the cycle then go to town, but adding to your system, I would go for the LFS rock piece by piece to ensure the survival. Another suggestion would be to spend an additional $30 or so on a 10 gallon tank, a heater, and a powerhead and cure it yourself seperately for a while and when it is good to go, quickly move it into your other tank with as little time out of the water as possible. It is an extra step, but will allow you to get the colorfull full of life aquacultured stuff you want with a better assurance that all will work out. Cured LR to me is like an acclimated fish. At first things may appear out of wack but in a few days things seem normal. As with rock, any time out of the water, even for only a few hours will kill alot of life. Picture taking your aclimated fish out of the water and putting it in an envelope and mailing it overnight to your friend. If the letter makes it within an hour, there is a chance the fish could live, after the hour goes by, chances are the fish will be dead. The difference is you know a dead fish when you see it but can't really tell the amount of death of most micro and macro inhabitants of a rock. Then again, the easiest way would be to slowly add piece by piece of some Fiji from your LFS. Link to comment
Pikelet Posted April 1, 2003 Share Posted April 1, 2003 Originally posted by LiQuiD or add it slowly and allow time to adjust Bad idea. If you want to keep your existing tank running, shell out for a power head, heater and rubbermaid and cure it at home properly BEFORE adding it to your display tank. The "one piece at a time" approach with uncured is like playing russian roulette with your tank. Link to comment
LiQuiD Posted April 1, 2003 Share Posted April 1, 2003 Who said uncured? I said cure the uncured aquacultured first or buy cured pieces of Fiji one at a time from his LFS and add the CURED pieces slowly. I think that was made clear several times. I see that you quoted me, only I fail to see where you got that quote since I never typed those words. Link to comment
bobioden Posted April 1, 2003 Author Share Posted April 1, 2003 Thanks guys. I ordered from Premium Aquatics. They said it was fully cured Figi. I know it will be a pain for awhile, but I am looking at the long run. Have a neighbor who will take two of my four fish, and will let me keep them all there for few a weeks til things settle down. Thanks freakaccident for recommending them. They seem like great people to deal with. Link to comment
freakaccident Posted April 1, 2003 Share Posted April 1, 2003 The rock is fully cured but it may not be when you get it. It depends on how it is being shipped. If you asked for the rock triple bagged with water in it you might get lucky. That would have cost you quite a lot more in shipping weight though IF they would even do it. I would be very very very careful about monitoring your water after adding the rock. You may lose your fish if you aren't careful. If you have any doubt then get a 5g bucket and cure the rock. I actually went into premium aquatics, set my rock to the side in the stock tank, bagged the rock, boxed the rock, and drove the two miles home lickity split. If you get this before they ship the rock you might also consider getting a pound of the rock tank gunk. It is cheap. I bought some and added it to my 29g. Looking at it though the bag I can say there are a lot of coralline flakes in the gunk. I can't say whether it is going to help coralline growth much but I am hopeful. I put ithe bigger pieces under a layer of sand and the finer stuff I poured into the stream of the PH so it would fly all over the tank. I used a pasta strainer to strain the stuff out. Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.