Erock Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 Well i finally got my light hung today (thanks again, Nano Steve) and am going to be making a trip up to aquatek to get me some live sand and rubble for in my filter. I'm pretty excited to be only weeks away from having this thing going!!! Its a 45g corner. I have a piece of holey rock that i used in the tank before going salty with it. Is this something that would be worth putting into the tank to pile live rock around? that way i dont have to spend $50 on a rock thats going to be covered by the others. Also, how much rock should i plan on getting if i want to do both fish and corals? I'm thinking about doing like 50 pounds or so. Also, should i be using the air stone thinger? not sure on whether its good in saltwater too or not?? I'll keep updating as this thing comes together. I'm pumped!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nano_Steve Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 Hey Eric, Glad to see that light is finally getting used! It looks great! Texas holey rock is fine to use in a sw tank but be prepared for it to cycle before putting any livestock. The rock around here is calcareous so you will have some extra calcium and I've heard that it helps buffer the water also but don't quote me on that. I've also heard of folks having problems with it so you might want to be careful and read up more on it. As for the bubbler, it isn't going to hurt anything but I prefer not to have small bubbles floating around all the time in the tank, it takes away from the visual imo. I would recommend at least 1lb. of liverock per gallon if you plan on having fish and corals but if you want to do a reef tank then i would go with 2lbs./gallon or more. Also, in such a small volume of water, make sure to do plenty of research on what kind of fish you can have. I would definitely not recommend anything like tangs or groupers in a tank that size but you could certainly have some chromis or clowns or blennies or any other small fish depending on their tank size requirements. Don't overstock your tank, it will just stress out your fish and eventually they will die, I think most of us have learned that the hard way. I would make a list of fish you would like to keep and maybe post it on here and see what others think would be the best options for your tank! I'd chime in for sure! It's looking great so far! Good luck!!! -Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prof Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 Limestone makes great base rock. Not as good as live rock but still works. No need for an airstone but you can use it if you want. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beefytang Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 Great looking tank. Looking forward to seeing how it progresses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GKarshens Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 Yeah the holey rock if cleaned properly wont hurt your tank but it won't help all that much either. The purpose of the rock besides looking good is bio-filtration. The more surface area the better. That is why the more porous the rock the better it will work. Also, using actual live rock is better because it will have more life to begin with. Your holey rock will eventual get life on it but not as much as rock that came from the ocean. Saltwater holds oxygen better than freshwater that is why the airstone is not needed. As long as you have good water movement and surface agitation, you should be fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erock Posted January 9, 2009 Author Share Posted January 9, 2009 Thanks for all the help everyone. I just learned about the whole bio-filtration deal with the live rocks... just forgot i guess. I'm hoping to add some live rock in the next couple of weeks and assuming my wallet isnt completely empty some extra little critters. What would be an ideal cleanup crew for the tank? ericericericericericericericericeric Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mcallahan Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 reefcleaners.org has some great base rock that is cheap and very porous. 2 pieces would fill that tank nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nano_Steve Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 In terms of cleanup crews I usually got with a 1 snail for every 3 gallons of water rule. But some would say that is too many. I prefer not to have to manually clean my tank all the time and while cycling, your rock is going to get quite filthy during the first couple of months. Afterwards you can always sell any snails you do not want to keep or give them to others who are just beginning their new tanks. After cycling, you could probably go to a 1 snail per 5-8 gallon rule, but like Gkarshen said about surface area, it's really more based on how many rocks you want. My numbers are coming from my original idea of 2-3 lbs of liverock per gallon for a reeftank. Gees, and also you have to take into account how many fish and what kind you are going to have, whether you will have fish that will pick at the liverock and help keep it clean like butterflies and wrasses and also any sandsifters like gobies. I'd suggest getting at least 10 astreas for that setup once you've got some nice liverock in there....and maybe some nassarius....and maybe some....see the problem? -Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erock Posted January 19, 2009 Author Share Posted January 19, 2009 Well after a few additions here is where i am at. anyone have any landscaping type recommendations or anything like that? I think its turning out pretty good and i am glad a got to make myself a bit of a cave in the center as that was my original plan. Thanks agian to mike for the rock!!! Now i just need to get my water all sorted out and whatnot and It'll be time to start adding some life to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesL Posted January 19, 2009 Share Posted January 19, 2009 I like the cave/ledge (and the overall rock work too)! It looks like you are going to have a lot of places to put corals on there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caferacermike Posted January 19, 2009 Share Posted January 19, 2009 Is that powerhead mixing air bubbles in the tank? If so plug it off so it can't intake air. Airstones and pumps DO NOT actually add oxygen to water, they merely lift water to the surface and exchange gases. Usually venting CO2, Ammonia, and Nitrate gases in exchange for O2. By using them you create a little flow in the tank, not as good as adding a few powerheads. Once you've added a couple of powerheads, then air stones become pointless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erock Posted January 30, 2009 Author Share Posted January 30, 2009 Well, after additions, subtractions, things breaking, and other things being fixed this is where i am at. I have a eheim pro filter and a red sea prism skimmer for the filtration. I have 2 koreala (sp?) powerheads that are creating really good flow through the tank. I'm wondering if there are better locations for any of those things in the tank that will be more beneficial to it. I also re did the rocks because i was not quite as satisfied as before. any opinions on the current look? and finally... There are a few little heads that pop up out of one of the rocks... what do i have here? thanks everyone!!! Eric Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesL Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 The last pictures looks like some zoanthids... nice hitchhiker on the rock! You will have to wait and see if they color up, or stay more brownish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caferacermike Posted January 31, 2009 Share Posted January 31, 2009 Oh that water looks so much clearer without all the bubbles. So what are the plans for the tank? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erock Posted January 31, 2009 Author Share Posted January 31, 2009 well, I want to do a bit of a balance between a full on reef tank and a fish tank. I plan on starting with some simple mushroom and zoo corals and working my way up. as far as fish go, i got a flame hawkfish today and plan on adding a clown pair and maybe one or 2 more. this is basically just going to be my jumpstart into something that i know is about to get out of control. If you have any recommendations on some tank mates for the hawk or some good corals to start with let me know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesL Posted February 2, 2009 Share Posted February 2, 2009 Be careful with the hawkfish, they are great looking fish but can be very predatory towards inverts. So you might not want to add any expensive shrimp in the tank Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erock Posted February 8, 2009 Author Share Posted February 8, 2009 Finally some life in the tank!!! I'm going to add a coral banded shrimp and a peppermint in the next week or so. I hope the hawk leaves the peppermint alone. ive heard it can be tough. any recommendations on other things that would be good additions to the tank? Eric Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisfowler99 Posted February 8, 2009 Share Posted February 8, 2009 looks good! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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