Questions From a Newbie

[angelic]

Hello All,

I am pretty new to this world Aquarium/fish knowledge wise.

I have 2 Aquariums a 55 gal FW and a 14 gal nano(reef), a 29 gal nano in the makings to be a reef. Ohhh and I will be doing a 80-90 gal Reef once the aquarium is fixed and I get the proper lighting.

I am pretty *duh* so I hope everyone can have patience while I struggle this out.

My man is in the business so to speak( not gonna get into details because I am ere about me and my interests) this is a hobby for me and his knowledge is not in reefs or a lot of diff kinds of fish. Anyways I want to do this stuff and learn without having to drag him into it beyond the basic set up and care.

That is why I chose this sight..You people actually seem to know something and are willing to share in a nice way!!!

I am pretty additcted but sadly I have little knowledge to feed myself the right stuff *laugh*

I have some soft corals most just very small frags. Kenya tree, pipe organ, green star polyp, Zenia (brand spanking new ), and a fan coral. 2 Mushrooms and waiting on my very first Zoes. A coupel of tube worms.

I notice you use short versions for corals here like sps and so on. What is the version for soft coral?

What are the best foods for soft coarl?

Why do some people use sand for base and others use crushed coral?

A question about tube worms, I have 2 tree ones..I got them today, one is not coming out? How do they like to be placed in the aquarium if anyone can help me?

One more question then I will lay off for a day or so *L*

Why so much live rock? Is there a purpose or is it just because of the critters it has?

Thanks to all!!!!

[Monti-Man]

Originally Posted by angelic

Hello All,

I am pretty new to this world Aquarium/fish knowledge wise.

I have 2 Aquariums a 55 gal FW and a 14 gal nano(reef), a 29 gal nano in the makings to be a reef. Ohhh and I will be doing a 80-90 gal Reef once the aquarium is fixed and I get the proper lighting.

I am pretty *duh* so I hope everyone can have patience while I struggle this out.

My man is in the business so to speak( not gonna get into details because I am ere about me and my interests) this is a hobby for me and his knowledge is not in reefs or a lot of diff kinds of fish. Anyways I want to do this stuff and learn without having to drag him into it beyond the basic set up and care.

That is why I chose this sight..You people actually seem to know something and are willing to share in a nice way!!!

I am pretty additcted but sadly I have little knowledge to feed myself the right stuff *laugh*

I have some soft corals most just very small frags. Kenya tree, pipe organ, green star polyp, Zenia (brand spanking new ), and a fan coral. 2 Mushrooms and waiting on my very first Zoes. A coupel of tube worms.

I notice you use short versions for corals here like sps and so on. What is the version for soft coral?

What are the best foods for soft coarl?

Why do some people use sand for base and others use crushed coral?

A question about tube worms, I have 2 tree ones..I got them today, one is not coming out? How do they like to be placed in the aquarium if anyone can help me?

One more question then I will lay off for a day or so *L*

Why so much live rock? Is there a purpose or is it just because of the critters it has?

Thanks to all!!!!

We'll welcome!!!!

Okay now to answer some of your questions.

Best food all depend on what you have. Most are filter feeders so things that are very very small in partical size. cyclopeeze, phytoplankton and of course good ol fish poop

Sand or crushed coral is a personal choice. Sand is much better imo as it is less likely to trap fish poop,left over food etc which then in turn leads to high nitrates which then leads to nasty and ugly algae outbreaks.. Crushed coral also is not workable if you want to get a wrasse or goby who live in the sand.

Now are they tube worms or tube anemones? Are they in a hard tube? or soft?
Most like med to low flow and are filter feeders as we'll unless it is a tube anemone then they have been known to eat fish but will eat larger frozen foods such as mysis.

Live rock is your biological filtration. That is what keeps your system free of ammonia,nitrite and nitrate. It is bacteria which then breaks down all of those things and keeps your tank healthy.

General suggestion on live rock is 1 to 1 1/2 pounds per gallon.

I am sure if i missed something someone else will chime in and correct me or add to it.

Welcome and enjoy your new hobby/addiction

[angelic]

The worms are in a soft shell.

As for the rock can it be rock that isn't live? or is it what is live that filters?

I was told by someone that I should just do a couple of pieces of live and the rest substraight? I think that is what they called it *L* meaning that it's just rock but nothing growing like live rock.

Thanks
angelic

[Der_Iron_Chef]

People don't really feed their soft corals (they're generally photosynthetic and get most of what they need from the light). Having said that, there needs to be sufficient amount of light (what do you have for lighting?). Otherwise, like someone already said, they sometimes consume small particulate matter.

Soft Corals are not abbreviated like LPS or SPS

Substrate (sand, crushed coral, etc.) is a matter of preference. I prefer no substrate at all (bare bottom).

Tube worms, like featherdusters, generally seem to prefer medium random flow. They are filter feeders, so they definitely do prefer some flow, but not too much (they won't open if there's too much). This has been my experience, anyway.

Live rock, as already mentioned, is necessary for the biological filtration it provides. It's one thing you can't really skimp on (though some will argue that you can get by with much less than 1-1.5 lbs/gallon...and I might agree).

Good luck--read LOTS and keep asking questions

[TJSlayer]

And in addition yes you can start off with partial live rock and some base rock, it will eventually seed the base rock and make it "live rock" it will just take a bit longer to get the full benefit of it.

In my 75 gallon I went with 60 lbs base rock and 30 lbs of new sand, then added 40 lbs of "live sand" (from another tank) and another 65 lbs of live rock (From same tank), about two months later, it's hard to tell apart......

Didn't really get much of a cycle either, if any and eveything is doing very well, except a little more algae that I want, but I'm also using tap water until next week the all changes and top offs will be with RO water.

Hope this answers most of what you were asking......

Have fun
TJ

[kwirky]

live rock performs denitrification to a certain extent. This lets you keep a little more fish than normal but you can't overload the system.

Also the "pounds per gallon" system depends on the type of rock. Fiji rock is medium porosity. Indo rock is VERY porous. The more porous the rock the better it will denitrify (and the less it will weigh, thus the less it will cost).

It's pretty hard to jam some tanks fuller than 1 pound per gallon of indo rock while fiji rock would be easy to jam in 1.5 pounds per gallon.

Whatever the case I recommend as much fresh live rock as you can fit for your first tank and I recommend as little sand as possible for the first few months. You can buy your rock from fellow hobbyists or from a store. Getting it from hobbyists means it'll have mostly died off and all the cool (and sometimes not-so-cool) hitchhikers will have disapeared. Fresh rock from the store is full of all sorts of life but you'll have to cure it probably.

As for substrate, there are different kinds. For sand most people use argonite which comes in "normal" grain size and sugar grain. I'd stay away from sugar grain unless it's going to be a VERY shallow sand bed (less than 1/2"). As for crushed shells you can mix it with sand 50/50 and you get a pretty nice substrate that sand-sifting inverts will enjoy (along with fish that make their homes in the sand like blennies).

Welcome to the hobby and have fun learning. Lots to learn for ever n ever