general lurker questions...

[DrMilhouse]

Okay, I've been lurking for a short while around here and this seems to be the best place anywhere in the world for information about octos. I've got this 30 gallon tank in my basement that I'm seriously considering setting up. I understand that this needs to be going for 3 months before we think of adding an octo. What do you keep in the tank to keep the tank alive for 3 months? Also, 30 gallons for a single bimac or similar seems like a lot of empty space. What about putting more than one in? Also, what other things are acceptable to keep in a tank of this size with an octo? best of what I can see is that fish irritate the octo and octos eat most of the other entertaining inverts. I was thinking an anenome, but they like lots of light and octos don't like light.

For filtration, I'm thinking DSB and LR with a Skimmer, is that appropriate? Should I with the usual pound per gallon for LR or should I use less?

If I use DSB, do I need to worry about the octo eating the critters that make the DSB work?

Did I miss anything?

[cephalopoder]

Hi thanks for the support. We try to help people the best we can.
The tank needs to be set op for at least 3 months to establish a good biological bed of bacteria to breakdown waste. You can ad raw shrimp to cycle it at first then you can switch it to severl damsels if you like. You want to do weekly tests and record your results so you can trck your bio load building up.
I am not a big fan of deep sand beds for most species unless you have a sand dwelling species.
If it is a very established sand bed your octo can disturb it by digging. I think the very best way to go is a a eco sand plenum or a 1 to 2" fine sand bed with live rock and the use of a sump.
This will alllow you to seal up the tank tight in case you get a species prone to escape. There is no telling what species you will end up with some times.
A anemone will iritate the octo by stinging it. And they require lots of light like you said.
You can ad cucumbers, starfish, some urchins, snails depending on the octo species, some low light coral and blue leg hermits are safe.
A species like a bimaculoides gets to be good size and when full grown a 30 gallon would be way to small for two of them. One will fill it nice. I try to persuade people to keep only one octopus at a time till they have had a few. You will have your hands full with just one in a tank ... trust me lol.:smokin:
chris