changing from fish only to reef

[ladyfsu]

My husband and I have a 55 at our house. There is some live sand from 8 years ago when we set it up, but no live rock...just a few dead rocks? lol, I mean just decorations and few of them. Lights, Just one plain old florescent. We have a serpeant, some various crabs and snails, and a royal gramma, 3 stripe clown, rainbow wrasse, and yellow tail damsel...THAT"S IT.

In a week we will have this http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=12772. If I add 25 lbs of live rock now is that fine (our chemical numbers are fine). I really want our clown to have an anemone....how long should I wait? We know our water is good...as soon as the new lights go on, can we add 1 or 2 corals?

I'm so excited but nervous. To me, it's a big deal to move from fish only to reef so please let me know what I need to do to go from one tank to the next.

Thanks.

[michaelm2431]

You're link didn't work.

[michaelm2431]

You need better lighting. If you had salt water for 8 years, you shouldn't hava a problem. People would like to know what kind of corals you plan to keep, so they can give you better answers. I started with softies and zoos. (PC lighting) They grew beautiful. Stepped up to harder corals a few months later. No problems. Back to you're question,People usually put in about 1 pound of rock per gallon. With you're 25 pounds, you might get an ammonia spike because of the extra bio-load. Anemones like a lot of light. My clowns host in just about all my corals. I have a 12 inch carpet anemone that they don't host in. Do you check for calc, and alk.? That's a must for a lot of corals. I would start with the cheaper corals till you you get you're feet wet with reefs. My sugestion, Jump right in and WELCOME to REEF CENTRAL. Mike

[a2fire2i]

Correct link i believe..

LINKY (http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=12772)

[ladyfsu]

That link is for new lights. This is what it says:

Nova Extreme T-5 Fixtures w/Lunar Lights

* Brilliant High Output T5 fluorescent bulbs PLUS LED lunar lights
* Provides complete 24-hour lighting
* Slim space-saving design

Are you telling me my florescent isn't strong enough? ... or these aren't? Please tell me these will be strong enough for an anemone.

[michaelm2431]

The T-5's would be good for just about anything.

[myakkareef]

Yep, those lights should be good for an anenome. Also for any for most other corals except some high end sps...Again, as mentioned you will go thru a cycle when adding your rock. So be careful with your existing livestock. Hope it all works out for you.

[robthorn]

hey lady it is great that you are coming over to the reef side but I am afraid you may go down the same ol road most of us went down. jumping to soon without educating ourselves better before our initial coral purchases. first I would look at some tanks of different make up and decide what you want to mimic . it will tell you what equipment you may need. hard corals or soft? both require different equipment. as long as the t5's you get are high output instead of normal output they should be good for most corals.
I would try to educate myself somewhere other than reef central or other forums. while there is all the info and more that you will ever need right here if you read a good book or 2 you will probably have less emergencies and it will not be an OH MY GOD my corals are melting what do I do. instead you could say I want to try this what are others experiences. I do not sell anything comercially but I do like natural reef aquariums by john tullock and recommend it to anyone who hasn't read it. it is not the most technical but is an easy read and very imformative.
good luck and welcome.
anemones taken from the wild are very easily killed in home aquariums and we all have a responsibility to protect them. if possible try to find a fellow reef keeper that may be culturing anemones in there home. rose bubble tips are some of the easiest to keep not that they are truely easy just more likely to make it under alot of conditions. it is also good that they reproduce quit readily in the home aquarium.
robert

[bgdiving]

I agree that lighting will be great for most anything you would want to keep. I would discourage the anenome in a reef tank, research it and talk to people before you get one. Most clowns will host in corals. My Oscilaris clowns host in an elagence coral and spawn on a rock or piece of tile just below the elagance.with the extended polps of the elagance covering most of the eggs 3/4 of the time.

[ladyfsu]

I am reading The Aquarium book for dummies (how appropriate). Someone also gave me about 40 of his aquarium magazines I'm reading.

For now, I'll just add some live rock and wait until the water gets back to normal. That will give me time to read up.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to kill everything in my class tank...that's one way to learn I guess :( . Things have been healthy in there for almost 3 weeks, but I have a bad feeling now. When I get home I'm going to post what I have for you to look at.

[robthorn]

didn't mean to give you a bad feeling just meaning take your time and try to educate yourself so you can use your best judgement when someone gives you advice. you will know if it's good advice or if you should file it in the trash. if you have patience you will be very pleased in the outcome of what you can build.
having said that when you are ready I will give you some xenia as a starter coral after your lights are running and water is in check. it grows so fast for me it doesn't really matter if you kill it I can give you as much the next week that will be new growth. if it makes it you know you are doing something right. it will flourish or die there's not very often an in between.

[bgdiving]

It might not be a bad idea to try to get rid of that damsel before you put the live rock in there. After the live rock goes in it will be very difficult to get it out and I don't know any one who has a reef tank that is happy to have a damsel in it.

[a2fire2i]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6997343#post6997343 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by bgdiving
I agree that lighting will be great for most anything you would want to keep. I would discourage the anenome in a reef tank, research it and talk to people before you get one. Most clowns will host in corals. My Oscilaris clowns host in an elagence coral and spawn on a rock or piece of tile just below the elagance.with the extended polps of the elagance covering most of the eggs 3/4 of the time.

My clowns are hosting a power head.

[michaelm2431]

Kool

[ladyfsu]

ARRRAGGGGHHHH!!! I just got my first live rock!! I put a couple of large base rocks in it, and then a couple 3-4 lb-ers of the most incredible live rock...but guess what! I SEE MANTIS EYES STICKING OUT OF A HOLE!! He looks to be only a 1/2 inch long or a bit bigger. I'm so excited that I have something cool in there but GOSH....I'm going to have to get rid of this thing aren't I. I know where he "lives" and I could put the rock in an empty bucket, but I think I'll kill all of these brittles and his stubborn butt won't come out.

This live rock had 4 inches on it, some small green/yellow anemones, over 30 brittle stars bigger than a nickel, and all kinds of red feather worm things.

I would be happy not having ANY fish and just having all inverts. They are COOOOOL!!


...and...my serpeant looks like he's growing horns. I think he ate a semi-large new brittle :(

[ladyfsu]

Is this guy on the right a mantis? Best shot I could get so far :(

http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j227/ladyfsu/newguy.jpg

[ladyfsu]

[http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j227/ladyfsu/bigeyes.jpg

[slappysmack]

Yep thats a mantis shrimp.You can look at www.tampabaysaltwater.com for a link to a home made trap.

[robthorn]

you need to kill those anemones anyway they look like majano and spread and do damage fast. they will be everywhere . soda water will make the mantis jump right out of the rock into your bucket. poor it right down his hole. I have seen an acropora last 1 minute in full soda water and not die. it looked very bad for about a year but did not die.

[Agu]

If you catch the mantis there are people who keep them as pets.

[ladyfsu]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7029220#post7029220 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by robthorn
you need to kill those anemones anyway they look like majano and spread and do damage fast. they will be everywhere .

Someone in the mantis forum said they are tulip anemones and were a good find :o
Anyone else know?

[ladyfsu]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6998416#post6998416 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by bgdiving
It might not be a bad idea to try to get rid of that damsel before you put the live rock in there. After the live rock goes in it will be very difficult to get it out and I don't know any one who has a reef tank that is happy to have a damsel in it.

Well I DON't need to worry about THAT anymore!! http://www.reefrascals.org/pages/8/index.htm and NO, my robin is not sticking his tongue out :eek1: