My Second Venture Into The Salty Side :)

[Truck]

Phosphate is needed for a reef, Mg and Ca are only needed if you want hard corals. If you do get hard corals, you want an Alk test kit aswell

If you look at UR in the lighting section, you will quickly realise that the Acadia units have a nice high failure rate... They are bulky bits of kit also Have a look at AquaOne units, loads of work's customers use and love them. D&D are worth a look also (many consider them the mother of all Halide makers in the UK)

The Clowns and Hawk fish are hardy and should be fine in a new tank. Gramma's are hard as nails also I'd probibly do CUC after the spike and waterchange, followed by the Clowns the following week, then the gramma 2-4 weeks later and the hawk/goby a couple of months after the Gramma

All the best
Rabbut

would this not cause problems with the clowns? seeing as they will be very aggressive? sorry for all the questions

 

[rabbut]

It's a possibility, but then most of your stocking is territorial. This is why I recomend a week between adding the clowns and the Gramma The Clowns will only just be starting to feel settled after a week. Add anything else to the tank after a week and they are more likely to nack them... Add anything sooner and you could caurse an ammonia spike...

This said, IME, Clowns aren't that agressive towards new fish. I can't say the same for Grammas. Mine was only agressive when the Neon Goby went in, but was fine with established fish, and with the goby after a while.

 

[Truck]

It's a possibility, but then most of your stocking is territorial. This is why I recomend a week between adding the clowns and the Gramma The Clowns will only just be starting to feel settled after a week. Add anything else to the tank after a week and they are more likely to nack them... Add anything sooner and you could caurse an ammonia spike...

This said, IME, Clowns aren't that agressive towards new fish. I can't say the same for Grammas. Mine was only agressive when the Neon Goby went in, but was fine with established fish, and with the goby after a while.

ive heard that the gramma will only be aggressive to tank mates with a similar colour to itself

im unsure on the hawk fish as the clown goby looks a little and i think it would be a more forgiving choice if anything were to go pare shaped.

as for rock work shall i use some egg crate?

 

[seffieuk]

Some people do, some don't - I didn't

Seffie x

 

[Truck]

Some people do, some don't - I didn't

Seffie x

would it put less stress on the tank? and reduce the chances of dead spots?

rock scape, probably will look nothing like that but if i open up the middle a little more and create a few more holes etc it should be good for the gramma and goby

 

[rabbut]

I diden't use eggcrate for my rockwork. You can line the base of the tank with it and then put the rocks on top if things are going to burry in the substrate to pervent rockfalls, or you can build racks to actually lift the rocks up off the sustrate on "shelves". The latter is a good idea for minimal ammounts of rock, or for creating walls in larger tanks, but in a tank of 125l, it's entirely up to you if you use it or not

Percula clowns are amongst the best behaved clowns you can get, so I can't see them being too agressive to new fish. Grammas should just guard their hole and the area directly arround it.

All the best
Rabbut

 

[Truck]

how do i go about removing phosphate and nitrates without a skimmer? do i run a small external with them in or is their a cheaper way?

 

[rabbut]

You can do that Skimmers don't remove Phosphate and Nitrate, they just remove the stuff that forms it, and hence stop it forming in the first place I've revently had to modify my skimmer outlet to accomodate a bag of Phosphate remover It's amazing what you can do with an old coke bottle

 

[Trod]

Sorry to drag you back to your fish choices

I have a yellow assessor its very entertaining, it swims upside down looks very weird!!! very active little fish, you mentioned blue fish, what about a blue assessor, only problem I think they are even rarer than the yellow ones http/www.marinecenter.com/fish/basslets/...essoraustralia/

 

[Truck]

Sorry to drag you back to your fish choices

I have a yellow assessor its very entertaining, it swims upside down looks very weird!!! very active little fish, you mentioned blue fish, what about a blue assessor, only problem I think they are even rarer than the yellow ones <a href="http/www.marinecenter.com/fish/basslets/...essoraustralia/" target="_blank">http/www.marinecenter.com/fish/basslets/...essoraustralia/</a>

trod... you are the best! that is pretty cool, may look at getting one in but i dont want to spend any more than £30-40 on a single fish

would the TT 600 be okay with salt water because ive seen the corrosion it is capable of!

how long do rowaphos last? and what can i remove nitrate with besides WC? every week

 

[shibby]

o i saw some amazing fish to give u more choice today, labouti wrasse one of my favourates, red head fairy wrasse, orange headed basslet.... o and a pair of flame parrots that would be about 300 quid for them!

and a purple tilefish


i rarely see assesors though damn hard to get hold of at times! only nice blue fish i can think of are allens damsels i know i know damsel saggresive buggars but not so much these little fellas!


water changes imo are the best way to rid of nitrates or maybe macroalgae in the tank could be cool.

 

[seffieuk]

Blue assessors - Try Rare Ocean

Seffie x

 

[Truck]

Blue assessors - Try Rare Ocean

Seffie x

oh gawd i can see this being expensive

what salt brand do you use seffie? and everybody else?

im thinking instant ocean reef? or TMC?

 

[rabbut]

I think I've posted about salt on another thread before, or this one I use AquaOne and it's c?@#. Not recomended, but all work will use on a regular basis. IO gets used when they are out of AO

IO is OK, but will likely need the Mg boosting by a fair way for a Hard coral reef Never used TMC though

Reef Crystals is highly recomeded elsewhere

Waterchanges are possibly one of the best ways of removing NO3 and PO4 if you can't fish a fuge. I've never had a NO3 issue with mine though, despite heavy feeding, and only recently got a PO4 issue, I suspect due to my Alk suppliment...

All the best
Rabbut

 

[Truck]

I think I've posted about salt on another thread before, or this one I use AquaOne and it's c?@#. Not recomended, but all work will use on a regular basis. IO gets used when they are out of AO

IO is OK, but will likely need the Mg boosting by a fair way for a Hard coral reef Never used TMC though

Reef Crystals is highly recomeded elsewhere

Waterchanges are possibly one of the best ways of removing NO3 and PO4 if you can't fish a fuge. I've never had a NO3 issue with mine though, despite heavy feeding, and only recently got a PO4 issue, I suspect due to my Alk suppliment...

All the best
Rabbut

okay thanks, if i run the TT ex 600, with some rowaphos and mech, how often will the rowaphos need replacing?