My Second Venture Into The Salty Side :)

[Truck]

Depends which corals? Most Softies and some LPS will be Ok without, but skimmers are highly recomended for SPS and a few LPS corals. There are work arounds though....

i was thinking of these corals

sun coral
zoos
ricordea
leathers

 

[rabbut]

Had to google the Ricordea. Assuming it is what I think it is, IE a mushroom veriaty, you should be fine without a skimmer for zoos, ricordea's and leathers. I'm not shure on the sun coral though...

 

[Truck]

i wouldnt add the sun coral for a good 6 months anyway and i would have the skimmer by then, besides the zoos, i would also like a hammer and or frogspawn coral (hard arent they?)
which of the corals in my list so far have the ability to sting me? and what degree of pain?

zoos (i know about the poison)
mushrooms (ricordea and shrooms)
sun coral (i believe its an lps and prefers subdued light so will be in a bit of shadow or near the bottom)
hammer
frogspawn?

 

[rabbut]

Hammers and Frogspawns I don't know too much about, but neither are renowned for stinging people, or work would have warned me about them by now (hopefully) Any hard coral with stinger tenticles I suppose has the potential to though.

The softies are all stinger free, though gloves are recomended when handling Zoos, due to a poisonous coating on them

All the best
Rabbut

 

[Truck]

Hammers and Frogspawns I don't know too much about, but neither are renowned for stinging people, or work would have warned me about them by now (hopefully) Any hard coral with stinger tenticles I suppose has the potential to though.

The softies are all stinger free, though gloves are recomended when handling Zoos, due to a poisonous coating on them

All the best
Rabbut

okay thanks rabbut, are these test kits any good i can go salifert but i have vouchers for a planted specialist i need to use and the only salt water things they have are test kits

which would be better? and or more accurate?
JBL or hagen?

and is this sand okay?
[URL="http/www.charterhouse-aquatics.co.uk/cat...5b1ad4ce98daf52"]http/www.charterhouse-aquatics.co.uk/cat...5b1ad4ce98daf52[/URL]

http/www.charterhouse-aquatics.co.uk/cat...5b1ad4ce98daf52

it says removes ammonia surely not good for the cycle?

 

[rabbut]

The first link is bust The second lot of sand is fine

Sorry, I have no experience with, and hence no opinion of, either JBL or Hagen test kits

All the best
Rabbut

 

[Truck]

http/www.charterhouse-aquatics.co.uk/cat...0lb-p-1737.html

here it is hope its worked, as i want a finer grade sand

 

[rabbut]

Looks fine As it says lower down, it gets colonised by bacteria to remove your toxins Perfectly true once it's seeded off the live rock and not a problem

All the best
Rabbut

 

[SkiFletch]

Point of info about the hammer/frogspawns. They do have some of the stronger "stinging" tentacles when compared to other corals. A coral sting is actually done at the cellular level. The cells in the tentacles have organelles called "Nematocysts". They basically form tiny barbed hooks that stick to the skin of their victim. Those hooks grab the victim's flesh and then from behind them an organelle with digestive enzymes comes and is excreted on to the flesh of the victim. The digestive enzymes literally dissolve the victim right there.

Certain corals have more nematocysts and stronger enzymes than others and Euphyllia species have some of the strongest. To other corals, that can mean death via combat. To the hands of you and me, it's rarely a problem. Often when we people touch tentacles of strong corals they feel slightly sticky (from the barbs digging in your skin) and if you left your fingers there indefinitely, the coral would EVENTUALLY hurt you, would take a VERY long time though. The real trouble is that VERY FEW individual people are allertic to some component of the nematocysts or the digestive enzymes. You almoast never hear about it, but allergies can be funny like that.

If you're allergic, you'll know as touching a euphyllia even briefly will cause your hand to swell, break out in hives, get rashy, etc. If that does happen to you stay calm, do not pass go, do not collect $200, proceed direclty to a sink and wash the affected area. The last thing you want to do is leave the allergen on your skin and rub your eyes/nose/mouth... Washing the affected area will keep you safe.

That's all doom and gloom sounding, but really very few people ever report these types of allergic reactions, so don't be too freaked out about it Truck

 

[Truck]

Point of info about the hammer/frogspawns. They do have some of the stronger "stinging" tentacles when compared to other corals. A coral sting is actually done at the cellular level. The cells in the tentacles have organelles called "Nematocysts". They basically form tiny barbed hooks that stick to the skin of their victim. Those hooks grab the victim's flesh and then from behind them an organelle with digestive enzymes comes and is excreted on to the flesh of the victim. The digestive enzymes literally dissolve the victim right there.

Certain corals have more nematocysts and stronger enzymes than others and Euphyllia species have some of the strongest. To other corals, that can mean death via combat. To the hands of you and me, it's rarely a problem. Often when we people touch tentacles of strong corals they feel slightly sticky (from the barbs digging in your skin) and if you left your fingers there indefinitely, the coral would EVENTUALLY hurt you, would take a VERY long time though. The real trouble is that VERY FEW individual people are allertic to some component of the nematocysts or the digestive enzymes. You almoast never hear about it, but allergies can be funny like that.

If you're allergic, you'll know as touching a euphyllia even briefly will cause your hand to swell, break out in hives, get rashy, etc. If that does happen to you stay calm, do not pass go, do not collect $200, proceed direclty to a sink and wash the affected area. The last thing you want to do is leave the allergen on your skin and rub your eyes/nose/mouth... Washing the affected area will keep you safe.

That's all doom and gloom sounding, but really very few people ever report these types of allergic reactions, so don't be too freaked out about it Truck

will extra thick latex gloves or even those yellow washing up gloves prevent this? as im allergic to quite a few things and im on medication so would it be best to take precautions? and will these hooks ever grab onto my fish or inverts?

so i may get a little tickle but no sting?

 

[SkiFletch]

Gloves surely do protect you if you're nervous, but I really doubt it'll be a problem for you. I know plenty of folks who are allergic to lots of things but not allergic to coral stings. It seems very random.

As for other things in the tank, any fish still alive is safe from a coral, their stings aren't that strong. Sometimes if the fish dies and its body floats too close to the coral, it might eat it. I've seen a Cynarina eat a dead baby clownfish whole once... Point is, the fish was dead BEFORE the coral ate it. Most inverts are also safe from the stings of most corals. There are the RARE exceptions to that but for the most part, corals use their stinging tentacles to sting nearby other corals or sessile (immobile) creatures. Pretty much anything that moves can get away from the sting. But if you put say a hammer coral next to an acropora coral where they can touch, the hammer will destroy the acro in a matter of hours.

 

[Truck]

Gloves surely do protect you if you're nervous, but I really doubt it'll be a problem for you. I know plenty of folks who are allergic to lots of things but not allergic to coral stings. It seems very random.

As for other things in the tank, any fish still alive is safe from a coral, their stings aren't that strong. Sometimes if the fish dies and its body floats too close to the coral, it might eat it. I've seen a Cynarina eat a dead baby clownfish whole once... Point is, the fish was dead BEFORE the coral ate it. Most inverts are also safe from the stings of most corals. There are the RARE exceptions to that but for the most part, corals use their stinging tentacles to sting nearby other corals or sessile (immobile) creatures. Pretty much anything that moves can get away from the sting. But if you put say a hammer coral next to an acropora coral where they can touch, the hammer will destroy the acro in a matter of hours.

thanks ski, remember when i went on holiday to devon in the rock pools their were nems and you could touch the tentacles and they would grip and after about 10 minutes it would ache

as for Live rock how many kilos do i need for an efficient berlin method filtration?

i was thinking 14 kg but after reading many peoples thread i see 1lb per gallon mentioned, i presume this is IMP gallons?

 

[SkiFletch]

It's AROUND 1lb per 10 USgal, or 1kg per 10liters while erring on the high side. So 14kg would be a great staritng point for your 125L tank. Depending on it's density and how you aquascape you may wan't more, but that's a good way to start.

 

[Truck]

It's AROUND 1lb per 10 USgal, or 1kg per 10liters while erring on the high side. So 14kg would be a great staritng point for your 125L tank. Depending on it's density and how you aquascape you may wan't more, but that's a good way to start.

okay thanks, i would like two caves (gramma and clown goby) so 14kg should be enough, as i said before your the man! thanks

 

[mutantbigman2000]

hi. Caves are a great idea, but......

Any cave that is made is usually ignored by the intended party and they find another space instead.

Don't want to pee pee on your chips truck but its always the way.

People buy nems for their clowns and the clowns just turn up their nose and host a powerhead or something random like that.

Usually hear people making a cave at the front of their tank for a shrimp / goby pair then complain that the goby and shrimp make a home behind the liverock and away from view.