New Marine Tank

[mbu man]

hi,i have a marine set up its been set up for a month now.
its 300 litres 4ft wide.
i have around8-9kg of live rock,some sea weed that i was given by a fish shop when i was starting up to speed things along a bit. bought my self 4 chromis aswell,they are doing ok,seam to spend most of the time hid up behind the rocks and only come out when they want feeding or when food is put in.
what is the best way to arrange the rock? is it to put it in the middle of the tank so that the fish can swim around it or is it ok to build it up at bpth corners and to join it in the middle with smaller pieces of rock?
im looking to have fish, corals, anemones.
i have a spray bar at the top of the tank,1 power head a bit down from the top and another on the bottom of the tank,i was mooving the rocks around yesterday and a lot of muck came from the out the holes,does this mean that i need more movment in the water? the coral sand is also going a bit brown aswell.
any advice would be great as i am just starting out.

 

[Matthew5664]

I would like to advise you that the shop who gave you some sea weed to "speed things along a bit" might be giving you some wrong advise. I would take the fish back get yourself about 38Kg more of LR some more powerheads and a good book.

 

[littleme1969]

Sounds like you are cycling a tank with fish in it not good my friend. Do you have test kits etc, as nothing live should go in that tank until you have had no ammonia and low nitrates for 3 -5 days static and temp and salinity is stable. Fish are the last things to go in after a clean up crew. I suggest you read through some of the journals that have been done on here to get your barings and find out the correct protocol. And yes I would take the fish back too. its way too early to have them in there and you may just be condeming them to death

 

[Musho3210]

1kg per 6 liters i think (am i correct?

 

[mbu man]

hmm, im not cycling the tank with the fish at all. tank has been set up for a long while with live rock,all the salt levels are fine aswell. all my water parameters have beeen spot on. i only put fish in after the readings were saying all ok for 7 days and the fish have been inb their for about 8 days and are doing fine
i wouldnt do the cycling of a tank with the idea of killing fish,nooooooooooooooo!!!!!!
i just lost a mbu puffer that i had for 3 years after returning off of holiday!!! gutted!!!!

 

[KeeperOfFishyPeace]

1kg per 6 liters i think (am i correct?

it's actually 1kg for about every 8 liters.

 

[littleme1969]

hmm, im not cycling the tank with the fish at all. tank has been set up for a long while with live rock,all the salt levels are fine aswell. all my water parameters have beeen spot on. i only put fish in after the readings were saying all ok for 7 days and the fish have been inb their for about 8 days and are doing fine
i wouldnt do the cycling of a tank with the idea of killing fish,nooooooooooooooo!!!!!!
i just lost a mbu puffer that i had for 3 years after returning off of holiday!!! gutted!!!!

LOL Sorry its just we can get some real nutters on here, and we are used to people giving a full breakdown of their tank. So when they just add a few skimmed details the red lights go on!..lol
Glad your fish are doing well But I still would have thought clean up crew first before fish to sort out your algae issues.

 

[mbu man]

thats alright no harm is done,i wouldnt do any thing to hurt an animal,i also have 2 african grey parrots!
what are the best clean up crew to get? names would be a great help if u could. and how many
as long as thy are not going to destroy the other rock and annonomes.

 

[Matthew5664]

need more LR

 

[mbu man]

cant put and cleaner uppers in till i have got more liverock??

 

[AK77]

Personally, I'd add the rock first. If you get die back on the new LR, it could cause ammonia and nitritre spikes, which could kill off your CUC. Once you've added the rock, wait a week and test the water. If it comes back negative for ammonia and nitrite then add your clean up crew. Just pay attention for hitchhikers, that might arrive on the rock.

If the LR comes from a LFS and is only out of water for a short while, then you should be fine to add the CUC virtually immediately. If you get it shipped overnight, then wait the week until you are sure that there is no ammonia threat and the natural/denitrifying bacteria has reestablished itself.

 

[mbu man]

ok thanxs,what are the names of the cuc that arnt going to eat up the tank?
also what is the best way to arrange the live rock in the middle of tank or at both edges?

 

[AK77]

You will want a good mix of snails, like trochus, cerith, nassarius and turbo. Some will clean the glas, others will sift through the sandbed. Hermit crabs to consist of mexican red legs (pricey but very attractive and reefsafe), blue tri-colour, electric blue. I have some that were just bought as algae hermit crabs. Nothing special to look at, but do the business where the algae is concerned.

You could also purchase a cowrie, if your algae is bad, or a conch. Eventually you could add a sand sifting starfish, but only after the tank is well established and there is sufficient organisms for it to eat.

As for the rock arrangement, whatever suits you. I have mine running the length of the tank at the rear, thus providing a nice clear run for the fish at the front of the tank. If you are planning on keeping a dragonet/green manadrin, then arranging the rocks to have inaccessible pockets is a good idea for cocepod development.

I just did something that looked pleasing to the eye, had lots of bolt holes and shelter for timid fish / shrimp. Just be sure to position your powerheads so that there is good water flow around the rocks. The bacteria needs this to survive.

 

[mbu man]

ok thanx.
ive got 4 chromis at the moment and all they seam to do is hide behind rocks,shame as they didnt do this when they were first put in the tank.

 

[AK77]

No problem. That's unusual for chromis. Whenever I've seen them they are always very active and far from timid. My three are always swimming around the tank and squabbling with each other and sometimes the blue damsel.