Blog Comments

jim is the rtba moving around or is it staying put? You might try moving the leather up higher to see if it helps before you start adding lights that way you will know for sure if that is the issue or if you need to look else where

Hey guys... thanks for the replies...
Fixture and bulbs are six months old... about 4" above the water surface.

Short tank I think... standard 48" long... and both the nem and the leather are about mid way down in the tank.
If I do decide to add more lighting... may I simply place some clamp lights with compact flourescent daylight bulbs in the canopy until I can get more fixtures? Would that be worth the effort?
Thanks again!

light looks alittle on the slim side to me. Is that a tall or short 75? Id say 2.88 might not be enough the get them to thrive, Do you have them at the top of the tank? What do you have for water movement that could be a factor as well

How old are your bulbs? How high above the water are they? Im no expert whatsoever, but maybe I can help get the wheels turning.

Hey kileysmama so the dry rock would then eventually turn into live rock? and also how long does dry rock take to be live rock?

Man made rock will "cycle" because of chemical swings it induces in the tank. If you have a system with established live rock, and want to add some marco rock (that was quarried inland and sold as such) you can add it at any time. A good rinse with saltwater before putting it in your tank wouldn't be frowned upon, but otherwise you're in the clear as far as my experience dictates.

The best practice would be to cycle any rock before it goes into an established tank. I even cycled "dry rock" that was as dead as you can get. It was created with the sand, shell mixture stuff. So I knew there was no die off in there, but still wanted to cycle it just to be safe. I'm glad I did too, because even though it was cycled, it still caused a small algae bloom in the tank when it was added. I hate to imagine what would have happened if i had thrown it straight in... might have lost several hundred in corals in a worst case scenario.

So... after saying all that. There's also several people who believe that since it's "dry rock" it won't cycle. If it used to be live rock at any point in time though... it's guaranteed to have some die off... no matter how small it may be. It would depend on what's in the tank for me personally. :-)

Hey all,
Took this advice and we now have about 100# of LR in the display tank and just a few fragments in the fuge. We are still short about 30-40# of rock to get the display to the desired scape. May we now simply add dry rock such as Marco or another to the display?
Thanks in advance,
Jim

if you like damsels, royal damsels are not usually aggressive. (thats what I have) http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/p...108&pcatid=108

damsels are hardy and aggressive. My first tank they were my 1st adds after the cycle they ran the tank and beat on every thing added. I think alot of people have your same problem and trying to remove them is a chore as they are super fast. I have found cardinals to be a better first choice. Good luck catching them

Well, they should be able to handle some damsels, but in the end which do you prefer more? Sounds like it is time to return the damsels to your LFS.

I have there 48" 716W Metal Halide System Advance Plus. and so far so good..

Something to consider about seeding base / dry rock with live rock. It takes a long time for it to seed. We had a club member that was constantly adding fish to his tank, and he told us how much rock he had. It turns out it was 90% baserock, with 10 lbs of live rock. His nitrates were sky high. He ended up selling and giving away two-thirds of his fish, got some live rock in the system and got his numbers under control.

It can take nine months or longer to get dry rock or base rock seeded, depending on how much LR you even use. The key is going slow and gently adding livestock to keep the bioload low since the system can't handle a heavy bioload with so little live rock.

In the past i just mixed them in the main tank since i didnt run a refugium. In the process of of doing it on my 180 now i put all the dry rock and sand in the main tank and have some cycled lr that im putting in the 40g breeder fug and just going to let it transfer over. Dont think there is any way to hurry the process on this just takes time. If your adding dry rock to a existing tank id put it in a tub with a few pieces of the live you have and let it cycles before adding toi the tank

I actually have one of their 2x54w t5 lights and have been rather impressed with it over my fowlr. When I upgrade to a 4ft reef ill be using one of their 4 bulb units. I wouldn't say the bulbs are the best but for the cost they are still very worth it

Blown76mav,
Thanks very much for your insights... sincerely! I am as new to this hobby as can be considered and I very much need to learn of these conservation/preservation principles; we truly do aspire to act responsibly.
Kudos to you!

First off I want to make clear, I'm not trying to bust your balls. Just hoping to inform not only you but others on this sad practice they use to collect CBB's

Its not the overflows fault, its the way they collect CBB's. If a fish is in good health they can easily swim away from any current the overflow may produce. I highly suggest if you really want a CBB you find someone who is getting out of the hobby and has had it for at least 6 months. CBB's can die mysteriously up to six months or so due to the cyanide they use to collect them. Its shuts down they digestive system, then on top of that they are starved before shipping so they don't pollute the shipping water with ammonia .By buying another your just supporting the wrong way of collection and contributing to the ever decreasing fish population. If they aren't eating frozen food at the LFS, then don't buy one, but even then thats not an guarantee it will live. I bought two from a guy who swore he had them 6 months or longer, one died only after two days in quarantine. Its now been two years and the other is still going strong.

He was small and only picked him up 5-6 days ago. I hope you are correct that he was already dead before entering the overflow. One thing is for sure... it wont happen again! Yesterday we fabbed up an eggcrate cover!

Probably dead before he went into the overflow. How long have you had him?

Devil's Hand leathers are pretty, and as they grow larger, the drop babies by themselves - easiest fragging ever. You'll be able to share or trade with others or your LFS.