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| Posted | Upgrading my fish only system to reef. |
| 22-02-2007 10:59 by -Rob C- |
At the minute my fish only system is running with a skimmer, 20 kilos of live rock and two 950l/h power heads. The tank is 36"(l)x12"(w)x18"(h). Te only stock in there is 2 percula clowns, about 20 nerite snails, 20 cerith snails and a few hermit crabs. I'm guessing I'll need to upgrade to T5s as at the minutes Im using two T8s, but how many will I need? Also what food do I need for corals? What corals are the easiest to keep? What other fish and inverts would be good?
Oh and also whats the easiest way to get rid of aiptasia? |
| 22-02-2007 11:52 by Alan |
Firstly you need to get shot of the aiptasia to do this buy 3 or 4 peppermint shrimp as sold by www.stm-shop.co.uk these eat aiptasia and will keep it under control.
In addition I would add 5 or 6 turbo snails and don't add any more hermits and if the ones you have start taking a liking to the cerith snails rehome them. At 18" depth T5's are not a neccesity but you would need a bank of T8's about 4 to get a good level of light 2 white and 2 blue actinic. T5's would be better and with light it is always the more the better so as many as you can squeeze in really I would go for a couple of twin remote ballasts for T5's and go with 4 tubes again 2 white 2 actinic. These would be better than the T8's. When introducing the shrimps gradually adjust the slainity in the bag to match that of the tank spend up to 4 hours doing this they are very sensitve to sudden water changes but once settled are hardy little beasts. Don't expect the aiptasia to disappear over night it will take a few weeks for the shrimp to settle but once they do you will see a gradual decline in aiptasia numbers. The tank is small so you want small coral types so I would go for polyp colonies and various mushroom anemonies in fact I would consider doing a polyp garden at one end and a similar thing with the mushrooms at the other it can give quite a stunning effect. Go on the www.stm-shop.co.uk site to have a look at the various polyp and mushroom types as well as a few other easy softies. Make sure you put sponges over the strainers on the power heads you don't want anything to get sucked in and mashed and certainly not any aiptasia. Fish wise I would consider a small dwarf angel fish the name escapes me at the moment might be the cherub angel or pygmy angel infact your tank is probably just big enough for a coral beauty. as your fish limit is really 7 inches I would add a small group of neon gobies and leave it at that 4 or 5 max. You will probably find that they will spawn they often do in captivity and in fact many that are available are tank bred anyway there habit of carrying out cleaner duties is quite interesting to watch too if the angel doesn't mind the attention from them all. |
| 22-02-2007 12:19 by -Rob C- |
Thanks Alan, once the peppermint shrimps have eaten the aiptasia will they nibble on the corals?
I already have 2 T8s one blue and one white, so might just get one more of each. Ill have a look at the soft corals, what do they need for a food? |
| 22-02-2007 15:01 by Alan |
2 more T8's should be fine the peppermints won't eat your corals providing you get the right ones.
Most soft corals don't need feeding the polyps and mushroom nems will appreciate artemia and the like. I have a mix that I make up it consists of seafood mix chucked into a blender followed by marine snow ocean nutrition spray and a few sheets of nori and a cup of water once blended it is poured into an ice cube tray I defrost it before use and feed half a cube a day for your tank a mix like this I would suggest quarter of a cube or less per day. Thats all the food my corals get. |
| 22-02-2007 15:02 by Alan |
Seafood mix from a supermarket by the way the fish love it and my polyps do to. |
| 22-02-2007 17:03 by -Rob C- |
Thanks Alan 
Cant wait to get the tank sorted now. |
| 23-02-2007 17:42 by -Rob C- |
I think i might go for 2 T5s instead as the Interpet Twin starters seem a reasonable price. |
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