noob in W. Salem

[Greefer]

Hi Guys,

 

My name is Vince and I live in West Salem. I started a my first saltwater tank 3 months ago. It is a little reef in my 26g bow tank. I've got 110w of 50/50 light via a compact flourescent hood, an AquaC skimmer, a Whisper 30 hang on filter and a maxi jet 900 for pushing water around. Current inhabitants are 2 false clowns, a purple firefish, assorted little hermit crabs, a bumblebee snail, etc. I've got beginner type stuff for corals like galaxea and mushrooms.

 

I've got a couple questions for you guys.

 

1. I've been considering buying a six line wrasse. I've noticed a couple little bristleworms come out from some live rock I bought recently. I know that they have a bad rap and may actually be beneficial, but I figure I'd still like to have a fish to keep that kind of worm population in check. Do you think my purple firefish would get scared of this kind of wrasse? I would also like this wrasse to leave my little featherdusters and baby brittlestarfish alone. Any tips?

 

2. Should I treat new live rock from the LFS? If so, how? I've read online about someone giving his new rock a freshwater dip. I would like to add more rock to my tank but how do I do that with minimal impact on my current livestock. I've heard that adding new rock can start a mini-cycle of the tank.

 

Thanks for listening!

Vince

[JManrow]

Welcome Vince!

Sounds like you are off to a good start! Very nice setup. Galaxea is a beautiful coral.

As far as the wrasse goes, thats just his normal behavior and really not much you can do about it.

I know a freshwater dip in RO water is sometimes used for ridding liverock of flatworms and mantis shrimp. As long as the dip is not for a long period of time, it should not harm much of anything.

 

Adding any livestock can cause an ammonia spike, many times hardly noticeable. Add gradually to your tank.

To minimize this when adding liverock, fully cured rock would be best to add, otherwise allow your rock to finish cycling in a tub or tank of its own. This also gives an excellent opportunity to spot any unwanted "hitch-hikers" before they make it to the main tank! If you are using fresh liverock, by all means do this first.

[JManrow]

Oh yeah... firefish are well-known for rocketing out of tanks when even slightly spooked. "Eggcrate" light diffuser may help keep it in the tank, but they sometimes jump though the grating anyway.

[siskiou]

My beautiful six-line wrasse was also a victim of carpet surfing a couple of years ago.

One minute she was there, healthy and aggressive as always, and a half hour later no sign of her.

[B Foxy]

If you purchase good live rock.. i.e out of the LFS's actual display tanks you shouldn't have any problems. Hitchhikers come with the package..its just the way it goes.. sometimes you gotta get a little creative to deal with 'em though.

 

As far as the six line goes, I've yet to have any sort of problem picking on any other fish.. other small wrasses excluded..

 

B Foxy

[Michael7979]

I would hold off on any fish additions right now. The sixline is going to be on the move almost always and the purple firefish likes a more mellow surroundings. Make sure this is the fish you want, fish are hard to remove if you decide you don't like them or they don't mix. Just my $.02 others will differ.

 

If you think your tank is "growing" bristle-worms, cut back on the feeding. They will reproduce in amounts to take care of the leftover foods. The fish will be ok if they miss a feeding every once in awhile, or just feed a smaller amount. But to answer your question YES a sixline will eat bristle-worms.

 

Like John said some people dip "new" rock to try to dislodge unwanted animals. If the dip was quick I think you will be fine. Re-read what JManrow wrote its good info.

 

And last but not least WELCOME TO THE SITE!!!!!. If you haven't yet you might look into joining the club too. good to have you aboard!

[CCR]

Welcome neighbor. I have had my 6 line about 3+ years. Never a problem, just cool little fish. As posted above, if the rock has been in a display for a while, but directly in tank. Best to go get it in a bucket,cover in water, get home to tank. Now if it has only been at the LSF for a couple of weeks. Waite till you get it, let it sit in their tanks to age. I have never seen a bristle worm in my tanks. I sure have been “nailed” by them in others!!!

[Michael7979]

If you really want to elimanate the bristle-worms from your tank you can look into getting an Arrow crab as they are known to eat bristle-worms too.

[Reefin']

well my sixline must of missed a few bristle worms. i got these suckers that are 3/8" wide and 6" long.

 

welcome to the site....

[nu2reef-n]

I thought that Arrow crabs were not reef safe. I have a six line wrasse, it's an interesting fish. But he's taken out my peppermint shrimp. It's fast, really fast very fun to watch.

[spayne]

You definitely want to go fairly slow with your new tank. Adding too much too fast is a recipe for disaster! Course, I don't practice what I preach because I built up my 20L nano pretty quickly. Course, I had the benefit of stealing rock and water from the 240. (laugh)

 

I'm one of those hobbyists that don't really worry about the bristle worms. I think if you had an overabundance of them, you might have issues. But having a few... they make for good scavengers. The only bad thing about them is if you accidently touch 'em! :eek:

 

Six line... love 'em. But some of them are dare devils and like to jump. YMMV of course! Sadly, I've had six-line jerky. If it were me, I'd nix adding the six line and keep your bio-load down.

 

As for rock, just like everyone said... if it's been in the tank for a long time then it's safe to add directly to your tank. We just bought 150 some odd pounds from a reefer getting out of the hobby and had absolutely no issues adding it. No freshwater dips... nothing. Just plug and play. Same goes for my nano, stealing rock from the 240. No problems!

 

Keep asking questions! We're all in this hobby together! (scary)

[Greefer]

Wow, thanks for the quick responses and advice. It's good to know that this organization is active.

So, I went and met with Jason at Coral Reef in Salem yesterday. He sold me some nice xenia and green star polyps. But I was really there to give him back one of the false clowns. This poor little guy has been getting beat up pretty bad for 2 weeks now by the bigger clown and hasn't eaten in 3 days. I figured I better act when I saw him swimming funny. The good news is he looks better and perked up in Jason's tank.

 

Anyway, my 26g tank only has 2 fish in it now. The clown and the purple firefish. I've heard differing opinions on whether a purple firefish and six line wrasse can coexist peacefully. But does anyone else have any actual experience with these two fishes in the same tank?

 

Thanks!

[WAVES]

trick for bristles too is to put a cocktail shrimp in some nylon pantyhose and drop it in the tank over night. The bristles will come out looking for some grub and will get caught in the nylon. Next morning just take it out and throw it away.

 

Myself, I dont care how many bristles are in the tank, as long as they are less than 4-5 inches.