lancecobb1 Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 I am an new to saltwater! my 55g tank has current ho t5s 2white and 2blues, 50lbs lR, and cc substrate. I was wondering if a watchman goby can live with crushed coral? i was also wondering if it would be better if i switched to live sand and the best way to do it with a running tank? i was also wondering if a korilla#4 is too powerfull for my tank? i have a rbt a little o.clown, skunk cleaner shrimp, 2 peppermint shrimp, and a electric flame scallop. Need some advice on some more fish, maybe one or two more. Thanks Lance Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsoz Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 Hi Lance, welcome to salt water, and welcome to the addiction. How old is the tank? I ask because anemones usually do better in more mature tanks (6 months or more). But if it is happy, then who am I to complain. The flame scallop is probably also not going to make it very long. They are filter feeders, and you probably don't have enough of the right sized food floating in your water. I hope I am wrong. As for changing the CC to sand. I did this in my first tank (15 years ago). I put all the CC in the feet of new, clean, pantyhose (don't laugh, it worked... My friends called me a hoser for a long time afterwards). Then they dangled in the tank and I removed one every couple of weeks. Once all (or most) of the CC was removed, I added sand to the tank. The CC in the feet of the hose kept doing the bio-filter job while the sand became colonized. It worked for me. If you have a sump, you can put some of the old CC in the sump to keep it living instead of hanging it in hose. Just some ideas. For fish I really like fire-fish gobies, but they jump if the top is opened. This is called "carpet surfing" I also like the little yellow clown gobies. Also a few blue chromis, or a pair of PJ cardinals (schooling fish). On the janitor side, you could have a lawnmower blenney (my wife thinks they look ugly, but I like mine). Keep the questions coming, and POST SOME PICTURES OF YOUR TANK!!!! dsoz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tidalsculpin Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 Not sure about the Koralia, but here is a great beginner article on flow. http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cls=16&cat=1988&articleid=2662 it is written by Micheal Paletta, considered a saltwater tank pioneer. Consider two powerheads that alternate on a timer. This is how I setup my flow with powerheads. Bounce the powerhead off glass to create turbulence and eddies. And welcome to PNWMAS! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lancecobb1 Posted June 24, 2008 Author Share Posted June 24, 2008 4 or 5 months i have had the tank running for 4 or 5 months, i have had the flame scallop for at least 2 months he seems to be doing good! as for the bta I have had this guy for about a month he seems to be doing good also eating about half a silverside or shrimp every 3-4 days, i wish he would find a rock he likes he has been on the glass for 2 weeks now? i am still trying to figure out how and where to post some tank pics. thanks for all the help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R-3 Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 Welcome and good talking to ya in flashchat last night. The Koralia 4 is perfect for your 4' long tank. I would definitely remove the CC like we talked about last night. I hate to say it though that flame scallop will see its end soon (sad) Later Ryan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aqua-ed Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 Welcome! Hate to agree with every one, but yea, that scallop is gonna die (flame) I had one for a few months, he looked happy, but then again, they don't have faces, so what is a happy scallop. The long short of it is (anyone recognize that quote?) they are used to feeding on plankton which is in abundance in the real ocean, but not so much in a tank. I tried feeding mine plankton once a day, but it was adding too much nutrient to my tank. Plus, they are used to a constant feeding of plankton, not "meals". But heck, they are cheap and attractive, so why not? Just keep an eye out, one day your going to come home and find a rotting mass of meat and shell, and your littler flamer will break your heart (sad) On a happier note, what size is your cc? I have cc in my tank, but the pieces are very small, most .5cm or less. I had a watchman goby that was perfectly content with the that size cc. However, I would recommend a shrimp goby. They look about the same and tend to not make a huge cloudy mess in your tank. Anywho, welcome to the club, post some pics, and hope to see you around! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JManrow Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 Not sure about the Koralia, but here is a great beginner article on flow. http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cls=16&cat=1988&articleid=2662 it is written by Micheal Paletta, considered a saltwater tank pioneer. Consider two powerheads that alternate on a timer. This is how I setup my flow with powerheads. Bounce the powerhead off glass to create turbulence and eddies. And welcome to PNWMAS! Hi Lance. Welcome to the PNWMAS Forum. If you would like to receive notifications of PNWMAS meetings and events, send me your e-mail address by PM. You will then be added then to our Evite list. Very good article Joel. Thanks for posting! I heard Mike Paletta give a great talk on this at a WMC Conference. The CSD (Bruce refers to them as the Coral Surge Device ) are definitely fun to build and run! Simple to build, and many hours can be invested in figuring new ways to avoid having too many bubbles in the return flow. The Zoomed Powersweep are nice(at first) for small tanks up to maybe 30 gallons, but have a tendency to seize up. Hopefully, this has been fixed. We should keep Mike in mind for a prospective future guest speaker! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
180Brandy Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 Welcome to the club! As for fish I would add a lawnmower blenny, maybe chromis. Lets see some pictures! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
biomekanic Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 Welcome aboard! It's tough to keep the scallop fed, mine came in on some FL live rock, and it hung on for about 6 months, but they do slowly starve to death in our systems. If you wanted to do something different with the CC in place, you could get some jawfish, they prefer CC since it lets them build burrows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
butchh Posted June 25, 2008 Share Posted June 25, 2008 Jefferson I work in Jefferson and have a buddy that lives here also. Feel free to pm me and maybe we can get together. I am a very newby by the standards here. My tank was originally set up in Feb. 08. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kriswaters Posted June 25, 2008 Share Posted June 25, 2008 (welcome)(To)(P)(N)(W)(M)(A)(S)! I too have a 55 gallon. I thought I was going to be a big fish fan, but ended up with mostly soft and lps corals. I do keep to true perc clowns, a six line wrasse (he carpet surfed and survived!), a yellow spotted goby, and two dominino damsels. I had a nice fox face, but lost him for whatever reason. As for the Koriala's...I have 2 #1's in my tank and they work pretty good. I may up grade to a #2, put not higher as it does kick out alot of flow! Any way...welcome aboard and good luck! Kris Waters Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lancecobb1 Posted June 25, 2008 Author Share Posted June 25, 2008 A couple pics, will get more! here is the pics you asked for! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsoz Posted June 25, 2008 Share Posted June 25, 2008 Looks like a good start. I hope that you have the best of luck with your little ocean dsoz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevinmc Posted June 28, 2008 Share Posted June 28, 2008 Welcome Lance Thank you for being a part of our site, keep us posted with updates of your tanks, remember photos are always a bonus. Thanks Kevin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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