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So I guess if I get some good live rock, it's going to basically come with some coral's already on it, right? So I'll basically have a reef tank started without trying. If that's the case, would the hawkfish basically just pick all of the little coral's (if there were any) off before they got established?
Also, are the Coral Beauty and Flame Angelfish considered reef safe? I read on liveaquaria.com that they can be prone to nipping on soft and stony corals. Anyone have experience with these fish?
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10g Heavily Planted - Betta, Cory's, Oto's
20L - Kuhli Loaches, Banjo Cat, Singapore Flower Shrimp, Thick-Lipped Gourami pair
125g Planted - South American Biotope - with a reticulated stingray!!!
20H - Breeding Angelfish
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Average Member
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Conner (10/8/2008)
So I guess if I get some good live rock, it's going to basically come with some coral's already on it, right? So I'll basically have a reef tank started without trying. If that's the case, would the hawkfish basically just pick all of the little coral's (if there were any) off before they got established?Also, are the Coral Beauty and Flame Angelfish considered reef safe? I read on liveaquaria.com that they can be prone to nipping on soft and stony corals. Anyone have experience with these fish?
I have never kept Angels, but both of those angels are listed by my live stock supplier as possibly reef safe with caution.
Your likely to get some sort of coral on your life rock, I have a few that survived the process.
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29 gallon f/w various plants and fish.
40 gallon s/w
29 gallon s/w
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| The 3 most important pieces of equipment you'll purchase are: Skimmer-For mechanical filtration Return pump or powerheads-To keep detritus suspended in the water column so the skimmer can remove it and to provide good gas exchange. Lighting-Not so important for a FOWLR (the 2 bulb strip will do fine for that) but extremely important for a reef. The live rock will provide a portion of your biological filtration, but the sand is just as important if not more so. Look into "Deep sand beds" (DSB) and "Plenums" (Dr. Jean Jaubert/Monaco Aquarium). These are 2 schools of thought as to using your substrate as part of your filtration. This'll open up a real can of worms, or in our case "pods". :D As for the Pseudochromis (Dottybacks), these guys are probably the most aggressive group of fishes for their size out there. Hard to say how well one would fit in to your community. Take a look at the Orchid Dottyback. A beautiful fish, probably the least aggressive of the genus and can be purchased as captive bread, which to me is a great plus!! :)
So many species, so little money!
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Nep2Ns PlumR-
How many bulbs would you say to have on a reef? Mine is a 40 breeder, and I'll use T5 HO once I start the transfer to reef, I am just not sure which bulb set up to go with.
I wont be keeping any difficult or very high light corals to start with.
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29 gallon f/w various plants and fish.
40 gallon s/w
29 gallon s/w
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| Let me kinda go back and answer one of Conner's questions first (and you may appreciate this too jsmith11618). As a reef tank, the 40g breeder is one of best IMO. Very good ratio of surface area to volume so gas exchange through out the tank is easily accomplished. Relatively shallow so lighting doesn't have to be too intense to provide for aminals at the bottom of the tank. That leads in to the answer to your question jsmith11618. Rule of thumb for most corals is at least 4 watts per gallon. That number can be highly relative depending on the shape of the tank. A tall narrow tank would require more wattage/intensity to provide for animals at the bottom than a wide short tank. For a 40g breeder the rule applies very well. Since 36" T5s put out 39 watts per lamp, 4 lamps would allow you to keep most corals. Six lamps would probably be enough to keep even Tridacnid clams and even some SPS corals (if located midway the tank and up). Maybe not Acropora but corals such as Seriatopora, Montipora and Pocillapora. So for your situation Conner, if you purchased a 2 lamp fixture now, you coud just add another 2 or 4 lamp fixture later and be in great shape for a reef tank! :)
So many species, so little money!
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Sweet, thanks for clearing that stuff up. I will definitely look into doing a deep sand bed in my tank. I would really like it to be as close to a fully enclosed ecosystem as possible (at least as is possible in a 40g fish tank).
With deep sand beds, do you mostly rely on having snails to keep it stirred up/aerated, or do you need to occasionally stir it manually, or do you not want it to be aerated much at all? Also, what exactly would constitute a deep sand bed in a 40 breeder? 2-3 inches, or more like 4 inches?
Sorry if I'm asking any dumb questions, I just like to cover all my bases, and want to know as much as possible before I get started.
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10g Heavily Planted - Betta, Cory's, Oto's
20L - Kuhli Loaches, Banjo Cat, Singapore Flower Shrimp, Thick-Lipped Gourami pair
125g Planted - South American Biotope - with a reticulated stingray!!!
20H - Breeding Angelfish
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