MY live rock help 40 gal help.

[anthony27]

Hi my name is Anthony, I have been in the hobby of keeping fish for well over 9 years. I have had the ups and downs as may of you. I am asking you now this advice. I just bought a 40 gal acrylic tank with a eclips hood and 2 Oceanic Nano Protein Skimmers. It also has crushed coral at the bottom of it. The water has been cycling for over 9 months and he gave me the water. I want to start a fowlr and I would like to know if this system can handle a bio load of fish and maby 10 pounds of live rock. :bablefish:bablefish

 

[NYreefNoob]

ok lets start with the skimmers wont handle any bio load, i would start completely over, new sand, and new water, i personally never put anyone's water into my tank. but thats me. and your going to need more then 10 lbs of live rock, them ore live rock will help in the filtration of the system, do you plan to keep any corals ? what type of fish are you looking at getting ? and is the tank up and running now ?

 

[anthony27]

:bablefish:bablefishYes it is up and running now. He has had the tank up and running for a total of 9 months and has lost one fish that is all he also had green algie on the top of the tank and some on the fake rocks in the tank. He has 2 false clowns and 1 sail fin tang. I have tested his water and it is good quality. I know i am going to recive a spike in the water but that is part of moving it from one place to another. The skimmers he has now work good for the tank, and there is crushed coral on the bottom of the tank. I wanted a fish only tank with some not alot but some live rock. I was hoping for some advice in regards to this. I am sued to running a 180 gallon fish tank preditior only tank. The fish I want to keep are bacially royal grammers chromis a dwarf angel and a tang. It is going to be a community tank only. Would the skimmers help at all. :splitspin

 

[anthony27]

And no corals.

 

[hijinks]

I would switch out the crushed coral also with nice white sand.. it gives a better look and it will give the good bacteria more areas to spread.

 

[daisy]

ditto on the sand instead of crushed coral.

the more live rock you have, also, the more places for the fish to hide when they're not feeling so comfortable - it may go far in helping their overall health.

Also, the live rock is natural filtration - there are already bacterial cultures on/in the rock if it is truly live rock, so the more the better.

you're keeping a sailfin tang? they can outgrow a 40 pretty fast. they get very large.

Best of luck!

 

[anthony27]

Thank you for your help. I have had a 180 gallon tank and a 46 bow front, both have had live sand and live rock. Now what aobut the skimmers? Should i swap them for a better one I am used to using the sea clone protien skimmer on the 46 bow and it worked great. Yes.. I know aobut the tang I was deciding weither or not to buy it, I am going to stick with a royal grammer and cromis for now and then move up. Would you recomend a calcum drip for the live rock when I do put it in.

 

[anthony27]

bump:tongue1:

 

[Killerdrgn]

both of those skimmers suck. You should get a real one like an aquac Remora or something.

 

[anthony27]

I figured that. The tank has 5 inches of crushed coral that has been in the tank for nine months now. I am wondering if I sould add live sand to that. I never had crushed coral before. I am also running the origional carbon pad he had in the tank because I took his water which was very good when i tested at his house and when i tested it at home. I was going to buy some chemi pure and I wanted to know when I should take out the carbon pad and replace it. I do know that maby rocks for a wet/dry filter would be beter. The advice is much needed. :birthday::tongueani

 

[JJSBLM]

i would drain the tank & start from the begining.... crushed coral will trap detrius & can become a nasty thing if not kept extremely clean....

your gonna need a whole lot more than 10 lbs of live rock. I would even throw a canister filter on there for mechanical filtration. I would probably put atleast 25-30 in that 40g tank. At the very least take the carbon pad out.

pets warehouse & mutts & butts on li sells live sand. Or you can get dry sand... i could give you a cup of my sand to start your system up.

 

[anthony27]

I have tested the water int he tank and the water has been running for 9 months

The water appears to be good quality and he took care of the tnak very well. He had alot of fish living in the tank when i took teh water and all the crushed ocral was in teh water for 9 months and has devoloped some benifical bacteria in it. I am going to purchase a new skimmer. I am trying to set up a fowlr and maby have a anomie in the tank.

 

[nanoreefer22]

These guys are trying to give you great advice.

We all understand that the tank has been running for 9 months. What we're trying to tell you is that eventually that crushed coral is going to cause endless problems for you, if you don't attend to it properly. Seeing as you have nothing in there, this is the best time for you to fix anything that is going to be fixed.

Changing to sand will save you a lot in the long run. You don't want to have a fully stocked tank with CC just to have it crash.

 

[anthony27]

Would I be able to keep some of the crushed coral and add sand into the tank and If i do change the CC then how long will it take for the tank to cycle out.

 

[nanoreefer22]

Why would you want to keep teh CC?

JBM offered to give you a cup of sand to seed new dry sand. It should be that long. You waited 9 months already, so we know you have patience. Whats another few weeks to a month

 

[anthony27]

What skimmer would you sugeset, and do i need another filter on the tank. :tub:

 

[Killerdrgn]

Aquac remoras are good. like i said in my previous post. and you probably won't need another filter on the tank if it's just going to be FOWLR. Maybe a UV sterilizer would be nice.

 

[anthony27]

I am going to add the live sand in the tank tonight and keep some of the crushed coral. How much live sand should i put in the tank. I havd had a uv in my 180 gallon and 46 bow it worked wonders. What do you think about the fluval fx5. And I would like to add live rock so i am going to add the live sand and probly friday add some live rock as well,do u think i should start the cal drip then. The tank does have coraline algie in it as well as some hairy green algie and I am also reciving a ro for christmas :tub::tub: so that is the the best gift of them all

 

[Killerdrgn]

Why are you wasting money on a fluval fx5? all you need is the live rock, sand, and skimmer. And if you're going FOWLR you really don't need to drip calcium or anything like that.

 

[anthony27]

I want to have coralline algie grow and I have been told when I had my 46bow that the live rock can die off so you need to add the cal and teace elements to the tank inorder for the live rock to flurish. I had a fluval fx5 and I was wondering what you thought aobut that, and I have a t5 lighting system would you advise putting that on the tank or just go with the 18 watt bulbs i have