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- Path: sparky!uunet!olivea!sgigate!sgi!fido!paladin!davep
- From: davep@paladin.corp.sgi.com (David Packer)
- Newsgroups: alt.aquaria,rec.aquaria
- Subject: Re: [M] Cowfish, live rock and beginners...
- Message-ID: <1jpci3INNofl@fido.asd.sgi.com>
- Date: 22 Jan 93 17:57:23 GMT
- References: <1993Jan22.155409.1881@mnemosyne.cs.du.edu>
- Organization: Silicon Graphics Inc., Mountain View, CA
- Lines: 90
- NNTP-Posting-Host: paladin.corp.sgi.com
-
- In article <1993Jan22.155409.1881@mnemosyne.cs.du.edu>, mhatz@nyx.cs.du.edu writes:
- >
- > My reader goofed up my first post and I wanted to repost my questions; thanks
- > for the patience.
- > *********************************
- > After reading the story about the poor cowfish and the response that live rock
- > may cause a "parasitic siege" of sorts, my questions are?
- >
- > 1) What should you visually look for on live rock before you add it to
- > reduce the chances of "bad things" being added to the tank?
-
- parasites are usually to small to see....but I would recommend scrubbing the
- rock (I Use one of those big sink bristle brushes), as a first step. This
- gets rid of a lot of dietrius(sp?) that's on the live rock that will just
- break down into ammonia anyway. Secondly, It's smart to wash the rock in
- fresh water(dechlorinated). It shouldn't harm any of the algaes but, it
- will cause most parasites to either fall off the rock or die(due to the
- osmotic pressure).
-
-
- >
- > 2) How dangerous is it to add live rock to existing tanks whether they are
- > reefs already or non-reefs?
- >
-
- After taking the steps above it should be o.k. to add the live rock. If you're
- first starting a reef tank. I would recommend doing this to all of the rock.
- It will reduce aggrivations later down the road. If you have a non-reef tank
- I probably wouldn't add in the rock. NOTE: One thing about a reef system
- is that your trying to create a close resembelence of a natural habitat. When
- a reef matures it actually keeps a good balance of (Nitrates/Nitrites/Ammonnia).
- By reducing them down to NIL, and some how manages to keep the tank very
- healthy. At least this has been my experience. On occasion I have had Ich
- on my Tang in my reef. He parks himself over by the cleaner shrimp, and
- the cleaner picks it off.
-
-
- > 3) What can be done to minimize the chance of parasitic attack when new rock
- > is added?
- >
-
- Read the above...
-
-
- > I am a newbie and will be setting up my first marine tank this weekend. I live
- > in Colorado and the water has some serious copper problems. I would like to
- > add live rock and go with inverts. The exisiting tank is a friends 55 gallon,
- > It is a "sterile" environment ie nothing but fish and dead coral decorations.
- > It is populated by 1 damsel (I wanna trade it away) and a clown I will keep.
- >
- > 4) How can I get the copper out of the water and decorations/gravel that is
- > already in the tank? Would it just be easier to trade away the 2 fish and
- > toss all the tank contents to start over with "virgin" materials?
- >
-
- Yes....Copper tends to stick inside corals, because of them being so
- porous. It's really hard to take out...
-
- > 5) One last question..I would like recommendations for a 55 gallon reef
- > population. I would like all the fish to get along and hopefully be half
- > way sociable too. I would like to add a shrimp or two, anemones and
- > corals. Any suggestions would be very welcome. I have 20 years of fresh
- > water experience and am on the edge of making the "big switch".
- >
-
- I have a 30Gal. reef system..I built the sump for it..added a protein skimmer
- (my best move!) has a fluval 303 and 2-aquaclear 301. It's stocked with:
-
- 1) cleaner Shrimp...
- 2) Sebae clowns (female/Male)
- 1) Purple Anenome...
- 1) Kole Tang / KEEPS the tank clean....
- 1) Elegens Coral
- 1) Grape Coral
- 1) Green Polyp Coral
- 3) Bali Stars
- 1) Green Brittle Star
-
-
- > Thanks!
- >
- > Mike
- >
- > PS any Colorado Springs or Denver or Pueblo marine types please drop e-mail
- > so I can bug you directly! :-)
-
-
- Hope...this helps you out.!!
-
- Dave
-