# adding things to a tank



## kilicar

i have fake rocks and decor, but i just got an offer for free live rock, coral, and live sand. They person is otherwise gonna throw it away so I said yes. What should I do? just place it in my tank that already has fish? are there risks or a certain method?


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## nismo driver

kilicar said:


> i have fake rocks and decor, but i just got an offer for free live rock, coral, and live sand. They person is otherwise gonna throw it away so I said yes. What should I do? just place it in my tank that already has fish? are there risks or a certain method?


the corals can be added with out much concern, just make sure you acclimate them the saem way you would acclimate any fish, dripping your tank water in for and hour or more then place the coral on the sand bed and let it further aclimate to the water and light..

what kind of coral is it and what kind of lighting do you have?

get some pictures of the rock

for the sand if it came from an established tank then it should be rinsed before adding it to your tank all stirred up or you will be introducing all of the fish waste and detritus stirred up from his tank into yours and it will likely set off a substantial cycle so its impartant to rinse the sand..


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## kilicar

rinse with salt water or fresh? does it matter, ill get you pics and light specs in a few, he is giving me the light that he used not sure what it is


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## nismo driver

kilicar said:


> rinse with salt water or fresh? does it matter, ill get you pics and light specs in a few, he is giving me the light that he used not sure what it is


well a good idea would be to rinse it with water from your tank, so if you can do a ten gallon change then run that ten gallons through the sand and hopefully it will float out mos of the crud from his tank.. how long was it set up for and how many fish did he have and how much sand is it?


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## kilicar

Well I always keep at least 10 gallons of clean new saltwater for my water changes so I will just take 10 gallons out of my tank and do as you said. It was up and running for over a year, there are 4 fish 1 start a few crabs and a peppermint shrimp (he is giving it all away) I dont know if crabs are ok to put in with my fish so I am just going to get the 1 clownfish that he has and the shirmp. He is giving me 40lbs of live rock 50 lbs of live sand and 2 white corals. I still dont know what light he has but I dont think I trust it, what/where do you suggest I get for my 55 gallon? also do you think its time/ needed to set up a fuge?


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## nismo driver

kilicar said:


> He is giving me 40lbs of live rock 50 lbs of live sand and 2 white corals. I still dont know what light he has but I dont think I trust it, what/where do you suggest I get for my 55 gallon? also do you think its time/ needed to set up a fuge?


white coral? doesnt sound like anything living or healthy unless its an anenome. light wise find out what hes giving you, it might be ok, also depends on those coral. if you dont have any other coral then lighting isnt a big deal.

there is still a good chance the tank will go through a mini cycle adding all of this stuff into the tank at once but nothing so bad the fish cant make it through with a water change.. there other thing i just though of, when you add 50 lbs of sand and 40 pounds of rock you will probably need to pull out more then ten gallons of water. so it might not be a bad idea to pull out atleast 15 to 20 for the sand flush then add the sand and the rock to the tank before you add the ten gallons for hte water change.

how much sand do you already have? you dont really want a five inch sand bed but around three is ok.. a deep sand bed isnt necessarily bad but can be trouble some over time.. i would add a maybe 6 nasarious snails to stir through it..


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## kilicar

mine now is about 2-3 inches, I was planning on taking some or all of it out. I just have very fine sand which is a pain when it comes to cleaning up. I already have 5 nasarious snails, i hear u cant have too many. Just found out the white coral is the dead dry white decor coral.

so the plan is I am going to take out about 20-25 gallons out, washing the rock with just a little bit of water, then use the rest for the salt, drain it and just place it into my tank (do i need to get any supplement drops, im sure i do, what do you recommend?).

should i do a quick water change? or check for any certain things why the tank gets used to the changes?


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## nismo driver

kilicar said:


> mine now is about 2-3 inches, I was planning on taking some or all of it out. I just have very fine sand which is a pain when it comes to cleaning up. I already have 5 nasarious snails, i hear u cant have too many. Just found out the white coral is the dead dry white decor coral.
> 
> so the plan is I am going to take out about 20-25 gallons out, washing the rock with just a little bit of water, then use the rest for the salt, drain it and just place it into my tank (do i need to get any supplement drops, im sure i do, what do you recommend?).
> 
> should i do a quick water change? or check for any certain things why the tank gets used to the changes?


ok so try to get as much out as you can, the best way to put the new sna in with out making a huge cloudy mess would be to take a 2 liter bottle cut the top 1/3 or 1/2 off of it fill it with sand then slowly submerge it in the tank and gently pour it on the bottom of the tank slowly, it will make the water cloudy but no where near as bad as dumping it in.

the rest of the plan sound good, suppliment wise i cant think of anything "needed" but you can use bio-spira to boost bacteria and help get thing stable faster.

the other thing you can test for and maybe suppliment once the live rock is in there is calcium, keeping your calcium levels up give the coraline algaa the elements it needs to grow. but most likely if you do regular water changes you wont need to suppliment, fresh mixed salt water will provide most if not all of what you need. it cant hurt to do a water change the next day but may not be necessary just check you levels and decided if its necessary.. the bio spira does reccomend leaving the skimmer off so you dont immediately skim out the bacteria you just added


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## kilicar

great, thanks a lot for everything ill keep you updated and will post pics


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## nismo driver

kilicar said:


> great, thanks a lot for everything ill keep you updated and will post pics


if you ahve a digi camera get soem pics up, try to get some before during and after pics if you can


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## kilicar

I do have a camera and ill do both however I warn you this is currently the most ugly tank you will ever seen (fish are great but I had no decor lol).


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## Dezboy

nismo driver said:


> great, thanks a lot for everything ill keep you updated and will post pics


if you ahve a digi camera get soem pics up, try to get some before during and after pics if you can
[/quote]
the man has a good point, would love to see the before and after shots


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## nismo driver

kilicar said:


> I do have a camera and ill do both however I warn you this is currently the most ugly tank you will ever seen (fish are great but I had no decor lol).


its good to show off those ugly shots so you look like the man when we get to see the turn around and see the improvemnet


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## kilicar

you asked for it, you got it lol
here is my sad tank, very ready for christmas as one can see (i cant wait for the rocks lol)


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## nismo driver

it looks like the ship wreck of a boat from china full of porcelain ojects...

at least you had stuff in there to make things more intereesting for th fish, the live rock will definately give it a more natural look and it might stop treasure hunters from searching for your tank


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## kilicar

that pretty much says it all, my house is very into christmas and so I found anything glass to put in there that will not affect the water. They do love to go in everything and hid and they swim around A LOT so they look happy, no nipping or anything. But I really want this rock so it looks nice. I am going to soon revamp all my tanks, I am thinking of putting plants into my piranha tank as well. I am quiet excited. I will also soon pick 2 more larger (not too large) fish to add to this tank. I really did have my heart set on a regal tang lol


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## kilicar

IM LEAVING IN 30 MIN TO GO GET ME MY ROCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!....and SAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am very excited and very tired lol I hope this isnt going take all night to get done.

I have 10 gallons of fresh salt water made. I have a 45 gallon tank that is empty (will be used to hold water from the mother tank and wash the sand/rock)

I hope you are here to assist me during this change, you did tell me everything i needed tho.

Do you suggest I take all that fine sand out of my tank before putting in the new sand?

Ill post pics of the rock and sand as soon as I get home, and perhaps the cleaning process/final setup

WISH ME LUCK!


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## nismo driver

i think it would be a good idea to try to remove atleast half of that sand. going too dep withthe sand bed can create problems down the road. you could just add the live sand and let them mix then just try to syphon out some of the sand every time you do a water change to get it to a reasonable depth.

i will be out to dinner tonight but i will check out how you do tomorrow.. good luck.


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## kilicar

ok so i got it all and now im scared to add it, the water in this guys tank was NASTY. he said he gave up with salt water fish. It had been running for 2 years and he didnt do a water change in months. he said his rocks were once amazing and now are....idk. the thing is i dont know what is good rock and what is bad so I am taking a few pics for you. His live sand had a bunch of worms (he said is really good but again i ask you) I took a few fish from him too (he said he was gonna feed them to his cat. So the water smelled like to ocean and he had a lot of filters. when taking the sand out the water was so dark and cloudy that i could not see anything. I am keeping the rocks and sand in containers with water in them.

So let me know what to do, scrub these rocks? he said there are lots of larger worms in the rocks how do i treat this? do i want the worms?

taking pics now update in a few


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## nismo driver

well that rock looks pretty well void of coraline algea, still live rock but nothing too crazy, i wouldnt put it in your tenk jus yet same for the sand, worms arent a problem unless thye are eunicid worms or onied worms (my spelling of those two is bad) both of those are preditory worms that will eat your snails but you wont be able to tell if you have them until htye atart taking out your snails but theres a very good chance there isnt either in there. you have a few options one you can scrub the rock and rinse it and hope for the best or you can leave the rock in that container and "cook it" basically just leave it in there and do a water change every couple weeks like a super super cureing. another option is leave it in teh water you have it in now and test the water in a day and see how things look, one issue i can predict is if the water was poor quality then the rock will have absorbed the nitrates and phosphates and will be leaching it for some time, if that is the case then a long cook is the best way to treat it.

what kind of fish did he give you?

for the sand you could still just do a few rinses and put it int eh tank worms arent necessarily bad or ou could just put it in with the rock and cure / cycle teh rock and sand together

just saw the last pic you added that looks more like grave l then live sand toss it..

that wormlooks like a typical bristle worm those arent bad they eat alot of detritus and will aid in tank cleaning, generally part of the ecosystem of the live rock..

nice brittle star

the fish looke like damsles of some type, hermit should be fine


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## kilicar

the fish were that really blue fish, the two crabs, the two big black guys and a clown. would you still use that sand that he gave me? u think its better than the fine sand I have? there are also tiny starfish i tried to take the pics but its not coming out good.

...just read the "toss it"


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## nismo driver

a brief summary of " cooking" from RC thread



> Get you a big enough tub to hold all the rock. Put a power head in it to keep it aerated and let it sit until it's cleaned up in the dark. Dunk and swish it every now and then to remove detritus that would just break down and continue the cycle, and move them into new clean water and start again.
> 
> What you killed in the rock will release nutrients again. You're going to need the bacteria to move it out of the rock for you. By cleaning the tub and water they are in, you're forcing them to use more and more of the food in the rock - thus cleaning the rocks better and better.





kilicar said:


> the fish were that really blue fish, the two crabs, the two big black guys and a clown. would you still use that sand that he gave me? u think its better than the fine sand I have? there are also tiny starfish i tried to take the pics but its not coming out good.
> 
> ...just read the "toss it"


it looks more like gravel with lots of life then "sand" you could give it a rinse and use it but not he most attractie stuff ive seen and some fish and snials might have trouble moving through it

the blue fish is a blue damsel 
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Di....cfm?pCatId=111

the bklack with white spots 
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Di....cfm?pCatId=102

both can be pretty aggresive, lots of chasing and nipping


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## kilicar

i have a few questions, Im gonna take all your advice cus i love your tank lol and i know nothing.

Im gonna chuck the sand, should i try to keep the worms?

Also should i remove all the water that the rocks are in now and add "clean" water from my main tank and do a quick water change?

I am also trying to find a power head I have laying around some place. do i need heat?


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## nismo driver

kilicar said:


> i have a few questions, Im gonna take all your advice cus i love your tank lol and i know nothing.
> 
> Im gonna chuck the sand, should i try to keep the worms?
> 
> Also should i remove all the water that the rocks are in now and add "clean" water from my main tank and do a quick water change?
> 
> I am also trying to find a power head I have laying around some place. do i need heat?


dont jsut take my advice because i have a decent tank i have problems too but do some reading, thats how ive learned about these things.

that rock is prbably full of worms i wouldnt worry too much about getting them out of the gravel

it wouldnt be a bad idea to change out a good portion of that water, maybe let it settle so you can vac out as much of the detritus from the bottom when you remove the water to remove excess food for the bacteria..

i wouldnt worry about a heater if its going to be in a place of atleast room temp of 70+ degrees

i must warn you this process will most likely cause an unpleasant stink

you might find after a regular cycle/cure in teh tub for a few weeks that teh rock isnt in too bad a condition and can add it to the tank, if at tat time there isnt much or any coraline algae you can get a pound or two or "nano rock" covered with good stuff from absolutely fish for 9 to 18 bucks and thrw it inteh tank to seed the rest of teh rock with good coraline


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## kilicar

sounds good to me, im done for the day, i have the powerhead, i am going to take out 10 gallons a week, maybe do a scrub and update this post with weekly pics of the rock. thanks for all the advice and tips.


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## kilicar

i woke up and everything looks fine, fish are finding some hiding spot, this one fish loves to hide next to Jesus. I found 2 tiny little starfish lastnight one only had 3 legs. They are both alive but now I just found 5 more. they are very very small and I hate to kill live so I put them into my tank. is having this many starfish a problem. im gonna try to get you guys a picture of one. the water in the rock looks clean but when I moved a starfish into my tank i saw some color differences when a drop hit my tank so im afraid this is going to be a longer process then I had wanted.

you think weekly water changes are needed for the rock or bi-weekly?


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## nismo driver

kilicar said:


> i woke up and everything looks fine, fish are finding some hiding spot, this one fish loves to hide next to Jesus. I found 2 tiny little starfish lastnight one only had 3 legs. They are both alive but now I just found 5 more. they are very very small and I hate to kill live so I put them into my tank. is having this many starfish a problem. im gonna try to get you guys a picture of one. the water in the rock looks clean but when I moved a starfish into my tank i saw some color differences when a drop hit my tank so im afraid this is going to be a longer process then I had wanted.
> 
> you think weekly water changes are needed for the rock or bi-weekly?


brittle stars are great for cleaning the sand and rocks

most likely the first thing the rock will do in the water is cycle, ive never personally cooked rock so i cant say for sure but i would think weekly water changes cant be a bad thing..


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## kilicar

there is only one brittle and he is all over the place, the other stars are very tiny and do not look like a brittle at all. they look white on the bottom with a darker tan color on top. pictured down there :

so do i want to get rid of all the green plants on these rocks? They guy I got them from said it gets rid of nitrates and that its very good for a tank. He said he used to grow it and cut/sell it to people.

also after the water is clear and the rocks are ready to go, how do I start to grow some coraline algae?


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## nismo driver

ill take a guess that maybe the green stuff is halmidia. looks like a cactus?










??? no idea just a guess but if its growing off the rocka dn people were buying it then its most likely this stuff..

he was right that its a good macro for removing nitrates however its debateble if you want it in your tank.. some like the greenery in there tank but most people with a reef tank wont have it in the display. with you tank being a fish only at this point theres really no harm in putting it in the tank. actually should help but it can take over.

coraline will come with time and decent water parameters and water flow, it also has to be present in the first place to spread. more specifically you need to have proper levels of calcium but for coraline to grow as long as you do regular water changes the fresh mix should be enough to keep the calcium in the 400 range as long as the water is mixing at that level, what kind of salt are you using? reef crystals and some other "reef" specific salt have higher levels of calcium.


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## kilicar

I see the pic and its not at all like that...

i use instant ocean salt mix. the guy was pretty much tossing the whole hobby and only going to keep one freshwater tank. 
he gave me a bunch of stuff:
Kent marine superbuffer-dKH (two bottles)
Kent marine Coral-Vite
Kent marine PhytoPlex
Kent marine Strontium and molybdenum
Kent marine iodine
Kent marine kalkwasser mix

doesnt really look like halmidia... you can see it in the corner if this pic:


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## nismo driver

possibly some form of caulperpa










it can grow in several forms, one of teh more commonly seen is grape, but it can also be leafy, stuff is very hard to erraditcate but with out corals it kind of doesnt matter if its in the main tank


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## kilicar

i cant stop looking at reef tanks, perhaps when i have time i will make my 45 gallon a reef tank.

this fish thing is a crazy addiction all started with a beta fish and a 2 gallon tank..... now i have 300 gallons of water in my house


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## nismo driver

if i didnt have a g/f and had a big enough place and enough money for more lights i would have all my tanks up in one type of set up or another, that would be a 125 iwth a 55 sump, a 90 with two ehiem cannisters and a 72 bow with an emperor and an ehiem canniseter..

the 125 would be either saltwater fish only with live rock or red bellies mosat likely red bellies 
the 72 would be a planted peaceful freshwater, like schools of tetras and danios with cory cats and grass shrimp and nice drift wood moss and swords
the 90 would be a mangrove deep sand bed / macro fuge for the 45 reef.

then i would also add a frag tank to that system or set up a bio cube 29 at a frag tank.


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## kilicar

tell me about it lol, i would love to have a underwater world here, its nuts how addicting it is.

my future setup will be (after I either sell or my current fish die)
120 gallon tank with 2 breeders, 55 gallon tank for fry
55 gallon saltwater fish tank
a reef tank just like urs, i LOVE your tank.

I got a question tho, I was cleaning my rock and rubbed my finger on the black part and it turned bright green, do i need to brush off these rocks?


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## nismo driver

i wouldnt say you have to but you can brush the stuff off the rocks, the black stuff could have been some form of sponge or algae and the green is likely some form of green algae alot of people use turkey basters to "blow off" there rocks occasionally, theres really no substitute for a snails and hermits, with out them it would be nearly impossible


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## kilicar

A new update, I have been doing water changes very frequently to my rocks, the water quality is good now test are stable and where i want them to be, but the rocks still need a good cleaning but im hoping the snails in my tank will do that. I found at least 50 tiny starfish with the rocks still have no idea what kind they are (you can see pics in earlier posts).

All I need now is to pick a substrate and I think I am ready to go.

ill add pictures of everything during the next water change.


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## nismo driver

found this from a post on RC



> These are a species of minute brittlestar called Amphipholis squamata. They are full grown at this diminutive size, so no worries there! They are self fertilizing hermaphrodites, which brood their young (up to 25 at a time!) and by most accounts are one of the most common animals on the planet. They are found from the tropics to polar seas and the intertidal to the deep sea. They are also bioluminescent!
> 
> Apart from being pretty darn cool, they are also very good at finishing up extra morsels of food and are a very common animal in many sand bed fauna kits.
> 
> I can't imagine anything better than a tank covered in brittlestars!!!


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## nismo driver

actually they might be asterina stars..


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## kilicar

IM READY TO ADD THE ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I tested the water and all looks good I went to a LFS and they tested it and said it was good as well. Now the rocks still have stuff on it. Do I have to/should I give it a good scrub before adding them to my tank? there is SOOOOO much life in these rocks. Huge worms, tons and tons of tiny starts.

Let me know, scrub or no scrub?


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## nismo driver

if the water is testing good then dont scrb just appreciate teh life thats on there


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## kilicar

nismo driver said:


> if the water is testing good then dont scrb just appreciate teh life thats on there


WILL DO !!!!!!!!!
should be adding the rocks tomorrow and will post pics the next day or so









nismo thanks for everything you have done you were my only guide is starting my salt tank and you are a huge part of this piranha fury sites success. you are the saltwater king of Piranha Fury (you should get that title officially)


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## jasert39

we can't wait to see the rocks, ND has sent you in the right direction. this is a super addicting hobby, good luck its sounds like you are off to a great start.


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## nismo driver

thanks but with out you guys i would be pretty bored here, not to mention that by helping you guys work through these things it gives me more reason to learn more, a almost every post i put up here i double check my facts to make sure im not giving bad info and through that i learn more so i appreciate everyone participation in this area.. hopefully collectively it will result in all of having kickass tanks..


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## kilicar

nismo driver said:


> thanks but with out you guys i would be pretty bored here, not to mention that by helping you guys work through these things it gives me more reason to learn more, a almost every post i put up here i double check my facts to make sure im not giving bad info and through that i learn more so i appreciate everyone participation in this area.. hopefully collectively it will result in all of having kickass tanks..


guys like you make this hobby doable. without help i would have given up a LONG time ago. Well guys I am sorry for taking so long with this, I wanted to make sure the rocks were ok to add so I took my sweet time and BAM they are in and the fish are loving it.

I have some crappy pics (sorry) i took them with my phone I will have better pics up shortly i promise......now I have to think of what the next step for my tank is lol

THANK AGAIN ND!!!!

the middle pic is my brittle who will not ever leave that damn castle, i want him out and in the rocks but he just wont move lol. I know the water level is low, that was during a water change, I used old water to give the rocks a last wash put the rocks in and that picture was right before I topped off the tank with new clean water.


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## nismo driver

very nice.. that took allot of patients but the rocks certainly look clean.. good going.


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## notaverage

Looking good..I just went through almost the entire thread.

Lots of patience and time. Unfortunately Im not patient and I cant hold back and try to do things the fast way and take a risk! I have to wait until there is plenty of time and room for myself!

Good luck and keep us updated!


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## kilicar

Thanks guys, what should I do to improve the condition of these rocks, also i am entertaining the thought of completely making a reef tank with a few reef friendly fish (the my chocolate chip star has to go), would the other tiny stars be a problem for a reef tank, there are about 30-50 that I know of not counting all the ones in the rocks so there is A LOT of them.

so basically, what do I do now to improve rock condition, I love how everyone has colorful rocks can I get mine like that even the white/dead parts of the rocks?


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## nismo driver

are there any spots of coraline on the rocks? bringing the pieces with coraline to the front of the pile so they get some light and drecting some current towards that area along with regular water changes with ro/di water should give good emough conditions for coraline o spread, once you see it spreading scrape the coraline and that will get it free floating to land on other rocks and spread there.. ifyou dont see any coraline then find a lfs that hassome good colorfull rock and just a buy a small piece, like a lb or so. put that in the tank and the coraline should seed the rest of the rock, in a couple months it should spread and the rest of the rock will start to get some growth.


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## kilicar

nismo driver said:


> are there any spots of coraline on the rocks? bringing the pieces with coraline to the front of the pile so they get some light and drecting some current towards that area along with regular water changes with ro/di water should give good emough conditions for coraline o spread, once you see it spreading scrape the coraline and that will get it free floating to land on other rocks and spread there.. ifyou dont see any coraline then find a lfs that hassome good colorfull rock and just a buy a small piece, like a lb or so. put that in the tank and the coraline should seed the rest of the rock, in a couple months it should spread and the rest of the rock will start to get some growth.


I want to make sure it spreads so I am gonna go get a lb or two of good rock like you said. I will most likely go on Friday pick up a few piece, maybe add to my fish collection as well its about that time. Here is a MUCH better picture of the rock. I am so excited this looks MUCH MUCH MUCH BETTER

I am thinking of adding a tang.... and perhaps another fish and stopping there....but i know it NEVER JUST STOPS THERE!!!!!!

btw that protein skimmer is gonna go it sucks big time never stays up


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## nismo driver

look out for the tang police..

what do you mean by the skimmer never stays up?


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## Coldfire

Agreed ^^^

Most Tang owners will state that the min tank size for a Tang is a 75g. However, I have seen some wonderful looking tangs in a 55g. To eachs own.

You are correct that with SW, nothing ever stops. However, you will also learn that a lightly stocked tank will be much easier to keep clean. I used to have a heavy bio-load in my reef, but the algae issue grow to be to much. Currently, I have two fish, and I will never add another one to it. Of course, a solid RO/DI unit will help.


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## kilicar

nismo driver said:


> look out for the tang police..
> 
> what do you mean by the skimmer never stays up?


thanks for the heads up...the skimmer never sticks to the glass, also it never produces anyfoam but a VERY thin layer where the bubbles rise so im sure it sucks. A good RO/DI unit is also needed, any suggestions on which to get?


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## nismo driver

kilicar said:


> look out for the tang police..
> 
> what do you mean by the skimmer never stays up?


thanks for the heads up...the skimmer never sticks to the glass, also it never produces anyfoam but a VERY thin layer where the bubbles rise so im sure it sucks. A good RO/DI unit is also needed, any suggestions on which to get?
[/quote]

oh the skimmer sits in the tank>?

if you can afford it get a aquac remora or a cpr backpak, there are other hob skimmers but some of them are crap. dont get a sea clone some people have good sucess with coralife's but i personally try to give the bigger companies like coralife as litle business as possible. alot of teh small companies will make a better product at a reasonable price.


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## kilicar

Thanks ya its in the tank i dont like it at all.


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## kilicar

So I went out today to get some nice pieces of rock to try to seed the rest of my rock, I got some nice DARK purple rocks but they only sold my 1/2 a lb....they said they dont really sell rock with algae. I have attached a picture of the rocks pieces I am not sure if I put them in the best spot to seed so If you have suggestions pleaseeeeeeee let me know where to put them.

Also my parents wanted 2 tangs, i got them to agree to getting just one damsel

its a BEAUTIFUL blue velvet damsel, i know they are agressive little sobs but its the only one my paresnt would sub for 2 tangs which would not end well 1) i would get bashed by everyone here and most likely one would be killed.








so let me know what you all think

sorry my computer is going nuts, it would let me attach these so here they are


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## kilicar

I FOUND MORE LIFE IN MY ROCKS!!!!!!!! its like these flowers (kinda like a sunflower but not yellow) its folds like a unbrella but the oppostie way and goes into the rock when a fish goes by.

someone ID?? what are these??


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## nismo driver

blue velvets arent as aggresive as blue devils. actually one of the nicer damsels.

that looks like some pretty nice rock. the pictures are a bit bllurry but they look like some typ eo ftube worm. they are pretty common on live rock.. you can just leave it as is. up near the top there would probably be good, it will get flow across the surface which is good and as far as i can remember you dont have a whole lot of lighting so closer to the surface will be a good place for it. another thing that might encourage spreading is to rub two rocks with coraline together, this will create coraline particles to float itneh tank and land on other surfaces and spread but if you just leave it for long enough it will grow ont eh glass and when you scrape that off it will spread around the tank.

definately making some solid steps towrads an even nicer set up.


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## kilicar

nismo driver said:


> blue velvets arent as aggresive as blue devils. actually one of the nicer damsels.
> 
> that looks like some pretty nice rock. the pictures are a bit bllurry but they look like some typ eo ftube worm. they are pretty common on live rock.. you can just leave it as is. up near the top there would probably be good, it will get flow across the surface which is good and as far as i can remember you dont have a whole lot of lighting so closer to the surface will be a good place for it. another thing that might encourage spreading is to rub two rocks with coraline together, this will create coraline particles to float itneh tank and land on other surfaces and spread but if you just leave it for long enough it will grow ont eh glass and when you scrape that off it will spread around the tank.
> 
> definately making some solid steps towrads an even nicer set up.


only thanks to you nismo you gave me all the advice whenever I needed it. I am going to pick up some nicer lights (i want some dark coraline). hopefully NO MORE FISH lol i like how it looks....this addiction is BAD I was so tempted to buying some corals

the guy said the only rocks that have good coraline for sale are the ones that come with the corals, then after I was almost ready to buy some he said he could give me small fragments of broken rocks that had good coraline. I dont think I am ready for corals just yet.

Thanks for all ur help ND, I suggested you be the salt MOD after a few posts on here you are great and a huge help in keeping the saltwater forum full of great advice.

I am sorry about the bad pics, it kinda looks like a flower with a lot of peddles and a bud in the middle, whenever a fish touches it or comes close, it folds but and going into the rock, it folds like if you had your had open and then try to touch all the tips of your fingers together. its really cool looking I didnt notice it until i put the rocks in and they finally came out.


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## kilicar

Here is an update, I have a full tank shot, and also these black growths on my rocks...what are they??? they are thick and peel off and leave the rock WHITE and clean underneath.
PLEASE LET ME KNOW...good? bad? what should I do with it?


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## nismo driver

are you using tap water? i forgot if you had an RO or RO/DI

not sure what the black stuff is, does look like your getting some coraline though

have you tested your parameters?

temp
ph
alkalinity
calcium
nitrate
phosphate
magnesium


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## kilicar

nismo driver said:


> are you using tap water? i forgot if you had an RO or RO/DI
> 
> not sure what the black stuff is, does look like your getting some coraline though
> 
> have you tested your parameters?
> 
> temp
> ph
> alkalinity
> calcium
> nitrate
> phosphate
> magnesium


I work in a lab where i get DI water. thats what I use, I finished my testing kit so I have not tested in a few days. I did take a water sample to a LFS for them to test and they said everything was fine. Ill get you an official parameters this weekend. I ordered a testing kit online and it should be here soon.

anyone know what this black stuff is, should i keep it or toss it when i can?

hey nismo i saw another thread you commented on,
whats your ro/di set up? how do you run it and how much does it cost. I am thinking of doing it all myself too...i want to get into corals but i still need to wait awhile till i fully understand everything. I am thinking of adding coral this summer....which means I have a chocolate star i need to get rid of if you know anyone that wants one...


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## nismo driver

kilicar said:


> are you using tap water? i forgot if you had an RO or RO/DI
> 
> not sure what the black stuff is, does look like your getting some coraline though
> 
> have you tested your parameters?
> 
> temp
> ph
> alkalinity
> calcium
> nitrate
> phosphate
> magnesium


I work in a lab where i get DI water. thats what I use, I finished my testing kit so I have not tested in a few days. I did take a water sample to a LFS for them to test and they said everything was fine. Ill get you an official parameters this weekend. I ordered a testing kit online and it should be here soon.

anyone know what this black stuff is, should i keep it or toss it when i can?

hey nismo i saw another thread you commented on,
whats your ro/di set up? how do you run it and how much does it cost. I am thinking of doing it all myself too...i want to get into corals but i still need to wait awhile till i fully understand everything. I am thinking of adding coral this summer....which means I have a chocolate star i need to get rid of if you know anyone that wants one...
[/quote]

mine is a "thefilterguys.com" ocean reef +1, its 5 stage ro/di 75gpd with pressure guage and dual tds meter, 230 shipped.

its not necessary to get all the bells and whistles but its great to be able to know exactly how well or poorly the system is performing. if your already spending 150 - 170 bucks for the filter whats the point of not getting the extra stuff to know that what you have is working properly, its like buying a car that doesnt have a fuel guage..

there are an over whelming number of options out there for filters but a few things to look for, standard size cartriges for the filters to give you unlimited options for refills. clear housings are nice but not a necessity. three stage RO is better, it might cost more up front but it will extend the life of the DI stage which is typically more expesive to replace. two stages of carbon are to ensure that as much chlorine is removed as possible.


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## Grosse Gurke

That black stuff could just be die off from moving the rock.


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## nismo driver

im leaning more toward thinking its halmedia with some other type of algae growing on it but its really hard to say with out seeing it in person.

there is a chance the rock is still leaching low levels of phosphates.


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