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1K views 4 replies 3 participants last post by  stephen 
#1 ·
Hi everyone
I'm just getting back into tanks after 20 yrs. Got a 30 gal., 3 inch of sand, 10 lbs.lr so far(adding a little at a time). running 390gph alternating current every6 hours. Is this enough flow? My tank is 8 weeks new, fully cycled, all chemical levels are great. Whats next and what should I use for a clean up crew?

I've been checking this site out, and from what I've seen , you guys & gals are great.

Thanks for any help & advise
stephen
 
#2 ·
Stephan, Welcome to the Reef Tank. Glad to see another oregonian. We are a small but growing conspiracy

Water flow sounds OK, how are you getting it to alternate every six hours? You need about 20 more lbs Live Rock and some live sand cultures from someones tank to help get it going. Theres lots a little worms and stuff you want to get going to help with waste disposal as well as a variety of snails to take care of the algae growth. A few hermits at this point wont be to bad but avoid the one per gallon rule, they are nasty little critters that will decimate your snail population. If at all possible keep adding your rock and snails etc and try to give your tank about six months to settle down before starting the serios stocking. After a while you should start seeing all kinds of stuff poppin up on the live rock. A mushroom or polyp rock may add interest without taxing it at this point but watch for spikes as you add the rock, HAve fun


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I dont advocate holding marine creatures for ransom but......since you asked:)
Doug, plank owner
http://hellreef.homestead.com/index.html
www.thereeftank.com/ubb/Forum2/HTML/000001.html
 
#3 ·
Hey Stephen,
Welcome to the reef tank!

Keep in mind that what you do with both your water flow and your lighting in the long run needs to reflect what type of biotope/microcosm you wish to mimic when building or stocking your tank. The 4 basic biotopes of most tropical ocean reefs would be reef top, fore-reef, deep fore-reef, and lagoonal (there are many others, i.e., very deep fore reef; and other non-tropicals, i.e. oregonal coastline, Catalina, temperate tanks (there are corals from these areas...) in which the temperature, water flow, and lighting all vary). The creatures that come from each of these biotopes have pretty much the same requirements as the other creatures FROM THAT SAME BIOTOPE. This will make selecting equipment and flow parameters much easier once you have decided on what microcosm you wish to mimic. Once you've established the tank, water flow and lighting parameters, selecting the creatures for the tank will also be much easier (i.e., various spp. of the acroporae and milliporae genus for reef-top tanks, large-polyped stonies and softies for lagoonal, etc). My personal choice for a smaller tank would be the lagoonal microcosm; it is more forgiving of newbie (and experienced hobbyist's) mistakes and the corals that inhabit this microcosm are much more tolerant of wide swings in water parameters (as opposed to reef top...), and the lighting will be much cheaper and less costly in the operating sense. Water flow is much more manageable, and feeding the inhabitants isn't a chore (heh, heh, heh, "a chore at the floor of the shore..." heh, heh, heh!!!) Many of the inhabitants of this microcosm are also easily available as farm-raised or captive-bred, in my book a major consideration for hobbyist.

Lemmeno if you'd like more, but I would suggest reading John Tullock's "Natural Reef Aquariums" for more specific information about setting up a tank with this thought process in mind.

------------------
Tom <"{{{{>(
(TDWyatt)
Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something. -Plato
 
#4 ·
Originally posted by Doug1:
Stephan, Welcome to the Reef Tank. Glad to see another oregonian. We are a small but growing conspiracy

Water flow sounds OK, how are you getting it to alternate every six hours? You need about 20 more lbs Live Rock and some live sand cultures from someones tank to help get it going. Theres lots a little worms and stuff you want to get going to help with waste disposal as well as a variety of snails to take care of the algae growth. A few hermits at this point wont be to bad but avoid the one per gallon rule, they are nasty little critters that will decimate your snail population. If at all possible keep adding your rock and snails etc and try to give your tank about six months to settle down before starting the serios stocking. After a while you should start seeing all kinds of stuff poppin up on the live rock. A mushroom or polyp rock may add interest without taxing it at this point but watch for spikes as you add the rock, HAve fun


Thanks for the reply Doug1. I use a timer to switch flow directions. I have already sand cultures,levels spiked and have come down to nil. I forgot to mention the fact that I have 6 snails,1 crab, and 1 damsel,(added after ammonia and nitrite levels returned to zero). Everything seems to be going fine, fish was added 2 wks ago. Ive noticed what looks like tiny red stony coral growing on a few pieces of lr. Also found a few brissel worms, will they hurt anything; I've heard conflicting opinions
 
#5 ·
Originally posted by Doug1:
Stephan, Welcome to the Reef Tank. Glad to see another oregonian. We are a small but growing conspiracy

Water flow sounds OK, how are you getting it to alternate every six hours? You need about 20 more lbs Live Rock and some live sand cultures from someones tank to help get it going. Theres lots a little worms and stuff you want to get going to help with waste disposal as well as a variety of snails to take care of the algae growth. A few hermits at this point wont be to bad but avoid the one per gallon rule, they are nasty little critters that will decimate your snail population. If at all possible keep adding your rock and snails etc and try to give your tank about six months to settle down before starting the serios stocking. After a while you should start seeing all kinds of stuff poppin up on the live rock. A mushroom or polyp rock may add interest without taxing it at this point but watch for spikes as you add the rock, HAve fun


Thanks for the reply Doug1. I use a timer to switch flow directions. I have already sand cultures,levels spiked and have come down to nil. I forgot to mention the fact that I have 6 snails,1 crab, and 1 damsel,(added after ammonia and nitrite levels returned to zero). Everything seems to be going fine, fish was added 2 wks ago. Ive noticed what looks like tiny red stony coral growing on a few pieces of lr. Also found a few brissel worms, will they hurt anything; I've heard conflicting opinions.
stephen
 
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