Sauced and Confused (Lost Remix)

[vittpsu21]

I filleted them outside of the bone line so all of the meat you see there, is boneless.

You're in the right place. @F i s h y will want to be here too.

Give us a rundown. What's the tank size you're thinking, what corals do you think you will want to keep in the future? What type of fish do you like, and do you prefer light/medium/heavy fish packed in there?

These all go into the eventual design and setup, of the scape.


The Only reason I would go dead rock primary and LR to seed a brand new setup, is to save money on base rock that isn't seen. Already having 200lb of long Live rock, I used Marco as the very base and back of my scapes. Live rock is a commodity and a good investment IMO.

@vittpsu21 is just getting back into Reefing after many years away.

yeah its going to be a 120 -130 gal tank, I know for sure that I want to set myself up for success so fish I know I want for sure (and my wife and kids will def want a list of ones I can add safely with them and probably pick 1 or 2 to add on top)

most of these fish I have read will help me keep bad things down/away but I am always open to information that is better than what I have so please let me know if I am wrong, after these I am open to almost anything additional

• fish (outside of these I have seen a lot of other fish I really like but have not done adequate research yet to know if I can add them, also how many fish is too many fish etc in a 120-130gal?)
  • filefish
  • yellow tang
  • clowns
  • bristletooth tang
  • wrasse
  • blenny

• corals (I never got into a ton of corals in the past so I still have a ton of research to do but very open to a lot of opinions here)
  • zoanthids
  • leather
  • toadstool
  • xenia (always looks cool to me how it opens and closes)
  • green star polyps
  • euphyllia's
  • duncan

I think I could go either way on a lot of a little of fish, I just want to do my best to set up a successful tank and then as I gain more knowledge branch out and expand upon it. I think for rock I am not too worried about cost and will probably just bite the bullet and do full live if need be, would seem silly of my to skimp there when other things I am already going pretty strongly on.

For lighting (as it relates to coral) I am considering somewhere between 3-5 blades either 2 grow 1 glow or 3grow 2 glow (this was suggested when I called to get information on them, but I need to figure out how many I will actually need--- better yet if better lighting options exist for me if I build a canopy I can also go that route)

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

I gather this much, which is why I said what I did. The live rock on the bottom, it will have a lot of die off from being buried. Best to use dead rock for the bottom. Live on the top.

Only photosynthetic organisms should experience noticeable die off being used as base rock. Most of the good stuff in LR, is not photo sensitive.

The other side of that coin is that new systems are not fully colonized with bacteria. Bacteria will not expand unless it has more ammonia than the colony can handle. Some dieoff is a trickle of needed compounds to help full speed up bacterial colonization.

 

[vittpsu21]

other unrelated question, the LFS tank is 4x2x2 for 120 gal, I kind of wish it was 5 feet long but I haven't found that form factor anywhere. Any opinions on 4 feet instead of 5 feet?

 

[Goaway]

Only photosynthetic organisms should experience noticeable die off being used as base rock. Most of the good stuff in LR, is not photo sensitive.

The other side of that coin is that new systems are not fully colonized with bacteria. Bacteria will not expand unless it has more ammonia than the colony can handle. Some dieoff is a trickle of needed compounds to help full speed up bacterial colonization.

He has options. All i am throwing out there. It just isn't needed to go 1-2lbs per gallon as we used too.

If he wants to go 1-2lbs per gallon, it's fine. But, the majority of the coraline algae will die. How much die off is hard to say. Sure, there will be a lot of bacteria from all of that. OR, if ammonia levels get out of control, all the good bacteria die as well. Yes, that can happen.

He will also need to clean out all of the pests that show up.

 

[vittpsu21]

He has options. All i am throwing out there. It just isn't needed to go 1-2lbs per gallon as we used too.

If he wants to go 1-2lbs per gallon, it's fine. But, the majority of the coraline algae will die. How much die off is hard to say. Sure, there will be a lot of bacteria from all of that. OR, if ammonia levels get out of control, all the good bacteria die as well. Yes, that can happen.

He will also need to clean out all of the pests that show up.

do you still cure live rock? or is that a thing of the past?

 

[Goaway]

other unrelated question, the LFS tank is 4x2x2 for 120 gal, I kind of wish it was 5 feet long but I haven't found that form factor anywhere. Any opinions on 4 feet instead of 5 feet?

Nope, they still get that same amount of swimming room. 4x2x2 leaves a lot of room to aquascape giving fish plenty of maneuverability. Tanks with 12", those fish seem to hate that. The turns they make look like they are suffering.

 

[Goaway]

do you still cure live rock? or is that a thing of the past?

I never had an actual problem from live rock. We cured the stuff off the boats. The live rock they left out in the sun to dry while they kept diving to collect. That had a lot of die off and needed a longer cure time.

Most of the stuff we get now is aquaculture. So, there's a lot less issues. But, shipping the rock still causes problems if the rock isn't shipped wet.

So if you buy your live rock to ship wet and pick up at airport, you'll have most of the life on it.

If you ship dry with wet paper, you'll have about 2 week cure time.

 

[Goaway]

I'll also add, if you know someone with live rock, that's 100x better than shipped.

 

[vittpsu21]

I never had an actual problem from live rock. We cured the stuff off the boats. The live rock they left out in the sun to dry while they kept diving to collect. That had a lot of die off and needed a longer cure time.

Most of the stuff we get now is aquaculture. So, there's a lot less issues. But, shipping the rock still causes problems if the rock isn't shipped wet.

So if you buy your live rock to ship wet and pick up at airport, you'll have most of the life on it.

If you ship dry with wet paper, you'll have about 2 week cure time.

my plan was to cure it in tank since nothing will be in there, should be fine right? or do I still need to brute trash can it?

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

other unrelated question, the LFS tank is 4x2x2 for 120 gal, I kind of wish it was 5 feet long but I haven't found that form factor anywhere. Any opinions on 4 feet instead of 5 feet?

4x2x2 should have the same volume as 5x2x18"

If the only larger model fish you are considering are in the yellow tang/ bristle tooth size, either one would work. 5' length gives more swim space long ways, less turning room, but at that size, shouldn't be an issue unless you get into some of the larger bodied tangs.

 

[vittpsu21]

I'll also add, if you know someone with live rock, that's 100x better than shipped.

I dont know anyone in the hobby, my LFS has rock in their store though thats soaking

 

[Goaway]

my plan was to cure it in tank since nothing will be in there, should be fine right? or do I still need to brute trash can it?

I would do in tank. You shouldn't have any issues really.

 

[vittpsu21]

4x2x2 should have the same volume as 5x2x18"

If the only larger model fish you are considering are in the yellow tang/ bristle tooth size, either one would work. 5' length gives more swim space long ways, less turning room, but at that size, shouldn't be an issue unless you get into some of the larger bodied tangs.

I wish I had a solid answer to this, I am truly unsure on additional fish beyond the list above

I love angelfish look but I heard they are a nightmare with corals

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

do you still cure live rock? or is that a thing of the past?

Ocean direct live rock really only needs to be cured long enough to ensure there is not an ammonia spike, and to get the unwanted hitchhikers out. After that it's ready to use. I hyper salinity dipped all of my life rock twice to help with pest removal.

 

[F i s h y]

I filleted them outside of the bone line so all of the meat you see there, is boneless.

You're in the right place. @F i s h y will want to be here too.

Give us a rundown. What's the tank size you're thinking, what corals do you think you will want to keep in the future? What type of fish do you like, and do you prefer light/medium/heavy fish packed in there?

These all go into the eventual design and setup, of the scape.


The Only reason I would go dead rock primary and LR to seed a brand new setup, is to save money on base rock that isn't seen. Already having 200lb of long Live rock, I used Marco as the very base and back of my scapes. Live rock is a commodity and a good investment IMO.

@vittpsu21 is just getting back into Reefing after many years away.

checking in. welcome @vittpsu21 i love building scapes... so many different ways to do it. i like a combo of hnsa and old school stacking. fish load, coral composition and flow requirements are all things we will need to consider.

 

[Goaway]

I wish I had a solid answer to this, I am truly unsure on additional fish beyond the list above

It gets complicated with fish. You don't know they are on your list. Until you see them swim and look at you.
And some tangs, need to be added last anyhow.

checking in. welcome @vittpsu21 i love building scapes... so many different ways to do it. i like a combo of hnsa and old school stacking. fish load, coral composition and flow requirements are all things we will need to consider.

I was also going to say,
If your fish store has live rock you like the look of and have an idea how to use in an aquascape. Don't pass that up either.

 

[vittpsu21]

Ocean direct live rock really only needs to be cured long enough to ensure there is not an ammonia spike, and to get the unwanted hitchhikers out. After that it's ready to use. I hyper salinity dipped all of my life rock twice to help with pest removal.

last time I cured I put all my rock in a brute can with water pump heater and let it run covered for like a week if I remember right (sorry this was years ago)

 

[vittpsu21]

checking in. welcome @vittpsu21 i love building scapes... so many different ways to do it. i like a combo of hnsa and old school stacking. fish load, coral composition and flow requirements are all things we will need to consider.

hello! I struggled with this last time around so @Lost in the Sauce suggested I come here and start up a conversation!

well done hnsa always look very awesome to me

 

[Goaway]

hello! I struggled with this last time around so @Lost in the Sauce suggested I come here and start up a conversation!

We all got our own idea on rocks. At the end of the day, this is your tank and you can decide on what you want in there.

last time I cured I put all my rock in a brute can with water pump heater and let it run covered for like a week if I remember right (sorry this was years ago)

We don't really need to do that no more. Not unless they open up rock collecting again, which is banned almost everywhere. I miss those live rocks.

Australia live rock comes in here and there. Most of the time precured by the seller.

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

I'll also add, if you know someone with live rock, that's 100x better than shipped.

I was also going to say,
If your fish store has live rock you like the look of and have an idea how to use in an aquascape. Don't pass that up either.

We disagree here.

Most live rock at the stores is recently dead rock that is thrown in to a saltwater bath with existing rock and MAYBE bottled bacteria.

These systems are often not fed, and if they are tied into the entire system, you don't want it as you'll need to fallow the rock.

Live rock loses diversity. The longer it's out of the ocean. It comes in fully loaded and over time some die off or are out competed, eventually leaving a few dozen major types.

Fresh rock being back in the different strains that over the years have petered out.