The Puffer Forum

Well, after all the searching I finally have my tank setup and functional (as partially described in the other thread).

I wanted to start a new thread to describe my setup and get some feedback.

Here is my setup (I guess it would be considered a FOWLR?):

55 Gallon Tank (with Stand of course)
NOVA Extreme T5 HO (10K lights, actinic lights and lunar LEDs)
Coralife Aqualight Power Center Timer
300 Water Submersible Heater
Magnum 350 Filter (Not hooked up or in use)
AquaC Remora Pro Protein Skimmer w/ Pre-Skimmer Basket attachment
2 Hydor Koralia power heads
Thermometer
Hydrometer
Live sand substrate
Live Rock (Previous owner said only 10lbs but it filled four 5 gallon buckets and looks more like 35-45lbs)

As far as inhabitants here is what I currently have:



The Peppermint shrimp was not present before the move and I have yet to see him. As such, I plan on replacing him.

As you can see from the chart, I plan on getting a few blue-legged hermit crabs to help with the clean up.

Any advice on the current (and planned) quantities of the inhabitants is greatly appreciated. Not sure if I should get more CUC or not? I just purchased the emerald crab and the Turbo snails tonight. The striped damsel seems to have taken an interested in the crab, but so far all is well.

I came home from work today to find that I have brown Algae all over my Live Rock and tank. I immediately did some research and found that this is common. However, I was skeptical so I took a water sample to my LFS and had them test. Everything came back perfect (No Ammonia or Nitrite). The one guy I talked to at the store seemed semi-knowledgeable (asked him about the need for a filter to which he confirmed it is not needed with the protein skimmer). He said not to worry about the Brown Algae, that it would go away.

Is this true or do I need to be concerned about it?

Lastly, I did some testing and currently I am at 1.017 for SG. Based on the chart I put together, I should work on getting closer to 1.023 and will plan on doing weekly 50% water changes to raise by 1.002 a week.

I think that about covers everything. Any and all advice is as always greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Are you sure damsels are the only fish you're gonna want to keep? Because they're almost impossible to catch & really mean.

+1 I have a yellow tail and I couldn't imagine trying to catch him. He likes to tea bag the crabs, its pretty funny.

I like the spreadsheet. Very well organized

Pufferpunk wrote:Are you sure damsels are the only fish you're gonna want to keep? Because they're almost impossible to catch & really mean.

Nope. Keep in mind this is what came with the tank when I purchased it. There are a total of 3 damsel fish and 1 Maroon Clown Fish (5").

Any suggestions on the Brown Algae and my Clean up Crew?

J-P wrote:I like the spreadsheet. Very well organized

Thanks! Since I am still very new at this, I figured it was the best way for me to stay on top of things and basically make a compatibility guide, lol.

if there are no puffers in the tank and no corals (FOWLR) go all out!

1 have 5 blue legged hermits in a 5 gal and they are great. There are some stars and snails that you can get for cheap that will help you out... also start thinking of clams and other filter feeders.

The diatom algae will balance itself out eventually. Adding a critter to the group for it may help now but in the ling run that is a questionable choice.

J-P wrote:if there are no puffers in the tank and no corals (FOWLR) go all out!

1 have 5 blue legged hermits in a 5 gal and they are great. There are some stars and snails that you can get for cheap that will help you out... also start thinking of clams and other filter feeders.

The diatom algae will balance itself out eventually. Adding a critter to the group for it may help now but in the ling run that is a questionable choice.

Perfect! Thanks!

Currently I have 6 Turbo snails to help with any algae and the emerald crab as well.

I plan on getting 1-3 peppermint shrimp (probably just 1 to start with).

I was planning on only getting 1-2 blue legged hermits to start, but maybe I'll pick up 4. My concern with them is shells. Don't I need extra shells around the tank for them to move into? If so, how many spare shells should I have per hermit and (stupid question) where do I get the empty shells? Should my LFS carry them?

Lastly, the previous owner was feeding the fish 2 times a day and 3 times every other day. This seems like quite a lot to me. Any thoughts on this or how often they should get fed?

on the fish I don't know... as for the hermits.. yes you will need extra shells. I breed assassin snails and they take those shells. MTS or other cone shells are great. If you have other snails the hermits may kill the snails for their shells. Just an FYI. Blue legged hermits remain small so assassins snails or MTS are great. A little 2.5 gal breeder box is all you need.

J-P wrote:on the fish I don't know... as for the hermits.. yes you will need extra shells. I breed assassin snails and they take those shells. MTS or other cone shells are great. If you have other snails the hermits may kill the snails for their shells. Just an FYI. Blue legged hermits remain small so assassins snails or MTS are great. A little 2.5 gal breeder box is all you need.

If it helps I had two hermits (I think one killed the other) and I had about 20 shells of different sizes that they could use. The hermits, had territory wars though, and I think one is gone. I now have about 30 shells in the tank, just in case, because I don't want him to kill my two turbos. And all the shells are shells he could grow into, none are smaller than the hermit.

goldielocke76 wrote:

J-P wrote:on the fish I don't know... as for the hermits.. yes you will need extra shells. I breed assassin snails and they take those shells. MTS or other cone shells are great. If you have other snails the hermits may kill the snails for their shells. Just an FYI. Blue legged hermits remain small so assassins snails or MTS are great. A little 2.5 gal breeder box is all you need.

If it helps I had two hermits (I think one killed the other) and I had about 20 shells of different sizes that they could use. The hermits, had territory wars though, and I think one is gone. I now have about 30 shells in the tank, just in case, because I don't want him to kill my two turbos. And all the shells are shells he could grow into, none are smaller than the hermit.

Where did you get the empty shells from?

Ok, I'm probably being paranoid here, but again I'm still learning :

I'm at work and my wife calls to tell me that the tank is no nearly covered in the brown algae.

I understand it will go away on its own, but how long should I wait? Is it good to try and scrape it away or do I have to let it take its course?


***EDIT***

Should I look into getting something like this:

http://reefcleaners.org/index.php?page= ... &Itemid=34

runningboy01 wrote:

goldielocke76 wrote:

J-P wrote:on the fish I don't know... as for the hermits.. yes you will need extra shells. I breed assassin snails and they take those shells. MTS or other cone shells are great. If you have other snails the hermits may kill the snails for their shells. Just an FYI. Blue legged hermits remain small so assassins snails or MTS are great. A little 2.5 gal breeder box is all you need.

If it helps I had two hermits (I think one killed the other) and I had about 20 shells of different sizes that they could use. The hermits, had territory wars though, and I think one is gone. I now have about 30 shells in the tank, just in case, because I don't want him to kill my two turbos. And all the shells are shells he could grow into, none are smaller than the hermit.

Where did you get the empty shells from?

Petsmart and the LFS. Petsmart has them, look for them in the hermit section, and my LFS had a bunch just laying in there tanks for their hermits, and they sold me 8 for $3. They get super pricey though. HTH