# 29 and questions



## awesome kid (Jun 10, 2005)

in a 29 reef could i have...

1 Yellowhead Jawfish
2 or 3 Banggai or Highfin Cardinals
2 Neon Gobies
1 Blue Starfish
1 Common Cleaner Shrimp
1 Peppermint Shrimp

I also plan to put in about 15-25 lbs of live rock, 10 lbs of live sand (in addition to what I have which is about 1.5 inches) and corals possibly...

Pineapple
Jewel stone
Green Star Polyps
(are these good for a first timer?)


My filtration would be live rock, a Whisper 30 H.O.B. and a protien skimmer. Which protien skimmer should I get for my setup? Some of the brands I've heard are good are...

Aqua-C Remora and Remora Pro
Euro-Reef CS Series
Euro-Reef ES Series
Red Sea Prizms (I've heard a few people who didnt like these)
Advanced Acrylics Excalibur Models (I've heard one person who didnt like this)

Also what kind of water pump and/or powerheads should I get?


----------



## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

Okay a few problems I see with your stocking list, first off the blue starfish you are probably refering to is the "blue linckia starfish" these starfish are notorously hard to keep in captivity because we have no idea what they eat! That means a lot of liverock is needed to keep this starfish going long term. 3 Banggai cardinalfish are not a good idea. I'd get five and see who pairs up, then give the other three away. Also I would like to add that these fish are a bit tricky to get eating. Get the aqua c for a skimmer, and as for corals, what lighting do you/will you have?


----------



## awesome kid (Jun 10, 2005)

currently i have a regular single florecent strip with a regular bulb. i might get a coral life bulb


----------



## Osiris (Jan 18, 2005)

Fishfirst, i am pretty sure them linkia's they discovered aren't reef friendly....

ur jawfish wait til tank is ready i am actually having on eshipped to me tomorrow they are very cool fish liveaquaria never have them in...

Ebay u can easily get a 30" 130w new for under $100.

Are you going to run a sump?

I would run four powerheads two on top and two on bottem smaller ones on bottem i think...

the filter dont use it or if u do get ac500 and turn it into a fuge packed with cheato, I am not a fan of HOB skimmer's, as they tend to overflow easily when setup..hence why i like sump..skimmer actually cheaper for sump too.


----------



## awesome kid (Jun 10, 2005)

i wasnt planing on running a sump, i will probably use 1-2 powerheads


----------



## Osiris (Jan 18, 2005)

k, then keep a close eye on that skimmer, as until they are broken in i think takes 1-2mos are most prone time to overflowing..


----------



## awesome kid (Jun 10, 2005)

*MalawianPro* said


> i think takes 1-2mos are most prone time to overflowing..


does this mean that it will take 1-2 moths for it to over flow or it is prone to overflow in the first two moths?


----------



## Osiris (Jan 18, 2005)

That's the timeframe where it's most prone to overflowing, as the air valve needs tweaking and stuff...just keep an eye on it.

BTW do u remember the website where they were selling excalibur's? if not it's ok i just search RC again til i find the website..


----------



## awesome kid (Jun 10, 2005)

this was the site i heard about them from
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ca/cav1i1/protein_skimmer_impressions.htm
but they dont sell them its like what 1 person used and liked/disliked. the person is bias against Rio pumps


----------



## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

the linkia is "reef safe" but no one really knows what they eat that I know of. Rio pumps are pretty low quality if I remember. The lighting malawianpro is suggesting probably is good enough for what you want to keep. The normal output florescents are not.


----------



## Osiris (Jan 18, 2005)

hmm i must be thinking of the chocalate chip ones that aren't reef safe colorful but deadly lol


----------



## awesome kid (Jun 10, 2005)

ok so no starfish so could i add another cleaner shrimp and another peppermint shrimp?


----------



## awesome kid (Jun 10, 2005)

what kind of powerhead should i get?
Which skimmer (Aqua C Remora or the Remora pro?
what water pump should i get instead of the Rio?


----------



## Osiris (Jan 18, 2005)

You can never have too many cleaner shrimp in there  starfish u could have a sandsifting starfish they just completely burrow under the sand could for keeping it cleaned up but could starve if not moved to bigger tank in 4-6mos..

I prefer the rio powerheads but that's me just cuz of the accesories they come with.


----------



## awesome kid (Jun 10, 2005)

so this looks like what my setup will be

FISH
1 Yellowhead Jawfish
2 Banggai Cardinals
2 Neon Gobies

INVERTS
2 Common Cleaner Shrimp
2 Peppermint Shrimp

CORALS
Pineapple
Jewel stone
Green Star Polyps

DECORATION
15-25 lbs of live rock
10-15 lbs of live sand in addition to what is in there now

LIGHTING
Coralife bulb

FILTRATION
Live rock and a protein skimmer (Aqua-C Remora)

PUMP AND POWERHEADS
Rio pump
Rio powerhead

anything else i would need (not including food)


----------



## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

sounds good, but rio is a low quality powerhead. Peppermint shrimp are not 100% reef safe so you may lose there depending... what about mushroom corals, plate corals, hairy mushroom corals, montipora corals, (all good ones)


----------



## Osiris (Jan 18, 2005)

Yea i agreei wouldn't even get pepperiment shrimp they remind me of ghost shrimp lol. Fire Shrimp are really neat usually double price though of regular cleaner shrimp.


----------



## awesome kid (Jun 10, 2005)

so not peppermint but could i add 2 more cleaners?
what other kind of powerhead would you recommend FishFirst?
ill add mushrooms to my list of corals


----------



## awesome kid (Jun 10, 2005)

oh btw, besides marine flakes what should i get for food (freeze dried krill, frozen brine shrimp perhaps)?


----------



## awesome kid (Jun 10, 2005)

could i add a purple firefish as well or is that overstocking?
also could i put in a few featherdusters?


----------



## Osiris (Jan 18, 2005)

I let fish take care of the powerhead question as i been using rio's a mini-jet's with no problems in past year. *knock on wood*

Featherduster's are a filter feeder your tank really needs to be established for them for awhile, they are hard to keep in alot of tanks until it's well established. If you can they come in alot of colors i have a neon green one 

I don't see any reason why you can't get the firefish, as long as you got that skimmer on their


----------



## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

feather dusters usually don't do well in captivity because they are filter feeders, although some people have had success with them... you'll have to get plankton of some sort for them. You might get away with getting a purple firefish especially with a good skimmer like the aqua c remora (or pro). Good foods include mysist shrimp, krill, tubifex worms, blood worms (on occasion), and spirilina algae flakes. Now thinking about it though, you may want to trade in one of your banggai cards for a purple firefish anyway as I don't know if they would pair up in that small of a tank... I wasn't able to do it in my 20 gallon, but had success in my 55 and 125.


----------



## awesome kid (Jun 10, 2005)

how much should i expect to pay for the fish and inverts? i'm getting...
Yellowhead Jawfish, Banggai Cardinals, Neon Gobies, Purple Firefish, Common Cleaner Shrimp
Pineapple Coral, Jewel Stone Coral, Green Star Polyps, Mushroom Coral


----------



## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

Don't pay more than 25 dollars for one of the cards, jawfish should be around 20-25, neons I've seen for 10-20 dollars, purple firefish are usually 18-20 bucks, a skunk cleaner should be no more than 20 dollars, not sure on the corals, but most are retailed between 15-40 dollars.


----------



## Osiris (Jan 18, 2005)

Yea Fish is right lol SW ain't cheap. GSP runs $40 for like a tiny frag here!

Though i am currently selling frags left and right on RC and nano-reef, so just let me know when your ready  I'll hook ya up.

Fish, I heard purple firefish do best in trios or more huh?


----------



## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

If you can find a pair (already established), they usually do well... but I haven't heard that they do well in trios and I believe its because they actually are fairly hostile (at least my red firefish is) to other conspecifics. A single would do fine, especially with the other very docile, unintimidating fish in there.


----------



## redpaulhus (Jan 18, 2005)

Make sure you upgrade the lighting as suggested above - I think the last note I saw you make about lighting was "coralife bulb" -- no matter what brand you use, a single "normal output" flourescent bulb will NOT be enough. I'd look for at least 96w of lighting, preferably the 130w that was recommended above.

pulsing xenia are a good choice for a tank like this, as are zoanthids and shrooms -- if there is a reef club near you, chances are folks are growing these like mad and practically giving them away (I know in the Boston Reefers club, just about every week somebody posts "free xenia or it gets thrown out" or "cheap xenia who wants it?" etc...)
I usually sell my excess shrooms in the boston aquarium society meetings for like $10.


----------



## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

Ah, Xenia...the gift that keeps on giving.

Featherdusters are pretty easy to keep if you feed them some liquid/suspension filter feeder food. They have a habit of shedding their crown of feathers, though, which makes people often think they've died, resulting in the worms being thrown out before they could grow their crowns back again.
Dusters are also easy to spawn artificially. Take a bunch of dusters and put them together in a shallow bowl of seawater. Poke at them from their rear ends. Dusters exude mass quanties of gametes as a defensive measure, so after a while you should have a bowlfull of eggs & sperm all mixed together nicely. Put the worms back in their tank, stir the cloudy water in the bowl, and pour the goo into a small tank with no mechanical filtration & no fish. In a few weeks you'll see hundreds of little tiny baby featherdusters all over the place.


----------



## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

hmmm I gotta do that old salt... I always thought feather dusters were hard to feed... hmmm, I might have to go out and get some feather dusters.


----------



## Osiris (Jan 18, 2005)

TheOldSalt said:


> Ah, Xenia...the gift that keeps on giving.
> 
> Featherdusters are pretty easy to keep if you feed them some liquid/suspension filter feeder food. They have a habit of shedding their crown of feathers, though, which makes people often think they've died, resulting in the worms being thrown out before they could grow their crowns back again.
> Dusters are also easy to spawn artificially. Take a bunch of dusters and put them together in a shallow bowl of seawater. Poke at them from their rear ends. Dusters exude mass quanties of gametes as a defensive measure, so after a while you should have a bowlfull of eggs & sperm all mixed together nicely. Put the worms back in their tank, stir the cloudy water in the bowl, and pour the goo into a small tank with no mechanical filtration & no fish. In a few weeks you'll see hundreds of little tiny baby featherdusters all over the place.


LMAO.

Interesting concept there, i have a bright neon green feather duster i have never seen anywhere else all we have are brown ones here. I may have to try that idea! Gonna start a new thread though...


----------

