free-be worth it?

[j-man the skater-man]

I am currently planning on starting a FOWLR 29 or 55 gallon. Im still reading anything i can find and planning my livestock but a friend of my has recently broken down their salt water tanks. She will give me her argonite sand and around 15lb of live rock. Would it be worth my time and money saved to put the sand/rock in a spare 10 gallon i have? Could i keep it healthy until i start the main tank if i monitor the water parameters carefully?

thanks

[Damon]

Yes and yes. I wouldn't take any corals, inverts or fish though. It would be a good test in keeping the correct water parameters. Worst case scenario, the rock dies off and you have to start over. Best case, you will have some good lr and ls to start your main tank with.

[j-man the skater-man]

I have googled my fingers off trying to find out if live rock has lighting requirements and havent found anything. I know it needs light because the stuff on uses light my question is how much should i shoot for to keep it alive in the 10 gallon? What about the 29 or 55?

Thanks, i was thinking since i wouldnt have any livestock i could get the feel of controling salt parameters without the posibility of loosing an animal.

[Damon]

over a 10 gallon tank, I would put 2x28 watt pc 50/50 bulbs over it. Or something close. LR only needs like 3 "wpg" to live but dont expect much coraline to thrive. Keri or Bear or T.O.S. could give you better answers.

[fishbguy]

Keri's username is reefneck FYI

T.O.S = The Old Salt

[Reefneck]

Originally Posted by Damon

over a 10 gallon tank, I would put 2x28 watt pc 50/50 bulbs over it. Or something close. LR only needs like 3 "wpg" to live but dont expect much coraline to thrive. Keri or Bear or T.O.S. could give you better answers.

Not a bad suggestion but really no need for actinics (half of the 50/50) with just Live Rock. Any decent 2 bulb PC fixture that fits the 10G will do fine. 2 10K bulbs will keep it healthy.

As for on the larger tank (Which I do NOT recommend you start smaller than 55G) I would not use anything less than a 4X65W Power Compact fixture).

[j-man the skater-man]

I recently added some aragonite sand and now my specific gravity is around 1.022 and im keeping the other levels under control why it cycles. I have a few questions. I have 55watts of PC light over the tank and Im having problems with a greenish slime algea on one piece of rock and it has spread onto the new sandbed and a brown dusting algea on the sand aswell...is this bad for the sand and what can i do to control the algea during the cycle? Im planning on keeping this tank as my first SW tank but i only plan to keep a hermit and LR hitchhikers so when should i had the hermit(s)? Also the tank seems to be evaporating quickly so should i top it off every day or weekly?

thanks

oh yea, the LR should be fine to filter it long term right?

[Damon]

I find I get spots of it when my water circulation is bad (ie dead spots). Adding some sand sifters will also help.

[j-man the skater-man]

i have a little jebo pump i stole from a water fountain my mom has. Ive noticed if i turn it up to max (which isnt too fast) the critters stop moving around so should i still turn the pump up? Do you mean sand sifter starfish? and if so dont you have to have a well cycled tank for them to survive?

[Damon]

You may need more than 1 pump. Its not so much the flow rate right now but that every area gets flow.

[j-man the skater-man]

I have decided to turn my LR holding tank into a mini reef of sorts. I have 55 watts of pc lighting and the parameters are all good. I have 2 scarlet reef hermits and 2 margarita snails. Ive seen everywhere sites selling/promoting insane amounts of animals per gallon as a "cleanup crew" and i was wondering how many cerith, astraea, nassarius snails you all would recommend for my 10 gallon tank? I plan on adding some mushrooms in about 2 weeks and i was wondering what type you all would recommend? what about also adding brown button polyps?

thanks

[Damon]

Not saying this will happen to you but this is exactly why we don't recommend smaller tanks for sw beginners. Once you get hooked, you cant help but start adding more stuff to your tank. As for you cleanup crew, with such a light bio-load 2-3 nerites, 2-3 astrea and 2-3 cerith snails. Be warned that hermits will kill astrea for their shells. Astrea also have a tendancy to fall over and die because they cannot right themselves.

[j-man the skater-man]

I have seen sites recommending way more inverts as a "cleaner crew" and knew it was high so i wanted to get a trustworthy oppinion. Thanks for the help Damon.

[j-man the skater-man]

I have a 55watt PC light over my 10 gallon tank. The current bulb isnt 10000K or actinic. I want to be able to keep "beginner" soft corals like buttons or shrooms. Would a 50/50 or a 10000k bulb be better for the coral as far as growth and apperance, and if so which one? At most the corals would be 8 inches from the light. Also the pump i have now i stole from a small desktop water fountain and i kno i need to get a better pump(the pump is noisy and vibrates off the glass every couple days). So my question is on a 10 gallon would a Aqua Clear DIY HOB fuge be better than just a small powerhead?

[TheOldSalt]

A HOB fuge would be better than most small powerheads, yes, on a tank that small.

A 50/50 light is MUCH better than an ordinary one. How much better? It's pretty much the difference between success and dismal failure.

[j-man the skater-man]

What size of AC filter would you recommend for the DIY HOB fuge? Does it need to be an AC filter?