Switching to a reef tank

[Squee]

Hi, I'm new to the forum and was hoping to get some guidance with setting up my first reef tank.

I currently have a 55 gal fish-only tank. It runs with an under-gravel filter powered by dual power heads, a penguin 330 dual bio wheel power filter, and a protein skimmer. It's home to a mated pair of Maroon Clowns and a very fast blue and black something else. (I forgot) Anyway, they have been in this tank 7 years and the only problem was that the clowns dug up the gravel alot making the undergravel filter useless. Since the Clowns have been laying eggs quite regularly, I've decided to try my luck with a reef tank and some anemonies which eventually these fish can call home. This f/o tank will be eventually phased out so I can use any of the equipment from it for the reef tank.

The reef tank is a 55 gal tank with a penguin 330 dual bio wheel power filter, and I will at some point use the protein skimmer from the above tank. I cleaned up the tank, added 2 inches of live-sand, tap water treated with Prime and Instant Ocean to 1.023 salinity, and heater (80 deg). I aIso added 5-10 gal of water from the established tank. After the water cleared, I added a couple of pieces of live rock. Over the next week, I'll be adding alot more live rock as it becomes available.

Is the equipment I have sufficient to run a reef tank? I will pick up a reef test kit in the next few days. Is there anything else I should be doing? When the tank has cycled is it safer to get the reef established first and then add fish gradually or the other way around? I suppose I should identify the blue and black fish to see if it will be compatable with a reef tank. Any comments are appreciated. Thanks!

[Squee]

I added more live rock today and discovered a stowaway. A small crab the size of my thumbnail ran off the piece I was placing and took refuge under another piece. Can a crab survive the water cycling process or do I need to find him and put him in a different tank?

[FishTechie]

the crab should be fine, when you add more LR you can either make a 5g bucket of water or ave some water from a water change and you can dip the lr in the bucket and peek in the holes w a flashlight and see if theres anything you dont want in your tank, that way if it comes out it will stay in the bucket. are you going to be adding a sump?

[Reefland]

Hi Squee,

You should really consider adding a protein skimmer to the new tank first. They are crucial pieces of equipment in my opinion. Also, your not using a UGF in the new tank, right?

As for the crab, let him be. You would have a very hard time catching it anyway.

[Squee]

the crab should be fine, when you add more LR you can either make a 5g bucket of water or have some water from a water change and you can dip the lr in the bucket and peek in the holes w a flashlight and see if theres anything you dont want in your tank, that way if it comes out it will stay in the bucket.

I read about curing the live rock before adding it to a tank with inhabitants but since it I was trying to cycle it, I thought the extra doo doo would help things along, lol. I did not consider the posibility of stow aways. I wouldn't know the good ones from the bad ones. What might be hiding in the live rock that I want to avoid putting in my tank and what's okay to keep?

are you going to be adding a sump?

I didn't plan on a sump but I did some reading on the subject yesterday. I'm hoping to get away without one for now.

[Squee]

You should really consider adding a protein skimmer to the new tank first. They are crucial pieces of equipment in my opinion. Also, your not using a UGF in the new tank, right?

No on the UGF.
I do have a protein skimmer but I thought it might be better to leave it on the established tank until I transfered the 3 fish to their new tank. I don't really want to buy a second skimmer since I will be phasing out the old tank. What do you suggest?

As for the crab, let him be. You would have a very hard time catching it anyway.

Good, because I haven't seen a trace of him since then. I only had a 5 second look at him before he disappeared. I tried to id him but haven't had any luck so far. He was off-white with a disc-shaped body about the size of a dime, had two very small claws of equal size, and ran sideways really fast. No markings that I saw. I would love to know what he might be.

[Reefland]

I would leave the skimmer on the current tank and move it when the livestock is tranferred to the new tank. I missed that the current tank had a skimmer.

It would be very difficult to ID your crab without at least a picture. But either way it is most likely a harmless little dude. Hopefully he'll survive for you.

[FishTechie]

well if you do use the bucket and get any/most inhabitants out of the lr and into it then you can more easily take a picture find out if its safe or you want to keep it for your tank, I've seen where people addnew lr to their tank and all of a sudden fish start dissapearing only to find out a few fish later that they have a mantis shrimp or pistol shrimp like in theis awesome video Pistol Shrimp Video

[Reefland]

@ Techie:

I miss my tank

So when are you going to set up a new one?

[FishTechie]

dont know yet, just got a new addition to my family and i want her to learn all there is about marine life and reefs as well as enjoy its beauty but need to make sure everything else is in order... may just start with a mini reef , she absolutely loves shark week and anything else that shows the ocean on discovery channel so thats a plus!

[Reefland]

She's adorable! Go ahead and set up a little 10 gallon mini just to get back in the game.