My new hobby, HELP!

[newreefguy]

So about a week ago I got given a RR94 tank with live sand, all his water, two maxijet 1200 pumps, a Kent or tmc v2 skimmer, and all his filter media consisting of rubble, floss, filter block, these odd hoop things and carbon. I've set the sump up as the guy had it, and I have purchased some live rock from a guy that is between 1-3 years of age, I dont know what type of rock it is or what I need to worry about... I have a lot of life from the sand, and the rock has brought a lot more to the tank too, but I'm not sure whats good, whats bad, or what anything is apart from snails.
I have spotted quite a lot of tiny star fish going around,
I'll be uploading some pictures to this thread when I work out how to use tapatalk properly! Im excited, as I have a fully established tropical RR94 right next to my new reef. It will be a great contrast . One question that could be answered is this...
If I am using a previously set up tank with mature filter media, water and sand, and salinity, calcium, Kh, Ph, nd the nitrogen cycle are all stable, can I add more rock, and what corals can I have in there? The tank has 2 36W T8 bulbs... I found a bit of a pulsing xenia floating in the sand also and placed it on a rock, will this grow and propagate?
Thanks,
Newreefguy

Sent from my Xperia PLAY using Tapatalk

[FoMoCo Master Tech]

Welcome to Reefland!
I'm assuming your system uses a sump. All of the filter media (pads, floss, ceramic rings, etc...) and rubble are going to cause high nitrates, which isn't good for corals/ inverts. You're better off slowly removing it ( a handful a week or so) .
The mini stars are most likely good guys.
Generally, 1-2lbs of rock per gallon is what you want.
The T8 lighting is most likely going to have to be replaced to keep corals. How tall is the tank? Taller than 24" and metal halides is probably best. Under 24" T5 or LED will do fine. You can use T5 and LED on taller tanks but you wouldn't be able to keep many corals near the bottom. A general guideline is 3-5 Watts per gallon.

Xenia is hit and miss for some reason. Only time will tell if it will do well in your tank.

[newreefguy]

So you are saying there is no need for a sump at all? And on the lighting side of things, the watt per gallon rule is out dated and initially used with T12 bulbs... Now with the likes of all of the other, far more effecient lights (low power consumption + high output) I think for the time being, the standard lights will suffice.

Going back to the sump, why (other than the nitrates) is it best to not have it? Is this how you have your tank set up? Also you would likely have reactors and lots of other cool tank gadgets I have never heard of or even afford...

There are a lot of brittle stars in the rock, I can see their legs, but some are all white and others are black and white stripped legs... Any worry about the black and white one?

Thanks for your response, I look forward to your reply,

Newreefguy
Sent from my Xperia PLAY using Tapatalk

[FoMoCo Master Tech]

Sorry about that. I didn't mean you shouldn't have a sump. Sumps are highly recommended and can be useful for a number of reasons. I was referring to all the filter media you had listed. The filter pads, filter floss, ceramic bio media and live rock rubble housed in the sump will eventually cause the issues with high nitrates, unless cleaned religiously.
FYI, I'm currently not using a sump and its been a PIA .
I agree the watts per gallon is debatable but I'd be surprised if you could keep many corals with t8 bulbs. I generally see compact fluorescent lights as the minimum. VHO lights are still used but those are usually paired with metal halide fixtures, with the newer MH fixtures using T5 HO for actinic supplementation. If you plan on adding anything other than low light or NPS corals, you'll probably end up needing to upgrade.
I wouldn't even consider an anemone or clams with T8 bulbs (in case you were wondering).

I can tell you the white mini brittle stars (assuming thats what you have) are harmless and beneficial. I have tons of them and have never had any problems. I couldn't tell you about the black and white ones though, I only have the all white/ grayish ones.
HTH.

[newreefguy]

Ahhh right! Okay, so I will begin removing the media that isnt benificial to my tank, another question I have, I have a lot of tubes that look as though they have been made with sand, and they have 2 feelers swaying about... Some are really long...
And once I have more rock in my tank, what would be a good non agressive fish that I could introduce? Clown fish are an option but I was wondering what else is pretty, and wont outgrow my tank? And what low light corals would you suggest? I am reading up from loads of online resources, but you guys have personal experience that has paid off, and now I want your tanks!

I read through your thread to btw, a lot happening with your lights! I couldnt imagine what my girlfriend would do to me if I spent more on my hobby than her... I have to be very decieving about new purchases, even for my planted FW tank! I hope she doesnt go and take a visit to my lfs! My balls would be in a vice haha.
Cheers

Newreefguy

Sent from my Xperia PLAY using Tapatalk

[FoMoCo Master Tech]

You probably have spionid worms, which are harmless. I have a few but have tons of spaghetti/ hair worms.
There a lot of nice, smaller fish that are not aggressive to chose from. Clowns are always popular and come in many varieties. Blennies are a good choice. Cardinals are cool (especially in a group of 3 or more). Gobies are a good option but many are specialized feeders that need to be trained to eat prepared foods (mandarin fish included) along with providing their natural foods. Its hard to make specific recommendations because everyone has their own preferences. You're better off making a wish list of all the fish you want to keep and posting it so that others can see if there would be issues.

Luckily, my wife is tolerant with this hobby. Especially since she sees me having some success. I went about it backwards by going cheap but I wasn't sure if I was going to be a total failure. Initially, I didn't want to spend top dollar on equipment or even livestock until I knew this hobby was right for me. I'm paying for it now though with tank and equipment upgrades .

[chrisfont23]

And what low light corals would you suggest? I am reading up from loads of online resources, but you guys have personal experience that has paid off, and now I want your tanks!

Mushrooms. Leathers. Or get a sun coral - it's non-photosynthetic. Sounds easy right? Just sit back....and feed each polyp!

[chrisfont23]

I couldnt imagine what my girlfriend would do to me if I spent more on my hobby than her... I have to be very decieving about new purchases, even for my planted FW tank! I hope she doesnt go and take a visit to my lfs! My balls would be in a vice haha.

Here's the deal man - you bought "everything used on ebay" at a low, discounted price. Nothing new. Works every time.

[FoMoCo Master Tech]

Here's the deal man - you bought "everything used on ebay" at a low, discounted price. Nothing new. Works every time.

I'm glad you brought that up Chris! I'm going to start a thread on excuses used to get what you want for your reef.

[newreefguy]

Haha, wouldnt mind some excuses . My girlfriend just said she never wants a shared bank account because I would just buy new fish stuff! almface: how will I ever afford that MH lighthood! she already knows reef is way more expensive than FW...
Pics will be up later today.
Now I gotta cook my woman some waffles,

Talk soon and cheers Master Tech and co,

Newreefguy

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[newreefguy]

so here are some pictures that i said i would upload,

there are a few here, so if you could, please help study them,
i think i also found a bit of a coral frag that is growing but im not too sure what it is, and its not attached to a rock... the Xenia frag i found seems to be growing well since i set it up .
also i found some odd little critters on the glass. i've spotted 3 or 4 of them... maybe you guys know if they are friendly geezers or nasty ...
these emoticons are actually rather ingenius!

first of all, despite my knowledge on FW tanks, my SW tank knowledge is nothing to be desired, so please dont confuse me with short phrases of words etc, it really doesnt help my little mind .

here is the first picture of my two tanks...


and a tank only image...


here are the little critters i dont know about. they look flat, and dont have shells some are green and others are redish...


and those sand tubes with antenas, sorry about the blurry crap quality...


and on the back of the rock mentioned above there are these odd red things...


it looks like i have reached my image limit for this post so i will add more in a sec...

thanks again to James and everyone else who has shown themselves helpful.

Newreefguy (Also called James)

[newreefguy]

images continued...

and here, just to the right of the Xenia, you can see the black and white legs, it looks like a brittle worm though???!!!

when i next go delving into my tank i will try and recover what i think is a tiny coral frag and place it on a rock, and get a picture of it. i am keen to find out what it is though!

cheers,
Newreefguy

[FoMoCo Master Tech]

The third picture looks like a flatworm. They don't directly cause harm but can overpopulate and block light if they colonize on top of corals.
The last pic does look like some sort of brittle star.
I can't tell about the others.

[newreefguy]

YAY! i managed to capture that odd stripy brittle star,
here it is... anyone seen one like this before?


i'll keep an eye on my flatworm population from now on

Cheers,
Newreefguy

[Kmoriarty]

I have at least one of those too...I haven't had any problems with them at all. Usually I just see the arms coming out of a rock so I'm impressed that you were able to catch him!

[newreefguy]

yeah he was a bugger to catch! and i thing the fact that i see a hell of a load of legs about i was worried i was overran, but in actual fact, they all have 6 long legs! it took me about an hour (my arm didnt leave the tank) to get him out with some tweezers. atleast my mind is settled knowing hes a friendly . no progress on the tank as of yet, just the Xenia growing...

it will be weird that in a few months i will be posting pictures of me fighting an Xenia growth! it will be interesting to know what my tank will look like then.

cheers,
Newreefguy

[FoMoCo Master Tech]

In about 6 months, you might go from this...


To this...