Another Newbie with ??

[Little fish]

Alright Nice site you got and everyone seems really friendly. And I have a couple of questions. Looked back a ways and didn't really find the answers for them. First off I got a fish mainly 55 gal tank angel, 2 dasmels, 2 clowns, shrimp, snail, herits. With two hang on filter (bio wheel, and whisper) under gravel filter with powerheads on each side, powered sponge filter, and 20 lbs of live rock. The tank has been running for 1 year and a few month. So now you know my tank here are my questions

First I got a live rock with little orange and blue worms on it they get about 1 cm long when they are moving and they mostly live in the crushed coral. I think they are "bristle worms" are these bad ones to have? and I think I am getting so many cause I am over feeding? I took one of these to my LFS (= local fish store i think) and they said looks like a slug?? But they seemed dumb about it

Second I got a coral banded shrimp, I think that is what it is. Well he is big and kind of the king of the tank when he comes out. If I put in another type of shrimp (cleaner shrimp) will he attack and kill it?

Third after reading things on here I now want to rig up a loop to a refuge tank where I can culture rock, grow food, ect I have a little Galaxy 5 acrylic tank. I want to mount that above and behind the 55, so I pump water to it and then let water naturally drain back, but I will have to drill a hole in the little tank and a bulk head. What is the best way to dill it with out it looking bad?

Fourth my wife wants the fish to stand out better like in the fish store. So we have purchased 2 20000k lights in hopes to bring out the colors of the fish better than the stander bulbs. Right now we just have the standard hood on the 55, I may eventually build an wood top. The bulbs are not here yet but I did not find this site until after I orded them. Will these lights bring out the fish colors better or should I have gotten different bulbs.

Fifth you guys talk about only having the lights on for 10-12 hours, but I turn my lights on at 6:30 am when I get up and turn them off when I go to bed 9:30-11:00 pm is this wrong? Because the room gets a lot of natuaral light, so the fish will start moving around by 7 even with the lights off and I want to be able to watch the fish at night, so I really don't want to put them in the dark at 7pm. I love watching the tank, even after a year I am still sitting there almost every night watch even watching with a magnifing glass at the substrait for the little shrimp running around.

Sixth if I have a brightly lit room with the 20000 k lights will that be enought light to have one or two of the easier hardier corals such as a mushroom or a polyp

Ok I will end sorry about the long thread but these are a few questions that have been on my mind for awhile, I know I could search books and find my answer but with fish I think experience is a little better than book knowledge

Thanks alot for any answers

[dave00gt]

first of all almost everybody here will tell you a no no on the under gravel filter, i almost set this up myself but i just decided to go with a bio wheel filter hang on back type, and and it seems to do the job, second all the fish waste and uneaten food tends to get sucked down and stay there instead of getting eaten by the fish or eatean by the bacteria, crushed corral , man after trying it , it definately gets dirty quick, and you would need to be sihoning it every other week...

on the lighting if your talking about the blue bulbs than yes they do bring out the colors, have you tried looking into other type of lighting like power compacts or vhos or maybe even metal halides.. Power compacts do the trick for me in my 55 gallon tank. i have 260 watts and my anemones like it,as well as my frogs spawn , and torch corral.

hope this helps some.

[BubbaWPB]

The orange and blue worms are most likely some sort of bristle worm, although no one can say for sure without a picture. Bristle worms usually are considered a good thing in a tank. Overfeeding will lead to increased numbers.

Coral banded shrimp do get reputations as bullies and have been known to kill other tank inhabitants. Will it kill your cleaner shrimp? I can't say for sure.

I'll leave the tank drilling and lighting to others who know those subjects better. Good luck.

Bubba

[showfish]

I would agree, the under-gravel filter is a no no in saltwater setups. They are better suited for freshwater setups. Live rock makes for a real good biological filtration system in saltwater tanks. As for the coral banded shrimp. I have been keeping these guys for years, and never had one mess with my other shrimp, or even crabs for that matter. Do not ever put more than one in your tank, for they will kill their own kind. The one I have right now, I collected myself, here in Ft. Lauderdale, right off the beach in about 8 feet of water. Just make sure he has some good hiding spots, and he will be fine.

[Frogfish]

Littlefish... glad you love the hobby as much as we all do!

1) If it is a bristle worm (and a picture will help ID it) then they are good things. They do freek lots of people out as they are odd looking to say the least. However, they do a fantastic job of eating detritus and other gunk on the rocks.

2) Coral Banded Shrimp are very cool. I have seen and heard of people who keep them with other shrimp and I have seen and heard of people who had them kill other shrimp... kind of a crap shoot as to if it will work or not.

3) Most people put a fuge below the main tank in a sump of some kind. But I have seen them above as well. I don't think there is any way to make the bulkhead look good just be careful as you drill the tank... go slow.

4) What type of lights are you currently using? Florescent, Compact Florescent or Metal Halide? Changing lights doesn't usually affect the fish as much as coral. 20K lights will tend to be very blue! On my fish only tank I use a combination of 10K daylight and actinic bulbs.

5) Most people only leave their lights on for 8-10 hours max. Typically they are on a timer to do this automatically. If you have two ballasts and go the actinic route you can turn them on before and off after the daylight bulbs. Many people say this is a sunrise/sunset affect. I tend to turn my daylight bulbs on from 12-8. Let the fish wake up with the sunlight.

6) It may be enough light depending on what type of bulb (see 4). Most softies and mushrooms are photosynthetic so lighting is important.