REEF!!

[yamahaguy06]

guys, I have a couple questions about reef,
1- how hard are they to keep

2-can you change your normal fish/live rock tank over to a reef

3-do the flowers and stuff(coral)come right from your everyday live rock?(is it live rock)

4-how come I have never seen any algea in a reef tank.

5-do you move your rock or coral around after yuor reef tank is already set up and growing stuff(or advanced)

thanks guys. *twirlysmi *PEACE!*

 

[seastaar88]

well, yamahaguy, considering you already have a marine tank, a reef tank will IMO easier to manage than a system void of live rock. you'll have the benefit of live rock being a biological filter and your fish will be happier, having places to swim in and out of and hide.

do you only have the royal dottyback in your tank now??? they're very aggressive little guys and will pick on small tank mates just an fyi. you can certainly go from a fish only to a reef system. i would suggest getting your live rock in place BEFORE you start adding fish. the least amount of stress inflicted, the better.

flowers are nonexistant in marine systems. coral would be bought separatly and most have high demands for lighting.

all tanks have algae. you just have to be on top of things: scraping algae often, perhaps treating your tank with phosphate reducers such as ROWAPHOS or PHOSGUARD.

i would highly suggest going to your library and getting some books on reef systems, or look at past posts or stickies. a lot of time and effort goes into setting up a reef system before you can even add fish.

 

[1979camaro]

1) Harder than a FOWLR: water quality has to be very good (especially for SPS)

2) Sure can, definitely would need a skimmer and new lighting

3) Coral are actually animals; occassionally they will sprout out of your LR, but most of the time no they do not...we buy those on seperate pieces of LR and add that to the tank

4) You actually probably do...the pink stuff on the rock is encrusting calcerous algae and many people keep macro algaes...most of the nuisance algaes (diatoms, hair, etc) are controlled by the water quality and the cleanup crews

5) You can move rock and coral around in a reef...i generally don't, but a lot of people do. Sometimes I will buy a colony of shrooms or zoanthids and let them colonize onto my rock and then trade the original piece for another...its a good way to limit the expense of buying enough coral to fill a 55g

 

[yamahaguy06]

wow, thank's guys I think that took care of some Questions I had. I think once I get my tank under control I will enjoy it. It is only because I have put so much money into this thing and it turns out like (not good, lol) but It sound like, first you have to be really dedicated to a reef and have some $$. But thank you for answering my question, I figure if I ever get into down the road this is were I will be coming back here for tips and everyone knows me and how I have my share of questions.

Oh and what are ROWAPHOS and PHOSGUARD???? And yes that Dotty back is my only fish….

 

[1979camaro]

rowaphos and phosguard are chemical pellets you can put in your water to absorb phosphates (PO4)...its a bandaide to a problem not a solution and not a good long term plan...the most algae you should see in a stable reef or FO tank is a light dusting of green on the glass every few days

and you already have a bunch of LR so the only thing you would need to upgrade to reef would be lighting (once you get your powerheads/skimmer/etc squared away). setting up a reef in terms of cycling etc doesn't take any more time than setting up a FO system

patience is the key...using chemical "fixes" and just buying more stuff is not the way to go...reefkeeping is part science, part art, and all fun...we are trying to replicate the natural reef in as natural a way as we can (or at least I am)

 

[yamahaguy06]

Yes, it is definitely a cool thing, but um, the first thing I am doing right now is buying some good powerheads. Probably two, because there is little circulation in my tank., I think my Fluval puts out fine but I have a hex tank and the water just doesn’t get a good current. maybe because the output nozzle is way up top? And there are tons of dead spots I guess you could call them. And gunk and algae just lay and settle there. But soon to be fixed and with some BIG scrub time I will have a healthy tank…thanks to the guys at myfishtank.net..….

 

[1979camaro]

and your elbow grease/research