The milky water wasn't caused by the LR but by the sand. I didn't know about the plastic bag trick which would have allowed me to avoid much of the sandstorm. After putting your sand in the bottom of the tank cover it all up with a big plastic bag. Set a bowl on top of the bag and pour the water into the bowl allowing it to gently overflow. Once the tank is about 2/3 full carefully remove the bag, place the rocks and then gently add the rest of the water. Try not to disturb the sand.
Now on that note, i would have a question. Why not mix up the sand as much as possible and have a good amount of canister filters with filter floss in them to remove the dust from the sand form the system. I only say this becuase if the dust isnt neautralized by something in the sand (is this possible.>?>??>?>>?), then every time you have a goby, fish or something else mix up the sand, it would cause a major sandstorm. I'm more of a better now than later type of guy.....
so i put in 16 pounds of live rock, about 14 of solid rock, and 2 pounds of 'rubble'. I put two big pieces on the bottom, than a big flat layer rock on top of that. On top of the big layer rock, i put another big rock. Than i put the 'rubble' in places to enforce the big rocks, and than i scattered them all over the tank. It looks good, yet will the scattered rubble rocks on the top of the big rocks just fall off eventually? Also, will the big rocks ever fall over? Everything seems stable, yet with actually fish life in there later, i dont want a big rock slide in the future.
suggestions?
"Human subtelty will never devise an invention more beautiful,
more simple or more direct than does nature"
- Leonardo Da Vinci
"I am made of the dust of the stars, and the oceans flow in my veins"
-Neil Peart
"The strenuous and dogmatic are the moral enemy of the good. They demand that we believe the impossible and practice the unfeasible" - Christopher Hitchens
well that thought kindof scares me haha. This might be a dumb question, but will the small rocks ever bind to the big rocks permanently so that they basically are naturally glued on?
also, i'm probobly going to have a clown, a small blue tang (until it outgrows the tank), shrimp, hermit crabs, and other inverts. does it sound like any of those fish willl undermine the rocks?
No the rocks won't bind together in your tank. You should not consider putting a tang of any type, no matter how small, is a tank of this size. It will be stressed and will be sick. My maroon digs but not like say an engineer goby. I've never had rocks topple. You can drill holes through the rock and use acrylic rods to lock rocks together. Or you can putty them together.
thats a great idea to use putty. A family friend whose had saltwater tanks for years came over and told me that the rocks look stable and i shouldn't need to move anything, but i think that i will use puddy on the rocks that look fairly unstable.
i took some pictures yet i'm not really sure hot to put them on the page. suggestions? also, all the levels of ph and nitrate etc. seem very perfect for some reason. How much longer should i wait with such levels?
There are a lot of image sharing sites available. All of them will give you a url code is going to start [IMG]http: You need to copy that whole string of characters and paste it into your post. You will only see the url until you hit "Post" or "Go Advanced".
I purchased a longtentacled anemone yesterday. i bought for it a bag of raw peeled shrimp, yet have reached a problem. How do i go about feeding it. Do i bring the shrimp right up to the tentacles and risk being stung? if i just drop it in the filter will push it away from the anemone. Will it really be able to find the piece of shrimp on the other side of the tank?
thanks
Use a set of long plastic tweezers or plastic tongs. Keep an eye on the anemone, I think LTAs like to bury their foot in the sand. Keep us posted!
__________________ Clarence 55g sumpless mixed reef(soon to be 120g)
DSB(2 to 6 inches)aprox. 80 lbs,LR aprox. 60 t0 80 lbs.,Coralife 220 Protein Skimmer,CPR HOB Refugium with Fiji Mud Member of TRS Member of SDMAS
RIP Sarracino Ciro 12/16/04 - 4/3/08
I've been told over and over again (and i believe it) that an anemone is not appropriate for this tank due to small size and inadaquate lighting. I've also been told that a tank should be well established before adding an anemone. I'm curious to see how the LTA fares.
"Human subtelty will never devise an invention more beautiful,
more simple or more direct than does nature"
- Leonardo Da Vinci
"I am made of the dust of the stars, and the oceans flow in my veins"
-Neil Peart
"The strenuous and dogmatic are the moral enemy of the good. They demand that we believe the impossible and practice the unfeasible" - Christopher Hitchens
I am quite intregued to see the pictures of your setup as well (similar to Carmy's progression of her tank).
Sine this is the "Choosing an aquarium size" thread, and I am a y (sorry I'm also a gamer ) to the saltwater aquarium scene...what size would be best.
I was actually considering a Biocube 24 or even the Reefmax plug and play to start. However, I was always the type to "learn to swim by diving in the deep end." To that end I was considering purchasing a 30-50 gallon tank and just slapping the equipment together. Money's really not a **big** object here, but I would like to do things right. I'm almost positive of all the equipment needed it's just acclimating the sizing of the pumps needed for a tank of say... fifty gallons. My uncle is an aquarium enthusiast and could probably help me get things started so I'm not **totally** in the dark.
Would it really be better to get a "plug and play" aquarium first, then move to a "self-project"? I really think the self project would be more fun and I would learn the equipment better (since it's not already picked out for me). What do you guys think?
P.S. - I LOVE Carmy's thread about the tank progression, it looks BEAUTIFUL!!!!
My other option would be to do a corner tank similar to Carmy's bowfront. My best friend from childhood's brother Dan is selling his 92 gallon corner for a decent price. Do you think that the 92 gallon would be too big to go for a new reefer?
Something I didn't add in my previous post was that I am looking to create a tank simlar to Carmy's with corals, fish, ect ect...
I have been told that fish-only tanks work better for someone new to the scene. Any suggestions/PMs would be GREATLY appreciated ^_^.
icon under their name to add to their reputation. 
y (sorry I'm also a gamer 
) to the saltwater aquarium scene...what size would be best.