23" Cube Reef, DIY LEDs and DIY Shelf Rock......

redfishsc
my opinion is that your corals will be fine
my very 1st set up was
dry rock dry sand, saltwater added 1st weekend
folllowing weekend a rock of GSP
following weekend a leather hand coral
weekend after that another leather coral
and so on and so on

those corals all thrived

I had no fish in the tank for about 2 months
the tank cycled but at extremely low levels of ammonia and nitrites
and the corals select - selected for me by a nice guy called Trevor who worked and still works at an LFS ( it is his now )

he suggested , get the hardy corals in
leave it a few weeks
then start adding fish

his philosophy was get the tank set up and then put the fish in
rather than have the fish scared every other week for 3 months as you add new corals to their home

the corals do create some waste, but minimal compared to fish
the corals in those days did not come on plugs, they all came on solid lumps of live rock
so each introduction provided some new nutrients and a bacteria colony that would multiply and ensure those nutrients would be dealt with

since those days I do things differently
but 2 years ago my tank had to be taken down in quick time due to suspected relocation
I left the rock in large tubs outside on my balcony, after sending the corals back to an LFS

those rocks sat damp and not wet for 3 weeks
I got to stay, gladly and 3 weeks later set about re setting my tank up
those rocks came back in

the GSP I have in my 5ft tank, is from those rocks (small bits that had encrusted over next door rock left behind when I removed the main colony)

so if anyone wants to tell me, you cannot put GSP in a week old tank and have it thrive
I will tell them they are possibly wrong
because in my experience you can keep it dry for 3 weeks and then put it in a tank of 23 hour old mixed saltwater and it will still make a nuisance of itself

GSP is the Segal of the reef tank world

Hard to kill

 

Thanks Steve

That is amazing that it survived like that for 3 weeks, wow. It's a good thing GSP has neither fingers nor a brain otherwise it would easily overtake the world governments.

I can see the next horror flic, "The Polyps"

 

Coral update, all is well. Everything is polyped out, just not as extended as it was in my smaller tank because of the light levels and normal stress from being in a new system. I will take and upload some pics later this week when I get time. Tried to get some shots today but right now only the royal blue LEDs are on and it's hard to get a reasonable pic.


Also..... had some fun out collecting......






Caught these today and had caught a few two weeks ago also. I have 1 spot, with 1 rock, that might have them under it lol. Believe it or not, I got all these dudes in 1 net swipe.

These are HUGE!!! They are in a big round butter tub (that's not a 5g bucket lol, they are huge but not THAT huge....)

They are temporarily in my 11g since it's fully established, and will eventually go in the 45g once it's fully cycled and well seasoned.

 

Couple things.. Nice catch. I can admire someone taking a different route and I'm looking forward to how it turns out. This makes me wonder should I keep softies in my tank to help maintain an ULNS. Are they that effective? I dunno just trying to look at it from a different perspective. only negative is I would skip the angel doesnt look like it will have anywhere to swim, could be wrong but looks that way.

 

what kind of shrimp are they?

 

What type of shrimp are they, may I ask where you collected them?

 

I don't think soft corals are a viable method to attain ULNS because of the sheer square footage they require of your tank to get the water that clean. You'd have to have 2 systems, one "softy" tank as a refugium of sorts. I also think macroalgae will be much more effective, and in the end I think using any photosynthesis-driven nutrient export will give us "LNS" instead of "ULNS".

ULNS has, in my experience and observations, always required advanced filtration techniques like carbon-source dosing, GFO, denitrators, etc.


I will look further into the dwarf angel thing. I was always under the impression that they were rock grazers rather than open water dwellers like tangs and such.

Common peppermint shrimp, like the ones at the LFS . They are native to the eastern seaboard.

 

South Carolina coast

 

Cool, major score.

And yes I agree Angels generally swim over the rock work picking at algae and sponges (unfortunately sometimes corals).

A Dwarf Angel would look cool.

 

OK so your opinion here---- other than a cherub angel (which I know would work), is my tank (23" cube) sufficient for a HAPPY dwarf angel such as a flame, coral beauty, Eibles, or rusty?


Also, do you think a dwarf angel would be a threat to the peppermints??