29gallon newbie

[mladencovic]

im also fAirly tight on room, i dunno if a refugium is really a viable option right now for me

Look at Reef Central in the Do it yourself forum. All you really need is a old fishtank (a 10 gallon would fit in your stand), or a rubbermaid container with a clip-on light. You could do dividers or baffles in it.

You could have a standalone refugium or it can be part of your sump (many people confuse it with sumps, but functionally, these are two different things, though they could share the same space). If it is part of the sump, you use baffles to partition a section of it. If it is a standalone, any kind of container of any size will suffice, but the bigger the better (of course, going less then 1g serves little practical purpose unless these are specially maintained plankton cultures). If you plan to keep macroalgae and/or phytoplankton, then you lights, but really any kind of light (plain lightbulb is fine in this case) will be sufficient, othervise you do not need lights (if you are focusing only on pods, worms and mysid shrimps, for example)

 

[timdmb]

gsp

elephant ear mushroom

fts

 

[timdmb]

Can anyone id this hermit? it was sold to me as a "hallowen hemrit crab" but no pic ive seen of it on the internet looks like that... i know its not the best pic. Any help would be greatly appreciated it looks cool and is real activ ebut i think it might pick at corals i dunno

 

[roncgizmo]

A Crab is a crab...Personally I've had no luck with them every one I had likes to pick
at my corals, make a mess in my tank or kill a snail for a shell. the only ones I trust
(somewhat)is the Emerald Mithrax Crab..I also find a white Mithrax Crab in my tank
from time to time...he seems ok for now..

 

[timdmb]

id really hate to see him go, hes constantly changing shells and is the most lively thing i have in my tank, altho my starfish puts ona show at times,

 

[roncgizmo]

Keep your eye on him..I can't speak for all of them..lol
right now I have 2 small crabs in my fuge that I found
trimming zooz..I had 3 in there but he was cutting the
heads off my feather clusters in the fuge..I gave him
to rob at altis reef last week, now he's in a shell
the size of a golf ball.

 

[timdmb]

corals doing well, hermits not bothering em, thinking of adding a royal gramma anyone have and suggestions or advice about keeping this fish? ive read some places theyre jumpers annyone have any experience?

 

[JohnS_323]

I don't know what it is but I've never had any luck with them. I must have tried 5 or 6 times, at least, to keep one of them and they've always died within a few days. I have no clue why. I bought them all from different sources and kept them in different systems and had the same result every time. I finally gave up, even though I'd still like one.

It may just be a coincidence but I'd be intersted in hearing if anyone else experienced the same thing.

 

[timdmb]

the one i may be getting is coming from an established 120 gallon system hes been living there for almost two years... anyone have any info on avg lifespan in captivity? john i have read that they anesthesized and do have a fairly high death rate once put in captivity, but they have also been tank bred from my understanding

 

[JohnS_323]

Yeah, I may have just had a bad run with them. Sorry I can't answer your other questions. Good luck with it if you decide to go with it.

 

[JerseyWendy]

I've had a Royal Gramma in my tank since April. He was actually the third fish I added to the tank, and he's doing great.

---
Wendy

 

[Hawkeye]

The royal gramma i have is a bit shy and tends to hide unless food is in the water column. I can't recall exactly but we've had the guy for about 2~3 years...still in my old 55 gallon. It's not like he swims the entire 55 gallons - it's more like he has one spot he likes and stays there. So I don't think it'll matter that he is moving into a 29 from a 120. Mine has never tried jumping. But all fish are different and some will report carpet surfing while others not. Hope it works out for you!

 

[timdmb]

hey evryone thanks alot for the replies, phil good input, defintely encouraging, ive been pretty fascinated by this fish since i started thinking about a marine tank so im gonna take the jump. hopefully all works out well, also think im gonna need to upgrade my heater, seeing some fluctuations in temp especially when the temp drops outside maybe a 2 to 3 degree swing, the person im getting the gramma from has a jager 150watt, aanyone have suggestions otherwise?

 

[timdmb]

well so the gramma is a no go already sold off unfortunately to someone else... i guess ill just have to wait for my next addition hopefully something comes my way soon, once u start u cant stop, im having a ball with this tank and its bare lol

 

[Hawkeye]

ugh - sorry to hear. I do give you a big thumbs up for asking before jumping the gun. Any board you go to is littered with the deaths of countless fish from owners who purchased them first only to find they could not maintain the diet/no idea what kind of fish it was etc.

I myself am looking into a heater - so I can't provide any advice there. I was hoping to pick the brain of some members at a meeting...

 

[timdmb]

lil bug scurrying around inthe sand? its too small to take a pic but it looks like it has legs its real tiny? it actually startled me when i noticed it, what could it be?

 

[timdmb]

also is it ok to once in a blue moon turn on the halides off schedule, ya know to just watch...

 

[JohnS_323]

Most likely a copepod. They're good things!

 

[timdmb]

im still at a point where any sign of life is still a good thing lol

 

[timdmb]

so since i wasnt getting the gramma i figured id go looking at some coral at my lfs and i ended up coming across a gramma, after acclimating him and putting him in the tank he went straight to hiding so no pics yet, i hope he decides to come out especially since hes hiding in the back of the tank i could barely see his purple head sticking out....