Cali Kid Corals

Raymo's Red Sea MAX 130D

magnetar68

magnetar68

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BARcard
Tank is still sitting empty while I do my research but here is what I am thinking for my tank plan. This is based mainly off of LiveAquaria's suggestions for "beginner" inhabitants. Subject to change based on suggested improvements:

Tank Mods:
  • I have purchased some levelers to mount on the bottom of the stand
  • Koralia #1
  • Media Basket from inTank
  • Tunze Nano DOC 9002 w/the InTank upgraded cup


    Setup
    • Filtered Ocean salt-water from Monterey Bay, CA (LFS sells this)
    • 40lbs of Live Sand Substrate (thinking CaribSea Ocean Direct Pacific Black)
    • 40lbs of Cured Live Rock (Fiji)



    • (Added over time as the tank supports it)

      Invertebrates
      • 7 Branded Trochus Snails (Indo-Pacific)
      • 1 Emerald Mithrax Crab
      • 1 Fancy Serpent Sea Star
      • 1 Tiger Tail Sea Cucumber
        1 Banded Coral Shrimp
        2 Electric Blue Hermit Crabs (with an assortment of empty shells to protect the snails)
        1 Blue Tuxedo Pincushion Urchin

      Corals


    • 1 Mushroom Rock (Actinodiscus sp.)
      1 Colony Poyp (Zoanthus sp.)
      2 Leather Coral (Sarcophyton sp.)
      1 Lavender Mushroom (Rhodactis       sp.)
      1 Candy Cane Coral (Caulastrea       furcata)
      1 Neon Pineapple Tree Coral (Capnella       sp.)

    Fish


  • a pair of Ocellaris clown fish
    1 Orange Stripped Prawn Gobie

I would like to add a few more fish down the road, but I don't want to overload the tank. Any suggestions?
 
Get a neon goby. They suck parasites or diseases straight from other fish and they're very small. They don't pick on anything and they'll be fine in any type of tank. They're also very pretty. And you don't need the Koralia. I tried the Koralia #1 in my RSM 130 and it didn't do anything. I tried using a Koralia #2 and it still did nothing major... So if you want more flow, upgrade one of the pumps. I think combined they do 380 GPH which more than you need, but it is always nice to have more flow. :)
Also, IMO it's OK to get an idea of corals you want, but when you go into the LFS it's more of a "OMG I like that I think I'll buy it" thing unless you really want a certain type of coral. I got a plan of corals I wanted when I started reefing... Then I went into the LFS and got totally different things. Which LFS are you going to? Is it All About Fish in Pleasant Hill because I know they sell filtered natural sea water there. If so, be careful. Some of the workers there give you info like "Rose Anemones are much hardier than Green Bubble Tip Anemones" when really they are the exact same species with different coloration. Some of their workers will say some info, then if you ask another worker they'll say that it is wrong and say "Which LFS told you that?"
So just be careful and ask questions on BAR and not at the LFS... :)
 
Filtered Ocean salt-water from Monterey Bay, CA (LFS sells this)
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Sure it wasn't Half Moon Bay? I'm not aware of any collection down here in the MB (I live in Santa Cruz). I know C-Pure is collected in HMB.
 
Yes, All About Fish in Pleasant Hill. Are there other shops in the area that are reliable? Or do they all require some degree of caution?
 
magnetar68 said:
Yes, All About Fish in Pleasant Hill. Are there other shops in the area that are reliable? Or do they all require some degree of caution?
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Euh... All About Fish is PROBABLY the least reliable. I think you said you live in Orinda, right? Try going to Aquarium Concepts. Much, much bigger and better selection of corals and they get lots of cool fish. I've been a customer at All About Fish for over 2 years and say I have $100 to spend and I see something I like that is $110, they won't even give me the $10 discount. Also, All About Fish has OUTRAGEOUS prices on most corals and a very bad selection of zoas. Like I said, go to Aquarium Concepts! :bigsmile:
 
Not to start a flame here about LFS, but there are many other excellent LFS stores in the east bay. I believe that a few of the stores who sponsor this forum are excellent and would, in my mind, be a better choice than Aquarium Concepts.

As for flow in your RSM. The amount of flow you will need will somewhat depend on your rock structure. If you have a lot of rock, you will invariably need more water movement to get to all the dead spots in the tank. I might suggest a more open rock plan and then add additional pumps as needed. If price is not an issue, its hard to go wrong with the vortech or nano-tunze options in a tank like this.

You have lots of options for fish. depending on what you want, you could do any number of small wrasses, basslets, pseudochromis, cardinalfish, sand gobies, or cleaner gobies (as suggested by euphyllia). However, to contradict what was said above, cleaner gobies DO often bother the fish, and my pairs seem less likely to nest and spawn with neon gobies in their tanks than the aquarium without the gobies. That said, they are simple fish, inexpensive and are striking.

As for inverts - I would stay away from the emerald crab, cucumber, banded shrimp, and the urchin. These can all have a place in an aquarium, but I dont think they are best suited for a small tank.

Do you have a plan for topping of the tank? Do you have a auto-top off float system? Do you have an RO/DI system, or are you planning on buying RO/DI water from a LFS or a grocery store?

Are you planning on using a controller? Something simply like the neptune ACJr. is a good value and protects your investment - these are frequently available on the forums for much less than retail price, since neptune recently came out with a new controller.

Welcome to the club - feel free to ask as many questions as you have - this a wonderful community and people will be more than willing to help with your tank.

Best,
-Kyle
 
kvosstra said:
As for flow in your RSM. The amount of flow you will need will somewhat depend on your rock structure. If you have a lot of rock, you will invariably need more water movement to get to all the dead spots in the tank. I might suggest a more open rock plan and then add additional pumps as needed. If price is not an issue, its hard to go wrong with the vortech or nano-tunze options in a tank like this.
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I know of several tanks that are doing well with only an added Koralia. But I am considering upgrading the pumps. I would love to buy a Vortech MP10 but it is ~$200. That's a lot of money.

kvosstra said:
As for inverts - I would stay away from the emerald crab, cucumber, banded shrimp, and the urchin. These can all have a place in an aquarium, but I dont think they are best suited for a small tank.
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Someone else recommended the emerald crab for my tank (they have my tank an a crab), but I am not surprised it could be an issue. Are there any shrimp that might work? I think they are pretty cool, so I would like to add then if they will stay healthy.

kvosstra said:
Do you have a plan for topping of the tank? Do you have a auto-top off float system? Do you have an RO/DI system, or are you planning on buying RO/DI water from a LFS or a grocery store?
Click to expand...

My plan is to manually top off the tankewith RO/DI water from the LFS.

kvosstra said:
Are you planning on using a controller? Something simply like the neptune ACJr. is a good value and protects your investment - these are frequently available on the forums for much less than retail price, since neptune recently came out with a new controller.
Click to expand...

No plan initially for a controller.

kvosstra said:
Welcome to the club - feel free to ask as many questions as you have - this a wonderful community and people will be more than willing to help with your tank.
Click to expand...

Great, thanks!
 
There are a few shrimp that will work. I would suggest a common cleaner shrimp which may also be labeled scarlet skunk cleaner shrimp... So go with that. You should also get some hermit crabs and snails to clean the tank! :bigsmile:
 
I would go for a Koralia 2, maybe couple of them, the 1 seems too weak for a RSM130
Driving over the bridge OTA and AC have good selection plus you get to see the progress on the new span of the BB !!
 
The reason I like Aquarium Concepts is because they have a nice "cheapies" rack where you can buy lots of cool Zoas for $5-$10. The main reason I love their store is because they always have some nice, huge GBTA for about $70 that are normally very healthy. Every time they do have those, I get one and it's my clownfish's new favorite anemone. The next anemone that I get has to top 14"+ for the clowns to go into it! :bigsmile:
I'm sure there are many, many other LFS that may have better corals, but I like to anemone shop at Aquarium Concepts so that's the store I'll stick to until I find a better place! :D
 
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