Am in the process of paying off a Red sea max tank.

Been throwing around ideas as to what to fill it with and what sort of rock structure i would like to do.

I'm thinking i would like

1 x Clam

1 x Mandarin

2 x Clown fish OR Cardinals of some sort bangaii or pyjama

1 x Shrimp

1 x Starfish likely a brittle star

some montiporas and a xenia are a must too

i would love to have xmas tree worms too but am not getting my hopes up about them.

I would love to get the cool and weird stuff but I am more worried about overstocking, incompatability and choosing fish that will get too big for the tank.

Have heaps of questions...........

-Can you shape rock?

-Like can i hack away at the rock from the pet shop with a hammer and chizel or something to shape it the way i would like?

-Is it worth doing it that way or is there an easier/better way?

-Is a mandarin better in a tank by itself or can one live easily with ocellaris clowns? of course assuming there is a good supply of pods?

-Anyone here made their own live rock? Any tips/recipes?

-Porous rock is better than dense/solid rock right?

-What about heavy vs light weight?

-Could porous rock mean more Pods?

more questions to come LOL!!

Ok, as from previous thread, the Bangaiis will probably out-compete the manderin for food esp. in a 130 L tank, the reason Conch's manderin is fat & happy is because he overfeeds his tank, hence allowing his pods to grow and become happy.

Yes, can you smash the rock up. If you get live rock and are busy hitting it with a hammer beware of bristleworms.

what is a red sea max tank? is it a marine tank all ready made up and with every thing you need to get going?

what is a red sea max tank? is it a marine tank all ready made up and with every thing you need to get going?

Yes it is, here's the link to the website:

http://www.redseamax.com/redseamax/index.html

They certainly have their pros and cons but I have one (first marine tank) and am happy with the decision to get it....... of course the next tank will be a different story....!

Loopy, when I set mine up I played around in the shop with bits of rock to get a structure I was happy with and then took photos so I could replicate it later. Probably looked a bit odd for the other customers come to think of it! You can break it but it tends to crumble and not break exactly in the way you want (well at least for me) so I found it easier to use a couple of larger pieces for the basic structure and then use smaller bits to get the effects I was after like tunnels etc

-Porous rock is better than dense/solid rock right?

-What about heavy vs light weight?

-Could porous rock mean more Pods?

i like light porous rock gives pods more places to hide

why didnt no one tell me about these before lol okay can i ask a few questions?

1: do i need to supply coral anemonie ect?

2: do i need to supply fish?

3: do i still need to purchase a reverse osmosis machine?

4: were can i find price list?

why didnt no one tell me about these before lol okay can i ask a few questions?

1: do i need to supply coral anemonie ect?

2: do i need to supply fish?

3: do i still need to purchase a reverse osmosis machine?

4: were can i find price list?

sure thing!

yes to 1 and 2 no rock or live stock come with the tank

for number 3 it would depend on the tap water most people would say yes

ask at your lfs for a price here they start in prce from $1500

thanks for that i reckon they should create bigger ones the they will be onto a really good thing

so basicly you get the stand tank and all electrical equipment? and just need fish and rock

if you dont mind me asking loopy how much was the rsm? as im thinking of treating myself to one as a graduation present in the middle of the year

i think john had silver ones for $1500 today

yup found prices in another thread... so tempting!!!!

its a very good price a great way to get into reefing

oh i like the sun corals too!!

Sun corals are beautiful - I have some of the ordinary ones but am now after the paler yellows ones. I haven't quite made up my mind about the black ones yet (never seen them available anyway!)

im selling my yellow one because i dont have enought time to feed it much :oops: its about the same size as johns yellow one in his RSM and same colour (they were one coral that we broke in half)

im selling my yellow one because i dont have enought time to feed it much :oops: its about the same size as johns yellow one in his RSM and same colour (they were one coral that we broke in half)

I'd be happy to give it a good home Wilson - if you don't already have a buyer of course! They do take a bit of looking after but I think they are worth it!

Sorry Loopy don't mean to hijack your thread..

hwen do you think you'll be getting your tank anyway?

sapphire pmed - sorry loopy

sorry loopy

:lol:

-Anyone here made their own live rock? Any tips/recipes?

when do you think you'll be getting your tank anyway?

not as soon as i would like. dang fortnightly pay :evil:

by what ive been reading a mandarin and clowns would be fine loopy as the clowns dont eat pods

by what ive been reading a mandarin and clowns would be fine loopy as the clowns dont eat pods

I had a tomato clown that used to chase down pods and eat them

Hi Loopy

Found this on seahorse.org on making liverock, just remember it will take ages to cure the diy liverock:

http://forum.seahorse.org/index.php?sho ... y+liverock

HTH

found this page on the web dont know how usefull it will be

http://www.reef-eden.net/diy_9.htm

Just had look a those links and making your own seems like a lot of work! Is it commonly done in NZ?

Hell no - most of us just use Figian rubble

Hmmm..... I quite enjoyed selecting my bits of rock (didn't enjoy the aqua kneadit so much) and putting a structure together. It also seems as though you would have more flexibilty with rubble/ rock unless you made your own in small pieces that could be moved around.