Need your help with deep sandbed question...

[wittyfellow]

Hi everyone!

I've been on this board reading and researching for a good year now and have finally finished my tank (thanks everyone for all your posts!!! I've learned from everyone's experiences).

My question is two fold. (1) Can someone please scan over my setup and let me know what you think I am missing and (2) relates to what fishes I can get for my tank.

I have a 75 gal with 90 lbs of live rock and a 6" deep sand bed. The live rock came from AquaDirect and FFExpress; the live sand came from Aquacon with the live sand activator from IndoPacific. I also have five Hawaii red mangroves in the 20 gal sump. The tank is running without additional filteration aside from the live rock and sand, 3 fixed powerheads and one rotating powerhead for circulation (all pointing at each other). The sump has a Remora skimmer and two heathers to keep the water at the correct temperature. Currently, there's plenty of worms and sand bed organisms along with the clean up crew up snails and hermit crabs from FFExpress.

The tank has been up for 4 months now and I've had clear and stable readings for the past 3 months (I've distracted myeslf with the wait time by going to lots of aquariums). I am ready to add fish (I'll hold off on the corals and complex inverbs for another year or longer until I get the hang of things).

Anyway, I thought I'd start with two Goby, two blenny, two jawfish, and three clown fishes. My concern is that i shouldn't be adding the gobies, blennies, or jawfishes because of the deep sand bed. Shimek, in his article says that no sand shifting animals should be added?

Any advice appreciated.

Many thanks...

 

[ReefLion]

A sandbed that size might be able to handle one or two small sifters. At the same time, the animals you list might not be sifters, although you may have specific species of goby and blenny in mind.

The jawfish do not generally sift sand (I think). They make burrows, but it sounds like your sandbed could support a couple as long as they find a spot and stay there. I would recommend only two clownfish. Get two small ones and they will sort themselves into sexes as they get older. I am not sure if that would happen without trouble if you had three.

Set up sounds good. Way to take it slow and steady.

Tim

 

[Anonymous]

i would steer away from the jawfish.

they tend to do some heavy escavating. i had one a few years ago, Valenciennea puellaris, constantly sifting. really causes problems with the DSB working correctly.

 

[wnfaknd]

on a small system such as your, i would steer away from any fish that digs holes. They tend to be a pain in the long run. Always making new holes, shiting the rock work, messing up the anaerobic bacteria in the deep layer of the sand bed...

 

[jgagel]

As far as jawfish Opistognathus Gilberti go, they don't do much of anything once they find a place they are comfortable with, dig their hole and stay there. As for gobies...engineer gobies Pholidichthys Leucotaenia are very, very disturbing to a deep sand bed. I had one for 3 years with a DSB, sure he moved everything, but all I used for filtration was a cheap skimmer, a powerhead, and return pump...I never added chemicals, had all kinds of corals that flourished, had 0 Nitrates, and lotsa critters in my tank even with the gobi. If you have a great sump with plenty of critters, I personally recommend an engineer gobi for pure asthetics that it will create a very diverse and interesting aquascape. If you want to keep you DSB, alive and untouched, DON'T get one of these.

 

[Bryan Thompson]

Wow I love that avatar.

Bryan

 

[danmhippo]

Most blennies are fine, as long as you chose the smaller full-grown length species. Not all gobies are sifter either. I would steer away from jawfish at this point as well.

 

[2poor2reef]

If you do go with a jawfish, get one, not two. Even mated pairs don't share the same burrow. And they prefer their burrows to be several feet apart in nature. This is one of the reasons people have trouble keeping jawfish healthy. Crowding causes stress. Also many aren't provided with enough sand bed depth, or enough building rubble. If you don't give them enough rubble they will tear up the bed looking for it.

 

[Anonymous]

if your sump is large enough to also acommodate a dsb/refugium, then you may not have a problem re:the jaw, or even a light sifter impacting on the benefits of the dsb....