Livestock questions

[topherchrisb]

The first draft of this post was so long! I edited out the important stuff to get to the point. I tend to over-think things.

Setup is going to be the Red Sea MAX 34gal system. I'm considering a fine black sand I saw at a local store for the sand bed. The stuff I got in the starter kit with the tank literally looks like bird seed. Anything I need to consider when choosing the color of the sand? I do plan on one borrowing style fish and maybe a starfish later. Is super fine sand going to cause problems while borrowing(like easy cave-ins)?

Second- What is the easiest clown fish preferred anemone to take care of? I plan on the clown/anemone combo to be the center piece of the tank. So I the most potential for success there.

Third-The dreaded livestock questions!
Fish desired- False Perc (maybe 2), Yellowtail Damsel, and a Blenny(or goby).

Which Inverts would go best with the above? The ones I have my eyes on are: cleaner shrimp, small starfish, clam, feather duster, pompom crab, or an urchin.

I'm really interested in putting a couple pieces of Mermaid Fan Algae in the tank too. Could you see that becoming a problem with anything listed above?

[rustybucket145]

Pretty much everything sounds good to me except for maybe the sand. I've seen the black stuff before but don't really know what it is composed of. Is it a Quartz sand? Or other?

Aragonite based sand is pretty much the quo-pro around here although many use silica play sand from HD or Lowes with the same success and save some money. I prefer Pulverized Limestone from HD or Lowes. It's aragonite based sand and is much cheaper ($4/bag) than what you find in the LFS ($40/bag).

You're gonna need to check into sand depth for burrowing critters, many require 4 inches sand depth at a minimum, that will take up alot of the 34's height. Also, Before getting an anemone let your tank mature for somewhere around a year and make sure you have proper lighting to house the specific nem you are looking at.

[dileggi]

Rusty........thank you for saving me big time there! I was going to look into an anemone for my tank. I know I needed a "mature tank" before I could get one, but I had no idea what a mature tank was considered.

Someone at an old LFS I was using..(they went out business...LOL) stated 6 mos was enough "aging". I'm not even at the 6 month marker yet, so I wasn't buying it tomorrow, but thanks again for the heads up!

[topherchrisb]

Ah thanks Rusty. You make me feel like I did most of my homework correctly.

I'll have to look a little closer when I go to the store it seems. I now know what to look for when I get a chance to get there again. The starter sand I have is described as "...naturally occurring reef sand spheres mixed with aragonite coral chips." Maybe I'll buy some of the darker sand to mix in with the kit sand to give the stuff a darker tint in general.

4" was pretty much planned. The tank is pretty tall and can afford the four inches pretty sparingly I think. It could look way different when I finally get it in there of course.

The lighting system that came with it has 10K T5 power compacts in it now. I'll have to do some research on the anemone.

Is there a desired place to put a UV sterilizer(in terms of filtering order)? Everything I've been reading says this is the best way to keep your water crystal clear. I'd like to keep a clean setup and the simplest/cleanest looking option I've found is the JBJ 5watt submersible so far.