Faux-Reef?

As my tank is cycling, I`m pondering the the thought of a kind of Faux-Reef
set-up. Not the plastic stuff!!

Im thinking of having inverts that are not that expensive or are relatively
easy to keep. (IE NOT Corals or anenomes!)

For instance: Feather Dusters----are there different varieties of these?
Also Gorgonians---but they seemed to die off pretty quick back in my
undergravel filter days in the 80`s.
I also had a tube anemone back then did great without any special lighting.
Can anyone suggest other mostly sessile type inverts that might do well in a
FOWLR tank with generic lighting?
Plants are cool too,

thanks

StringerBell wrote:

For instance: Feather Dusters----are there different varieties of these?

These are readily available. Not that the site claims that all of them have
"lighting needs." This usually means high intensity fluorescents. Note that the
Christmas Tree worm they offer lives with a type of coral; if you can't keep the
coral alive, the worm usually dies.

Also Gorgonians---but they seemed to die off pretty quick back in my
undergravel filter days in the 80`s.

Not surprising. If you go for these corals, you might want to add an actinic
bulb to your lighting.
http://www.marinedepotlive.com/corals--gorgonia.html

I also had a tube anemone back then did great without any special lighting.
Can anyone suggest other mostly sessile type inverts that might do well in a
FOWLR tank with generic lighting?
Plants are cool too,

thanks




--
George Patterson
All successes in conservation are temporary. All defeats are permanent.

StringerBell wrote:

For instance: Feather Dusters----are there different varieties of these?

http://www.marinedepotlive.com/inver...erdusters.html
These are readily available. Not that the site claims that all of them
have "lighting needs." This usually means high intensity fluorescents.
Note that the Christmas Tree worm they offer lives with a type of coral;
if you can't keep the coral alive, the worm usually dies.

Also Gorgonians---but they seemed to die off pretty quick back in my
undergravel filter days in the 80`s.

Not surprising. If you go for these corals, you might want to add an
actinic bulb to your lighting.
http://www.marinedepotlive.com/corals--gorgonia.html

Can anyone suggest other mostly sessile type inverts that might do
well in a FOWLR tank with generic lighting?
Plants are cool too,

Check out http://www.marinedepotlive.com/inverts.html and
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/categ.cfm?pCatId=497 and
http://www.melevsreef.com/id/

Pay particular attention to any mention of what these things eat and what eats them.

Sorry for the earlier post - hit send when I meant to token the page.

George Patterson
All successes in conservation are temporary. All defeats are permanent.

Pardon my ignorance----I didnt realize Gorgonians were Corals.

I dont mind investing in getting better lighting, its just that as a newbie
I dont want to get hung up with the trial and error of keeping costly
perishable corals and anemones.
I thought the tank could be pretty nice with a bunch of feather dusters and
some sponges. Am I right in thinking that the dusters are less delicate and
easier to maintain than those other reef inverts?
How about sponges--- are some types also on the less delicate side?


"George Patterson" wrote in message
news:b0gRg.1394$8O1.949@trnddc04...
StringerBell wrote:

For instance: Feather Dusters----are there different varieties of these?

http://www.marinedepotlive.com/inver...erdusters.html
These are readily available. Not that the site claims that all of them
have "lighting needs." This usually means high intensity fluorescents.
Note that the Christmas Tree worm they offer lives with a type of coral;
if you can't keep the coral alive, the worm usually dies.

Also Gorgonians---but they seemed to die off pretty quick back in my
undergravel filter days in the 80`s.

Not surprising. If you go for these corals, you might want to add an
actinic bulb to your lighting.
http://www.marinedepotlive.com/corals--gorgonia.html

Can anyone suggest other mostly sessile type inverts that might do well
in a FOWLR tank with generic lighting?
Plants are cool too,

Check out http://www.marinedepotlive.com/inverts.html and
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/categ.cfm?pCatId=497 and
http://www.melevsreef.com/id/

Pay particular attention to any mention of what these things eat and what
eats them.

Sorry for the earlier post - hit send when I meant to token the page.

George Patterson
All successes in conservation are temporary. All defeats are
permanent.

StringerBell wrote on 9/23/2006 9:07 PM:
Am I right in thinking that the dusters are less delicate and
easier to maintain than those other reef inverts?

Not really. Feather dusters are filter feeders, and most
people don't feed them enough. Corals that need light are
easy if you know what you are doing, because once you
provide *good* light, you are set, just keep the calcium
and alkalinity right, and your set. You can also do some
supplemental feeding, but the light is what will keep your
corals going.

How about sponges--- are some types also on the less delicate side?

Sponges are filter feeders too. As a general rule, small
sponges that come on your live rock are easier to keep
than larger sponges.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets

corals going.

How about sponges--- are some types also on the less delicate side?

Sponges are filter feeders too. As a general rule, small sponges that come
on your live rock are easier to keep than larger sponges.


just echo that
sponges are hard!
Ya need lots fresh sea water

StringerBell wrote:

I thought the tank could be pretty nice with a bunch of feather dusters and
some sponges. Am I right in thinking that the dusters are less delicate and
easier to maintain than those other reef inverts?

Yep. They need less light than most corals. Just make sure you don't buy a fish
that eats them and don't overfilter the water.

How about sponges--- are some types also on the less delicate side?

As Wayne reminded me, many sponges don't like much light. Put them under an
overhang. They also like a fairly "dirty" tank. Most of what I know about them
comes from reading; I had one as a live rock hitchhiker. It did well for a
while, but a butterfly I bought to eliminate aiptasia ate it. I had fairly
standard fluorescent lighting, which is probably insufficient for feather
dusters but (apparently) good for sponges.

George Patterson
All successes in conservation are temporary. All defeats are permanent.

Back-in-the-day I remember the LFS guys saying that the bio-load
(waste-amonia production) of adding inverts to a tank was miniscule compared
to adding fish.

Is this true? Once the tank is cycled, can I add , say, a dozen feather
dusters with half-dollar sized crowns simultaneously without creating a
water hazard? Or, since they are worms, do they produce enough waste where
adding this many would be a concern?

Feather dusters don't need light either, but they do need
to filter a lot of food. The dirtier the tank, the happier
they are.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets



George Patterson wrote on 9/23/2006 10:33 PM:
StringerBell wrote:

I thought the tank could be pretty nice with a bunch of feather
dusters and some sponges. Am I right in thinking that the dusters are
less delicate and easier to maintain than those other reef inverts?

Yep. They need less light than most corals. Just make sure you don't buy
a fish that eats them and don't overfilter the water.

How about sponges--- are some types also on the less delicate side?

As Wayne reminded me, many sponges don't like much light. Put them under
an overhang. They also like a fairly "dirty" tank. Most of what I know
about them comes from reading; I had one as a live rock hitchhiker. It
did well for a while, but a butterfly I bought to eliminate aiptasia ate
it. I had fairly standard fluorescent lighting, which is probably
insufficient for feather dusters but (apparently) good for sponges.

George Patterson
All successes in conservation are temporary. All defeats are
permanent.

Try caluerpa grasses or halmidia they look cool and your fish can eat
the caulerpa.