Parker's 29 gallon

[Double-O-Zilch]

Had a brittle star that came with the live rock I was worried wouldn't make it, but he did! How long should I wait to put zoas and other corals? Some sources say as soon as the water clears but I want to be safe.

[UTSAltwaterEnthusiast]

A LFS told me most stars cant be with coral unless its one of those sand shifting stars. I might be wrong tho.

I know i started to add my first zoas around my 3 1/2 week. But they are very hardy coral. Just add some liquid calcium and your good to go. calcium will also help with your coraline growth on the rocks.

[Kenya]

A LFS told me most stars cant be with coral unless its one of those sand shifting stars. I might be wrong tho.

Yeah i have heard the same but on Live aquaria they say they are compatible with reef tanks.

Now with adding coral i would give it around 4-6 weeks. But i would mainly wait until you see your water params are correct and not fluctuating. Then you would be good to start with some hardy zoas.

[Double-O-Zilch]

Gotta see him some more to make sure which type he is first. He doesn't like light but maybe will come around soon. According to this link I just have to make sure he's well fed.

http://www.aboutfishonline.com/artic...tle-stars.html

[Double-O-Zilch]

Just did some night time recon and discovered there are more than one brittle star, there's at least three that I can see for sure. The rock I bought was around a 9lb piece that some one had taken in to AD. Wonder if the stars had something to do with it? Would multiple stars be a concern for a reef tank? Not sure I could direct feed like the article states since they hang out on the bottom of the rock and sure don't want them eating my corals.

[Gseclipse02]

looking good .. ...

the stars should be fine ... im sure your live stock will eat them, well if you have a wraase ...

[Double-O-Zilch]

The tank is going to be the future home of my six line wrasse and shrimp goby. I was thinking those stars look a lot like bristle worms and have got to taste better. Here is an FTS from today. One of the LR rubble pieces has three pieces of purple SPS on it, hopefully they will make it but not sure if the lighting is enough. Still trying to figure out the aquascaping. Should have melted the big round tubing like I did the others, hopefully coralline algae will hide all that before too long.

[NateDogg]

I like that set up.. especially with the pipes. Are the back ends higher up than the front. If not, I would be afraid that they would act as a trap for detritus and cause water probs. later. Not sure but it is something I have thought of in the past. I really like it though. Is that koralia a nano? Does it affect the returns? I thought about putting one there in mine, but I wasn't sure how it would affect the return flow.

[Double-O-Zilch]

Other than the Y pipe up front all the tubing is flat, just looks like that in the pics. I usually run the nano in my 14 and watched to make sure the returns were getting flow and they are. It tends to keep food circulating better with it on than off. Some food will still get by but overall I just leave it on when feeding in the day and turn it off at night for the acan, dendro and candy cane feeding. Then I have to worry about the cleaner shrimp stealing their food! I saw, I think, Justin running his nano in that position in his 8g and thought it would block the returns too till I tried it.