Yet more questions....

[kristine bean]

okay so I need to know, what sort of maintance does the protien skimmer need? How often? I'm getting the prizm pro one by the way. I dunno if this matters or not but it'll be next to a hang-on-the-side carbon based filter w/ biowheel.

Also, with the live rock...Do i need to keep the lights on all the time? If not, then for how long each day? its just a small 5 pound live rock. not much at all.

And finally, I've reconsidered the idea of eventually getting a spotted mandarian because he's just too cool to not have. Will he get along with the yellow watchman goby? Or are they bad news together?

Thanks so far to everyone who helped to answer my questions. I hope you can help me with these as well! I am hoping to get my first fish soon

 

[RamJet]

My lights are on for about 12 hours a day.
Your fish should be fine togeather, however for a mandarian I would think that you would want to have more live rock in which to breed pods.
Just empty your skimmer when it fills with slime, and you should be ok. Not a whole lot of maintance there.

 

[kristine bean]

thank you for the fast response! i hate being in suspense! lol

 

[DrOizo]

I take it that you are slowly building up your live rock collection. How many gallons is the tank that you are putting it in? what are its dimensions aswell? cheers

 

[ste2k3]

hi, I would get a lot more live rock and wait at least 4-6 months befor a mandering goes in as most of the time these will only eat live foods (mainly pods) and so if there is not a good enough population in there, then there is a chance that the manderin will starve todeath. as for your lighting, you want it off for the first 4-6 weeks while it is maturing. if you put them on, then you will be left with a massive algal bloom. your skimmer should be cleaned at least every 2 days or daily would be beter. as it skimms, you will notice the riser geting a build up of brown slime, this will reduce the efficiency of the skimmer so after a few days, the skimmer could only be working at 50-60% of its full capacity so it is best to clean it every 1-2 days. Don't expect it to start skimming straight away as it normally will take a few days to get going properly.

ste