Rock, Coral & Substrate

Question
Hi Gerry,
Thanks for your great guidance.
I am leaning towards a Humu Humu, but still concidering a Clown or Niger. How large is your Humu Humu? I also like the Volitan Lion.
As a follow-up, I am overly concerned about the cleanliness(excess food and waste)on the rocks and substrate. Would you mind sharing with me how you handle this maintanence chore?
Thanks again...

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Followup To

Question -
Gerry,
I am setting up a new Marine tank with Fish (Trigger & Lionfish) only and was wondering the following. Do I need to use live Rock and Gravel...what would be the pros and cons?
Thanks for your help...

Answer -
Hello again Blake,

      You have picked two of the most spectacular fish to care for. Depending on which species of trigger and lionfish you eventually decide on, I think the best sustrate is live sand. The bags of live sand will have measurement charts as to how much you will need per inch of sand in a 75. I would also recommend live rock for several major reasons - filtering capacity, natural organism growth,a place for fish to hide and feel secure, a place for prey to hide so fish can fullfill their natural tendency to hunt, and asthetically, if properly arranged, will look beautiful. I have a humu humu trigger [picasso trigger] and he eats right out of my hand. I have also had lionfish and think they are awesome hunters. The triggers are fast and the lion is pure stealth. Please do not put them in a "green" tank. It must be aged for at least a month to guarantee any type of success. Let the water cure naturally, no chemicals. Amquel or stesscoat is okay. gerry

Answer
Hello Blake, the maintainance is not difficult; if you pick the right cleaning "crew" you will probably have very little clean up to do. If you include creatures like, a couple of emerald crabs, 10 to 20 red leg hermit crabs, a couple of sea stars, a lawnmower blenny to keep the live rock clean, some turbo and astrea snails, and there will also be worms coming from the live rock that will clean the substrate along with the crabs. Shrimps can be helpful but the trigger will probably snack on them. There are also cerrith snails, scarlet hermits and onyx nassarius snails you might want to consider. Do a little study on these animals and pick the ones you need for your tank. Go to ask.com, google, etc. to see pictures and feeding habits.   talk to you soon, gerry.......