2 month old SW Tank...what to add now?

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richc_120

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Oct 8, 2006
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This is my first adventure into a SW tank. I have had various FW tanks in the past(but not for a while ) and have always wanted to do SW. Well, my kids wanted me to start up a tank and i thought what a perfect opportunity to go SW. Only one thing in the way...my Wife. She finally said ok but she didn't want me to do a real big tank so i had to settle for a 28gal bow front tank (not exactly what i wanted but hey...SW!).The following is what i have with this setup.

Coralife Lunar Aqualights Compact Fluorescent Strip Lights
AquaC Remora Protein Skimmer with Maxi-Jet 1200 Pump
Topfin Power Filter 30
Power Sweep 212 (125 gph)
Power Sweep 226 (190 gph)
Neptune 100W Submersible Aquarium Heater
Metal Halide Aquarium Chiller Cooling Fan Kit (4)
40 lbs - Arag-Alive Indo-Pacific Black
40 lbs - Caribbean Live Rock
100gpd R/O unit (great find on ebay!)
Aquarium Systems Synthetic Sea Salt Instant Ocean

This setup only took around 2 weeks for the curing process to finish to my surprise but i waited another 2 weeks and kept close eye on it before venturing into adding livestock. Didn't want to rush into this even though kids wanted to...they didn't want to just look at rocks! Well, after this period, i changed 50% of the water and added the following:

2 - Ocellaris Clown
2 - Astraea Snail
3 - Zebra Turbo Snail
5 - Dwarf Blue Legged Hermit Crab
6 - Dwarf Red Leg Reef Hermit Crab

I had 3 Astraea snails but one got sucked up in one of the power heads! Everything has been going well and I have been thinking about what to add next and how soon? I know i will add more snails and crabs (15 snails and 30 hermit crabs altogether is where it will probably end up). I know that the next fish that i am goiing to add will be a yellowtail damsel. Another one i want to add is a clown goby. I do like the yellow watchman goby as well but i am afraid that it will jump out of the tank so i'm leaning toward a Sailfin Blennie. That will probably be it for the fish. I also would like to add a peppermint shrimp but is it too early to add this to the tank? Another question is that i do want this to be a reef tank, How soon should i wait before adding mushrooms, polyps, and corals? I have read in some threads that you should wait at least 6months before venturing into the reef but also have seen where others say to start after cycling with either mushrooms or polyps. I was thinking about the nano packs that liveaquaria have. Would one of each of those packs be enough for this size of tank or would i need more? There are two other inverts i have been kicking around the idea of adding and that was a star and a cucumber. These scare me. The stars seem like they would get to big for my tank. The cucumber really scares me because if it were to get injured or died i wouldn't want it's toxins to destroy what i have started and frustrate me to not want to continue! Am i just being to paranoid here or is there truth to this?

The other item i have been thinking about doing is making a ~14 gal refugim/sump for this system. What are all of the benifits that this would do besides increasing the overall volume of water in the system?

I have really enjoyed all of the threads and have learned a lot from them. Sorry about the rambling, can't wait to hear from all of you!
 
Last edited:

Max

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Jan 26, 2004
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Hello Rich and welcome to A.C.
Sounds like a nice set up. Let me try to answer a few questions for you. First thing I'd do is build up my clean up crew. I'd get as wide a variety of tank cleaners as possible but, I'd get mostly red reef and or left handed hermits sometimes the blue legs can be little monsters. Also make sure that you have pleanty of spare shells laying around for the sake of your snails.
Lol, as to your fish there are so many choices ;) out there when you narrow it down a bit make another post and you'll get some more answers ," I like 6 line wrasse they are hardy and neat ;) couldn't help it." Just remember if you want a mixed reef you'll have to lightly stock as far as fish go.
Shrooms and polyps are nearly bullet proof if you want some get them by all means! Please, post your water params though so that we can be sure. The reason people say wait on the lps and sps is that it does take time for the tank to get really stable and for the little critters to really get established ,"diet suppliment."
The reason you want a fuge is that it's a good place to keep equipment like the skimmer etc. It gives you a place to grow out macros so that you can get some nutrient export. You can also do things like a dsp in your fuge and it'll be easier to remove if there are phosphate issues etc. You can also grow tonnes of pods etc in there as a food and a way to recycle nutrients.

hth
Max
 

richc_120

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Oct 8, 2006
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Hey Max, thanks for the reply.

My water parameters are as follows:
Temp: 72-78 deg (need a temp control in the future to help regulate this better)
PH: 8.2
Salinity: 1.024
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 10
Alkalinity: 9-10dkh
Calcium unknown - need to get a kit for that

Seems to me I red something about red reef hermits and wrasses that they weren't totaly reef safe but i can't remember or find where I read that. I know that i will be limited as far as how many fish i can have but i am figuring 5-6 fish for this tank? What I was thinking to add with the clowns would be:

1-yellowtail damsel
1-clown goby
1-Sailfin Blenny

I'll have to look at the six-line wrasse! For the refugim/sump, I wouldn't be able to move anything to it due to size and space limitations (maybe the heater only). you mentioned about dsp, not sure what that is?
 

fsn77

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Feb 22, 2006
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I'd be hesitant to add a damsel to your tank since you have the 2 clowns.
If you decide to add a sixline wrasse, I'd seriously suggest that it be the last fish you add to your tank. They can become very territorial and agressive towards new additions.
I think dsp was meant to be dsb = deep sand bed.
 

richc_120

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Oct 8, 2006
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Well, the chiller fans are to blow across the top of the water to keep the temperature below a certain target - 80 degrees for example, especially in the summer months where the water temp can rise above the designated range. The heater of course is to make sure it stays above the lower target temperature at all times.

As far as fish go, I have already added a yellowtail damsel (actually 2 now because Drs foster and smith screwed up and sent 2 of them to me) I also added a black and yellow blenny. I did have a green clown goby but it has went AWOL, I think it probably jumped out of the tank and one of our dogs ate it but i, of course, can't verify, but it has been missing for 2 weeks now. I even took the rocks out while cleaning and changing the water the first weekend it went missing to try and find but had no luck! With the extra yellowtail i probably won't add any more fish to this tank. They aren't really aggressive towards the other fish. One of them likes to try and push the blenny around but he does a very good job at pushing back!

Thanks for the replies!
Rich
 

Lorna

Reef Crazy
Mar 1, 2005
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okay your next purchase will be a fish trap to catch those damsels with.......they will harrass your other fish and are devils in fish bodies. Everyone who has ever added one curses them sooner or later. Otherwise everything sounds great......I wouldn't remove your rock every time you clean and do waterchanges.......You may want to add maybe something to clean your sand for you......like nassarius snails or fighting conch's as these will help turn your sandbed over......without disturbing the lower denitrifying areas....

Add the fuge....it can only help
 

richc_120

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Oct 8, 2006
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Hey Lorna,

I usually don't remove my rock everytime i clean or change water and won't in future unless i really need to. The reason I did it at the time i was changing water was that it made it easier for me to see if i could find the clown goby (no luck). you might be right with the fishtrap but so far i don't have a problem with them (but, i only wanted one as i mentioned earlier). I do have 2 Nassarius snails right now and was thinking about getting some more or even the fighting conchs as you mentioned.

Thanks for the reply,
Rich
 
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