New Tank...Please give your input

SW Bio-Spira hasn't been on the market for all that long, and is not available at all locations. It must be shipped and stored properly to remain viable, so many places don't carry it.

Yes, you can put in all the fish you intend to have long term--but multiple doses may be needed, and with the caveat of potentially buying mistreated Bio-Spira, I still advise adding Bio-Spira, dosing with ammonia to challenge the bacteria and get them fully established and then adding fish.

In terms of LR--no way to say without a pic. Awesome live rock will have lots of encrusting organisms and coralline algae. I've seen base rock that looked better than some places 'premium' stuff--a lot depends on how the rock is cured. You might want to check Tampa Bay Saltwater as well--last time I checked, it came in around $/lb shipped to Wyoming--and they really do have quality rock.
 
OG-Do you have any recommendations on the type of fish to add? I will tell you what I want and tell me if there are any on the list that will not work in the environment I have.

1 Ocellaris Clown
1 Yellow Tang
1 Molly Miller Blenny (maybe wait for the LR on this one)
1 Dwarf Lion
1 Spotted Cardinal

and I already have 2 small striped Damsels.

Also, is this too much for a 55g tank?
 
I wouldn't go with the yellow tang. Ideally, tangs do best in tanks that are at least 6 ft long--they are very active swimmers, and need a lot of algae in the tank to graze on to really thrive. If you're looking for a bold yellow fish, please look at one of the dwarf angels--better suited for a 55. If you must have a tang, please give the tank time to mature and develop healthy algaes for it to eat--I leave the entire back wall and one side of my tank 'natural' to keep my tang happy.

Which dwarf lion? Lions can be a hazard--they can and will eat any fish 2/3 their own size, meaning the blenny, potentially the clown and likely the damsels.

The other thing is the overall load. IMO, all those fish will be too much for a 55. If you substitute the angel for the tang, keep the damsels (a big maybe--they can turn into pugnacious little buggers, ripping fins and stressing much larger fish including predators), you could add everything but the lion. Alternatively, if you keep the lion, I would plan on removing the damsels, adding the angel, clown and the cardinal now, and waiting 6 months to a year for them to hit adult size before adding a small dwarf lion. Otherwise, the lion will likely grow fast enough to be able to eat the others in a few months.
 
Great Advice, thanks for everything.

The LFS will say...Oh, they'll be fine together or...yeah, you could probably do that, then you a missing fish, or there is half of one in the tank one day.


I will probably not get the Tang...the lion I am talking about is a dwarf zebra lion. I have noticed that Tangs seem to be very active and that was my concern for my size tank.

Any other fish you would recommend would be great.

One last item. When adding your fish w/Bio-spira, what number of fish would you recommend limiting it to simultaneously?
 
I would probably add no more than 2 small fish at a time, or one that's more than 4 inches--and keep testing and be ready to do a water change if needed.

Fuzzy dwarf lions can get up to 7 inches--meaning that the adult clown still might be a risk, and the damsels likely will as well. The fu manchu will only get to about 4 inches, and might be a better option with the other fish you'd like.
 
I like the way the fu man chu looks as well. Thanks for the info.

As far as water changes are concerned, how long can you keep a batch with just a heater and a air stone ready and waiting?

Is a Ph of 8.0 OK? I read somewhere that recommended Ph is 8.2. If you recommend it be raised, what would you recommend I use?

Also, my salinity is 1.020-021 is this sufficient for the fish I plan on w/LR? One last thing...my water temp has been staying at 80...is this ok or too high?
 
if you want a bright yellow fish, I would suggest a yellow watchman goby. As long as you don't have any other gobbies or blennies you should be fine. I love gobbies, they have pretty cool personalities and aren't too hard to care for
 
kgalliher said:
I like the way the fu man chu looks as well. Thanks for the info.

As far as water changes are concerned, how long can you keep a batch with just a heater and a air stone ready and waiting?

Is a Ph of 8.0 OK? I read somewhere that recommended Ph is 8.2. If you recommend it be raised, what would you recommend I use?

Also, my salinity is 1.020-021 is this sufficient for the fish I plan on w/LR? One last thing...my water temp has been staying at 80...is this ok or too high?
Click to expand...

From what I know, you can keep a batch of water for quite some time. . .not entirely certain to the length though.

PH is recommended between 8.1 and 8.3. I use Kent Marine Superbuffer dKH. Seems to do the trick.

Salinity is good, maybe a touch higher though, 1.022-1.023ish, and water temp should probably be somewhere between 78-82. So you're good there.
 
I'd bring the salinity up to about 1.024. This is closer to natural levels, and may bring the pH up as well. For FO, 8.0 is not a problem, and within acceptable levels, though, so I wouldn't stress about it too much, certainly not inititally.

I keep water in a large sprayer tank. There's always some water in there, and I add salt and FW as needed to bring it up to the desired level. I keep a heater and a pump going most of the time, never had any problems. You do have to test it before each use--evaporation can really play havoc with salinity levels in more than just the main tank!
 
Great info. Thanks

I was planning on doing my first water change this weekend (Saturday will be a week). Is there any reason I should not try to get some of the silt from the crushed coral out (via gravel vac)? I trusted the bag when it said minimal rinsing required and just gave it a quick wash before putting it in but it has had a lot of silt sticking to the sides of the tank. Or, should I hold off on this while trying to establish some good bacteria and do I need to do a water change yet if the amonia and nitrate levels are still 0?
 
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