Ready for first fish?

[duffman8080]

Hello Reef Tank,

I am another beginner and have been browsing the site here for a few months now. The wealth of knowledge has been a great help in setting up my system and undoubtedly has saved me from making many beginner mistakes so thank you to all members. I think I am ready for my first fish and was hoping for some input on

a: what I should get (if I'm ready), and what order
b: whether it's better to wait and add corals first

The tank has been setup now for three months, here are the details:

Parameters:

sg: 1.024
ph: 8.3 - 8.8 (after dosing kalk 2X a week)
alk: 11
nitrates: ~15
calcium: 400

My current setup is as follows:

55g (30 X 18 X 24) with dual overflow
20g sump w/ mag 9.5 return
coralife protein skimmer
96w T5 lights (2 actinic 2 10000k)
Koralia 2 powerhead
Koralia 3 powerhead
Split return line
200W heater
Gravity ato for evaporation (no kalk)
70lbs. fiji live rock (coraline finally starting to spread)
2.5" live sandbed

Livestock

5 nassarius snails
25 other assorted snails
10 red hermits
2 peppermint shrimp (finally destroyed my aptaisia)

Hitchhikers:

Tons of small white brittle stars
one unidentified starfish (not sand sifter as legs are even)
clear flatworms
sea slug
tons of copepods

I definitely want to keep the bio load low so don't plan on adding too many fish and want to focus more on inverts, lps, softies and possibly some of the lower light sps. So far the fish I've liked include:

Green mandarin ( in a year if I'm lucky )
orchid dottyback
purple firefish
clown fish (possibly mated)
pistol shrimp w/ goby
lawn mower blenny
chromis

I am of course open to any suggestions if anyone has a favorite they think should be included. I should also note I still have more algae than I would like. I'm cleaning the glass about every three days but with no food I'm not sure whats fueling the outbreaks. Actinic lights are on 12 hours a day and 10000k for 6. Mostly the algae is bluish green but some red cyano under the sand (on glass) is present as well.

Sorry for the long post, at this point I'm wishing I had majored in marine biology. Thanks to everyone and happy thanksgiving

[YLChik]

WELCOME and congrats on your new tank!!!!!!!

I'll try to answer what I can

Originally Posted by duffman8080

Hello Reef Tank,

I am another beginner and have been browsing the site here for a few months now. The wealth of knowledge has been a great help in setting up my system and undoubtedly has saved me from making many beginner mistakes so thank you to all members. I think I am ready for my first fish and was hoping for some input on

a: what I should get (if I'm ready), and what order
b: whether it's better to wait and add corals first
I think adding fish first and getting use to maintaining the tank with fish as well as allowing it to continue to mature is a smart move.

The tank has been setup now for three months, here are the details:

Parameters:

sg: 1.024
ph: 8.3 - 8.8 (after dosing kalk 2X a week)
Is this a swing in one day or over the week?
alk: 11
I think most shoot for around 9 dkh with a calcium of 400
nitrates: ~15
calcium: 400

My current setup is as follows:

55g (30 X 18 X 24) with dual overflow
20g sump w/ mag 9.5 return
coralife protein skimmer
96w T5 lights (2 actinic 2 10000k)
Koralia 2 powerhead
Koralia 3 powerhead
Split return line
200W heater
Gravity ato for evaporation (no kalk)
70lbs. fiji live rock (coraline finally starting to spread)
2.5" live sandbed

Livestock

5 nassarius snails
25 other assorted snails
10 red hermits
2 peppermint shrimp (finally destroyed my aptaisia)

Hitchhikers:

Tons of small white brittle stars
one unidentified starfish (not sand sifter as legs are even)
clear flatworms
sea slug
tons of copepods

I definitely want to keep the bio load low so don't plan on adding too many fish and want to focus more on inverts, lps, softies and possibly some of the lower light sps. So far the fish I've liked include:

good idea! You have a great plan here. You want to add most passive to most aggressive.

Green mandarin ( in a year if I'm lucky )
orchid dottyback - most agressive
purple firefish - passive
clown fish (possibly mated)- on the more agressive side
pistol shrimp w/ goby - LOVE these passive
lawn mower blenny - passive but there are a lot of other great blenny choices you might want to look into unless you have your heart set on one.
chromis- about the same as the clowns


I am of course open to any suggestions if anyone has a favorite they think should be included.
I would switch the chromis out for a 6line or a yellow or green coris wrasse - good color and helpful at eating nasties that get into the tank.


I should also note I still have more algae than I would like. I'm cleaning the glass about every three days but with no food I'm not sure whats fueling the outbreaks. Actinic lights are on 12 hours a day and 10000k for 6. Mostly the algae is bluish green but some red cyano under the sand (on glass) is present as well.
I am gonna guess mostly new tank cycle still... cyno might be a different story though....

Sorry for the long post, at this point I'm wishing I had majored in marine biology. Thanks to everyone and happy thanksgiving

You are off to a great start hope that helps you some!

[Loverotties]

When you add fish your doing the right thing.Have a list then you want to put in 1st the calmest fish and work your way to the meanist last.

[OneDummHikk]

I have clowns. Both Perculas and Gold Stripe Maroons. Unless you have your heart set on them, I would wait on them. They are easy fish to take care of but they are the "goldfish" of the SW world and are poop machines. And, they tend to be aggressive.

The chromis are territorial and can become aggressive.

Lawnmower Blennys are good with algae but I swear the one I had was the ugliest fish I ever laid eyes on. I got it to handle some hair algae but they are so ugly they almost become cute.

I would definitely look into some gobies to keep the sand stirred up. Just know that once you put a goby in the tank, the sandbed ceases to be yours. That sandbed then belongs to the goby and they will put it where THEY want it, no matter what you want. Because of that, I have always thought it was best to put the gobies first and let them get the sandbed where they want it before adding corals or other inhabitants.

Fish vs corals first. Go with the fish. Especially the gobies. It also gives you time to get used to the fish and then move on to the corals.

With no corals in the tank, you can stop dosing the Kalk unless you have some other reason for dosing it.

Cutting back on the lights to a minimum will help with the algae. You don't really have anything in the tank that needs the light. So you can leave them off unless you want to see in the tank itself.

I probably missed some things but good luck with it.

[duffman8080]

Thanks for the quick responses!!!

Just goes to show, no matter how much you research, mistakes are bound to happen. I've been dosing kalk and using the lights to try and get the coralline to spread and keep my calcium up. Should I dose anything for coralline or will it spread on its own?

I guess I'll go with the goby first, are they any that don't jump out of the tank? It's hot as hell here in Austin so I cannot cover the tank without adding a chiller.

YLChik, I had never seen the green choris and I love it. So long chromis

Thanks again you guys are awesome.

[OneDummHikk]

Use a light diffuser to cover the tank. Its about 11 dollars for a 2x4 sheet of it. Not sure if they sell it smaller or not. It allows air movement but the holes are close enough (1/2"x1/2") to keep most fish from jumping through it. And it doesn't really block the light but tends to actually focus it straight down when it wants to spread.

Coralline. Give it time. It will grow and then you will be wondering how to stop it from growing after you get tired of cleaning it off the glass.

[jenglish]

do you have individual reflectors on your lights? You may have trouble keeping corals in a tank that deep w/ only 2 T5s per side.

I understand what ODH says about cutting back the lights to avoid algae but I have always said that is just delaying the algae and diatoms that come with a new tank. You will have the lights on eventually and the algae will come then, I prefer to get it done and settle mostly before adding full bioload, but thats JMHO

[OneDummHikk]

Yes, it semi delays the semi inevitable. But, if you know now that you have an issue, now is the time to deal with it and the easiest way to deal with it is indeed to have the lights off. Then you can deal with the issue rather than dealing with the nuisance consequence

[jenglish]

Originally Posted by OneDummHikk

Yes, it semi delays the semi inevitable. But, if you know now that you have an issue, now is the time to deal with it and the easiest way to deal with it is indeed to have the lights off. Then you can deal with the issue rather than dealing with the nuisance consequence

well, we can agree to disagree . My point is that if you ever plan on having lights on in the system you are not dealing with issues by leaving them off at this point. Light is needed but it is evidence of nutrients in the system that are available. Now if you planned on getting a tank cycled, getting nutrients back down to 0 and then turning the lights back on then I can see at least a possible advantage if you didn't think the algae would ever get a foothold. In general people want to add fish as soon as nitrite is 0. I realize that my view is the minority but I thought I would throw out my own personal Fish-losophy

[OneDummHikk]

Originally Posted by jenglish

well, we can agree to disagree .

But of course.

Originally Posted by jenglish

My point is that if you ever plan on having lights on in the system you are not dealing with issues by leaving them off at this point.

I wasn't saying to ignore it. It is easier to deal with the problem if you minimize the impact it has on the tank. If you have an algae issue, then the root of it is phosphates. Getting phosphates out of the tank is the remedy. Having the lights on and HA (or other algae) growing isn't going to help, its going to make it harder. As the HA dies off, it will release the P back into the tank, making it take longer to cure the P issue.

Originally Posted by jenglish

Light is needed but it is evidence of nutrients in the system that are available. Now if you planned on getting a tank cycled, getting nutrients back down to 0 and then turning the lights back on then I can see at least a possible advantage if you didn't think the algae would ever get a foothold.

With the tank unstocked, that is a better plan than leaving the lights on though. Its easier to handle/manage that way is all. One less issue to deal with.

Originally Posted by jenglish

In general people want to add fish as soon as nitrite is 0. I realize that my view is the minority but I thought I would throw out my own personal Fish-losophy

NitriIte or NitrAte? And, are you referring to peoples desires or a recommended practice? It is never good to add the fish, IMO, until after at least the diatom bloom.

Let's discuss

[jenglish]

Originally Posted by OneDummHikk

But of course.



I wasn't saying to ignore it. It is easier to deal with the problem if you minimize the impact it has on the tank. If you have an algae issue, then the root of it is phosphates. Getting phosphates out of the tank is the remedy. Having the lights on and HA (or other algae) growing isn't going to help, its going to make it harder. As the HA dies off, it will release the P back into the tank, making it take longer to cure the P issue.

ok, perhaps I was leaving a bit out of my explanation of the occasion, I actually cover the sand bed with acrylic or plastic and remove them every other day to be cleaned outside the tank, its another way to remove nutrients.


With the tank unstocked, that is a better plan than leaving the lights on though. Its easier to handle/manage that way is all. One less issue to deal with.

I just prefer to get started into battling the algae while the tank is cycling. I think the amount of time dealing with algae is going to be roughly the same whethor you start from the begining or start when you add fish.

NitriIte or NitrAte? And, are you referring to peoples desires or a recommended practice? It is never good to add the fish, IMO, until after at least the diatom bloom.

I see people as soon as nitrite is 0, change water to lower nitrate and start stocking. I personally wait until after diatomes and algae are mostly under control before even addin a CUC.

Its worth noting that whenever I start a tank I am buying uncured rock right out of the box and curing/cycling/ dealing w/ diatoms& algae all at e the same time. I do not and probably will never cook rock. But thats another discussion entirely
Let's discuss

[duffman8080]

The lights do have individual reflectors so hopefully those will be okay. I could not go with metal halide as there is a center support that I fear may melt from the heat. As for my algae it's really not that bad. Definitely not hair algae, just a light green film that appears on the glass if I don't clean it every couple of days. As for phosphates, tap water has never touched my system, other than cleaning pre-filters which are always dried before replacing. I also threw a bag of chemi pure elite in the sump but haven't seen any difference from it. I buy my water from one of the water machines at the grocery store that is RO / UV sterilized and I think De ionized as well. For salt I'm using reef crystals. I understand patience is a necessity in this hobby (luckily my daughter has me well practiced)