Tank stocking plan ... opinions please

[gobrien]

Here's the plan:

Coralwise:
Anthelia from IPSF - doing fine.
Star polyps popping out on the LR in 3 different locations
I plan to add about 3-5 leathers, LPS, zoanthids total. Its not quite a species tank but I would like fewer extensive corals rather than a plethora of species.

Macro Algae - several kinds on LR + Tang Heaven red and green (IPSF)

Fishes:
5 Chromis, Green Chromis viridis
1 Damsel, Domino Dascyllus trimaclatus
1 Tang, Blue; Hepatus; Regal Paracanthurus hepatus
2 Goby, Neon Gobiosoma oceanops
2 Cardinal, Banggai Pterapagon kaudneri

The Domino Damsel is in the Q-tank - he was a canary to see if I had set it up right. So far so good.

This is a 75gal system with 30lbs well cured LR (recycled from a tank that was recently broken down and about 40 lbs artificial LR (GARF aragocrete method) 3in of caribsea seaflor and about 1 inch of caribsea crushed coral.

VHO 2 full spectrum 2 actinic currently running 8 hours/day - hair algae issues!

Euroreef skimmer in the sump. Iwaki WMD40. 1 powerhead causing a nice little turbulent zone.

I am also planning a 20gal tall above tank refugium w/ a 6in DSB c/w macros for nutrient sink and Tang food.

I need opinions - especially on the fish load. Both the quantity and the order.

Thanks,

Gareth.

[dark horge]

Lagoonal flora and fauna, eh?

If so, then the leathers and macroalgae are good, though you may wind up exerting extra effort to manage pollutants in the water (leached from both algae and softies), that can irritate any stoney (LPS or SPS) corals you might wish to keep.

Gracilaria (that 'Heavenly' stuff from IPSF) needs generous waterflow, and if you're running a sandbed this can create problems. Make sure there is a zone in your tank for this.

Regarding the Chromis viridis, if you want them to school, you may be in for a challenge. To my mind a primary impetus for schooling is for protection against predators coupled with a need to feed and a relatively weak ability to secure fixed refuges. They hide behind each other rather than behind rock.

A reef tank has a superabundance of unclaimed hideyholes, as opposed to the natural reef. Furthermore, the food comes in scheduled dumps, as opposed to a constant stream of midstream tidbits. This means that there is massive potential/temptation for the damsels to revert to territoriality and squabbling over infrequent food, junking their schooling instincts. This can actually lead to severe hostility within an intended school, with damsels succumbing from the weakest one up.

Pterapogon kaudernii is sadly becoming depleted in the wild, so make very sure you know what you're doing before you buy. Easy enough to look up Frank Marini's online treatises on husbanding these fascinating urchin-buddies. so you know what you're in for.

[Doug1]

I tend to agree with Horge as far as the chromis, prolly be an uneasy peace at best with 5 in there. If you are going to have banghaiis, gore go the herd of chromis(maybe one) and try to get tank raised cardinals.
Hippo tang if gotten small , should be OK for a while but will outgrow a 75, IME they are not the most reliable of grazers, then I prefer the sailfin tangs
The domino I would adopt out, they get meaner and less atractive over time
Your skimmer sounds good, as you increase soft coral load , may want to run carbon in sump, The refugium is a good idea, sounds like it will be a nice tank

[Alice]

I agree on the chromis, they could be a potential problem.

I'm assuming you have some snails and a few hermits in your tank to help with clean up?

You could probably use another powerhead in there, maybe pointed behind the rocks, to keep the detritus moving so that more can be picked up by the skimmer. Watch your feeding levels, too; the hair algae is finding something it likes to feed on.

Alice

[gobrien]

The hair algae area feeding on the phosphates and silicates in City of Houston water! I just got my RO/DI unit in so that should help. To add to the fun one of my live rocks just produced an Aiptasia! 3/4 inch disk with 1 inch tentacles. It is in the same neighborhood as one of my Anthelia but not within reach.

The tank is oriented perpendicular to the wall w/ LR running in a spine formation down the center. Circulation around the whole structure is pretty good, although I will drop the power head down a little into the one potential dead zone. One of my todo projects is to plumb multiple nozzles on to the return. The pump is gated back right now because it is too powerful so I have capacity to handle increased friction losses.

I read Bob Fenners treatise on Aiptasia last night and I'm going to leave it alone for now and get the nutrient levels down. If it spreads at all rapidly I think I will hit it with Kalkwasser paste.

Domino damsel is not going in the big tank based on the feedback! I may set him up in a 20 or 29 FOWLR. Any ideas on a tankmate or two for him in that setting?

So far it seems a (yes single!) Tang, Goby(maybe a pair) and Banggai Cardinal (pair) should work OK. I've also had a Royal Gramma suggested. Is anyone tank breeding or at least captive rearing these?

Thanks for the help,

Gareth.