Reefs.org Forums

[ElMonoCalvo]

Hi. I'm a freshwater guy making his first run at a reef tank. I've got a 29 gal tank with 35 lbs of LR and am currently 2 weeks into the cycling process; I started with uncured live rock. I'm starting to plan for the future tank inhabitants and have been doing a little leg work trying to figure out if there's a "best" way/order to populate a tank. At this point I'm leaning toward 3-5 fish, 2-3 shrimp, tank cleaners (hermits/snails), 1-2 coral and maybe a star fish. Is this too much for a tank this size? Also, some of the algae cleaner packages I've come across have like 15-20 Hermits and 10-15 snails for a tank this size. Is this too much for a new tank or am I being algae naive coming from a freshwater background? TIA for any and all advice.

[seamaiden]

Hola, ElMono. Welcome to reefs.org. I'm first going to point in the direction of our library here--> http://www.reefs.org/library

I know that Anthony Calfo has just written a "newbie" article specifically targeting folks such as yourself, but I don't know the publish date. You can also go to http://www.wetwebmedia.com and just search the bejesus out of the site (there are also forums at http://www.wetwebfotos.com/talk ).

However, I'll give you what I can here. That will start with the advice to begin building a library. I'll suggest you start it with Bob Fenner's book, "The Conscientious Marina Aquarist". I'll also suggest you get Martin Moe, Jr.'s book, "The Marine Aquarium Handbook". Beyond that, authors such as John Tullock, Julian Sprung, and too many others to list here, will all be good to check out.

Ok, with inverts, you don't need to be nearly as careful as you do with fish. I STRONGLY recommend that you cure your live rock in a separate vessel, because I will also STRONGLY recommend that you quarantine EVERYTHING before it goes into your display. 30 days minimum is normal protocol. I would establish the inverts first, then the fishes. I would also cycle the display by throwing in a bit of shrimp or squid and allowing it to decompose and start off the cultures of nitrifying bacteria.

The fish you have chosen will all be good choices, and won't be too much for the system. Be careful what sea stars you choose, I love brittle and serpent stars. They are also good as detritus cleaners.

As for the algae and detritus clean-up crews, I suggest waiting on those until your l/r is cured and the system is fully cycled. The numbers outlined are fine, however, I would also be sure that the deep sand bed is established, first (unless you find yourself in the midst of a terrible algal bloom--but if you're careful it shouldn't be very bad at all).

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Edited to say "OOPS! You never said a thing about a deep sand bed!" I'm beginning to get my newbies crossed, sorry!

[ElMonoCalvo]

Appreciate the advice. In the beginning I had relied heavily on The New Marine Aquarium by Michael Paletta and the Drs. Foster and Smith site, which is where I ordered my LR, for setup and planning. I've been banging away on this board in addition to the other sources to try and plan out the next steps.

I still have a nice ammonia spike so I'm still a ways out but I think my next step is to add some coral before moving on to inverts and fish. Any recommendations or pitfalls I should watch out for? Also, does the pros of having a larger selection by ordering coral/livestock online outweigh the cons of relying on a limited selection LFS?

[AllenF]

As a fellow newb I second the above. I read Fenner and Tullock and decided that was all I needed (for now). You will be surprised how interesting they are to read. If you like me you wont put them down till you have read cover to cover.

Take some advice with a grain of salt though. Many keepers can maintain a tank for years with no fancy equipment or test kits. Just good circulation and skimming, plenty of live rock, and a lightly stocked, ligthly feed tank...

Stability is key and I found out early on that "too much tinkering" was doing more harm than good....

[Saltykirk]

If you are looking for invert advice, I highly recommend mushrooms, colony polyps, Colt corals, and most leathers. Avoid yellow leathers till you have alot more experience and very bright lights.
On the subject of LFS vs mail order...... I do tank maintenance for a second job, one of my biggest areas is selling fish to people who have had trouble w/ most mail order companies. Not to say people don't have problems w/ LFS's either. Most mail order companies do a decent to good job shipping livestock to newbies or impatient people who are not experienced at proper acclimation. You will find a few different ways of doing that too, it differs from fish to corals to shrimp to starfish. Look long and hard @ the fish @ your LFS, do they have white spots? Do they scrape the substrate? Ask about their parasite prevention. Do they run Low Salinity? or use UV sterilizers? One of the more experienced people in the forum could offer more advice. Just be patient and ask lots of questions.
Green star polyps and Colt corals will boost your confidence and thrill while you read and learn more.
What kind of fish?

[ElMonoCalvo]

So far I've got a Royal Gramma, a Yellow Clown goby, a cleaner shrimp, a Scarlet Reef hermit and 4 snails. However, I'm in the midst of a pretty bad bloom so I'm thinking about dropping in another hermit and maybe 2 more snails in the next couple days.

I'm currently reading Borneman's book "Aquarium Corals" but am getting a little impatient about getting a branching coral for my clown goby to hang out in. He's taken to perching on one of my powerhead mounts in the back of the tank , so much for the natural look.

[Saltykirk]

When you say branching coral, what do you mean? What kind of bloom? If it is brown diatoms more snails or a sea cucumber does a good job. I usually don't add a sea cuke for about 6 weeks. The little fighting conchs are cool. Back to the branching coral, I would venture more towards a soft coral as apposed to a hard branchy coral. Most of those will be an SPS. Most are not very difficult to keep once you have equipment and information about their requirements. Fragments of the sps' are a good way to start. Frags are more forgiving of current than thick imported colonies. Keep reading and you'll do fine.

[ElMonoCalvo]

I lost both fish (Clown Goby and Royal Gramma) and the hermit crab a while back so I'm holding off on corals for the time being. At the time, my water params looked ok and my other inverts (Cleaner Shrimp, Snails and 2 Peppermint Shrimp) seemed to be unaffected. I bumped up the skimmer flow and did a 20% water change. I waited a couple weeks and then added 2 damsels and a maroon clown. They've been in there for about 2 weeks now and seem to be doing well. I also noticed that the cleaner shrimp recently molted and I'm taking that to be a good omen that my tank is running ok.

I'm going to give it a couple more weeks but I'm defintiely leaning towards a colt to start off with. My only concern now is getting one big enough so that if the clown decides to bunk down in it, it doesn't kill it. Any suggestions?