Finally! I can decide on my stocking list :D

[Miltonic]

As many of you already I'm almost done with my 90g reef setup and I was looking for advice for some good starter species of. corals and fish to get started. I really only know two types of fish I want from the get-go they are a Yellow tang and clownfish. I really don't have many ides for corals yet though :s (my light supports all types) It would be great if you guys could help me out.

here's a picture of my blank canvas :hmm3grin2orange:

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[cocoa_pleco]

looks good! when things are good, i would add a few easy to care for corals. a few patches of mushrooms, a few zoas, etc. then i would add the more peaceful fish, most likely the clowns, maybe a goby, stuff like that. yellow tangs should go into a more mature tank, so in 6-8 months, make the yellow tang the last purchase BEFORE any aggressive fish (like damsels for example). you want aggressive fish put in last so they dont have a chance to make territories and harass new fish

[Miltonic]

Thanks for the help, I was also wondering since my LR was already cured, im having trouble determining how long will it be until my tank is cycled. Im not seeing much die off and my tests indicate a .25 ppm reading in ammonia reading but that not a lot. should I add a dead shrimp to speed it up?

[cocoa_pleco]

give it a bit of time, it should be 0 soon. im not a fan of the shrimp way at all

good on moving that flat piece of live rock! looks alot better now

[Miltonic]

I thought the ammonia would get higher that's whats I was wondering, since I was thinking that if it's too low it wouldn't cycle.

btw since there isnt much die off, would it be ok to add sand and within the next few days.


yeah, I moved the rock from what you said yesterday and it does look a lot better :)

[labnjab]

Whn my tank cycled, I never had more then .25 ppm ammonia. It was finished cycling in a week

[Miltonic]

looks like my tank wont go over the .25 ppm of ammonia so sounds like im going in the same direction yours did.

i'll be going to get my live sand today and I was wondering what the best depth would be. I want like 2 inches of sand but not sure if thats recommended.

[travie]

Depth of sand will depend on your personal peference, and it will depend on if you plan to keep inverts or fish that like to dig in the sand.

[Miltonic]

I do want to keep some inverts but don't about fish that like to dig sand. what would common species of fish be, that dig sand?

[coachfraley]

There are a bunch of "sand" gobies, as well as jawfish that like to move sand around.

I have one word of advice about your corals...If you plan on running an SPS tank (which your lights would permit), you might not want to get fast spreading corals like xenia, green star polyps, and mushrooms. I know several SPS reefers who regret putting those items in their tanks.

If you are going to go SPS, you could start with some very forgiving ones, like monti's. Having some LPS (like frogspawn, hammer, or torch) for your clowns to host might be a good idea too.

[Miltonic]

I got about 80 pounds of sand for my tank today and dumped it all in, it took me like 2 hours to get done. ugh, I hate adding sand to a tank with water because its so much harder and the water looks like milk. I got 40 pounds live sand and 40 pounds of seachem Tidal arag and it gave me around 2-3 inches of sand bed. I was wondering how long it'll take for the sand to settle.

[labnjab]

Mine took a day or 2

[Miltonic]

I hope mine takes that long even though I doubt it since I can't see anything, it' seriously white since I was too lazy to rinse it :/ I do have the skimmer on so I think that will help clearing it up.

I want to know if the sand will affect my return pump since I don't have anything covering it.

[labnjab]

I think it will, u might want to turn your sump off till it settles, or get a sponge over the pumps intake just to be on the safe side. It would be a good idea to have one on all the time, just rinse it weekly so you don't get a nitrate problem, my mag 9.5 pump came with one and it gets filthy every week, even with a filter sock on the water coming into the sump

[Miltonic]

I thought so too but mine didn't come with a sponge or anything and I don't have filter sock or anything atm for pumps.

Im going to put one of those HOB filter, filters over it so it can protect it somewhat.

[Miltonic]

So Tomorrow i'll be getting myself two clownfish since my tank finally cycled! :DDD Is it ok to get another fish like a blennie also?

I was also wondering what are some good inverts I can get while I'm there, I don't have any algae growing anywhere except for the chaeto in my refugium, so they won't have much to eat. I wanted to get atleast one coral if I could but it depends on what they have available.

sorry for all the questions, i feel like such a noob.

[cocoa_pleco]

what kind of blenny? i wouldnt get one just yet, scooter blennies for example need very established tanks with pods. lawnmower blennies need a supply of algae which few tanks can give without supplemental feeding.

i would get a clownfish and a clown goby or yellow watchman goby. you could get some inverts too, some hermit crabs and some snails

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

Remember, nothing good happens fast in a reef tank, take it slow. It's best not to run out and get fish right away. Marine tanks go through a maturing process and this is going to take some time but it is well worth the wait. Get a few crabs to start with, you are going to start seeing diatoms show up sometime during the next week, the lower your bioload during this time the better it is. Good luck with this, but remember, stock it really slow.

[Miltonic]

yep, Im trying even though its hard.

Im definitely going to get some crabs and snails to keep my tank clean, I'll probably get a clownfish/yellow watchman goby depends in what they have so its most likely the clownfish.

what are the names of some good crabs/snails? so I can research them and see if they have them at my LFS.

[labnjab]

Mexican turbo snails are great hair algae and bubble algae eaters (although mine don't really touch the hair algae, but most do).

Astrea snails are also great, but you have to watch them because if the get flipped over they can't right themselves.

Blue Legged Hermits are good left over eaters, but tend to kill each other for no rhyme or reason. I started with 13 and down I'm down to 7 or 8. I would recommend several empty shells in varying sizes. As they grow then need bigger shells, and they are less likely to murder each other with more shells.

An emerald crab would also be great as well. I haven't found one yet, but I do want to add one when I find them.

[Miltonic]

Emerald crabs sound interesting maybe they'll have some in my LFS.

Edit: how of each would someone recommend for a 90g?

[labnjab]

Since your tank is young and doesn't have much food or algae, I would start with maybe 3 or 4 astreas and a dozen hermits. See how they do in a week and slowly start adding more as they are needed and as the algae supply increases. I don't know an exact number per gallon, but someone else may know. Our 29 gallon has been running for close to 6 months and we have 7 or 8 hermits, 9 Astreas, 2 mexican turbos, 6-7 very small normal turbo snails, 5 fighting conchs, and a coral banded shrimp, and they seem to do a fairly decent job of eating excess food and keeping the tank clean

[Miltonic]

im back from the LFS and currently acclimating what I got, im so excited.

so this is what I got,
2 Turbo snails
2 margarita snails
4 blue legged hermit crabs
2 red legged hermit crabs
1 true percula clownfish
1 false percula clownfish
and 1 yellow watchman goby

I'll wait one month before getting anything else fish wise and I hope I didn't over do it with the fish, Im not sure when to get my first coral though.

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

Well, you did kind of over do it on the fish, and you have 2 different species of clown which is not a great idea. The margarita snails also likely will not last, they are a temperate snail but have made their way into the tropical trade for some reason. No offense, but you completely disregarded the advice of going slow. Like I said, nothing good happens fast in a reef tank, and that includes stocking. I sincerely hope you don't have any problems as a result of this but I'm not holding my breath. I realize it is a 90gal tank and that these are all small fish, but the tank has only been cycled for a couple of days.

[Miltonic]

Im idiot, but I haven't put anything in my tank yet so I can keep them separated and out of chaos. I have my quarantine set up so i'll only place two fish in my main tank and see how it goes from there, keeping one in quarantine.

Edit: The lady at the LFS mislabeled the the aestra snails I got as margarita for some reason because the two supposed to be margarita don't look like margarita at all, they look like aestra snails with pointed shells
.

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

Aestra snails will be great. They do quite well at eating algae and are generally quite hardy. If you can pick up more of those in time, that would be great.

[Miltonic]

yeah, i'll get more later since there barely any algae in my tank.

The live rock I got came with pink and greenish coraline algae and with the light is starting to brighten up and that pretty exciting.

[kaybee]

Emerald crabs sound interesting maybe they'll have some in my LFS.

Edit: how of each would someone recommend for a 90g?

One emerald would work, considering the rest of the clean up crew.

[Miltonic]

so its been almost three days since i first put my fish in there and everything looks fine. Nothing has died! :)

My tank is getting covered with brown diatoms but its not getting out control the rock looks kinda nice with that brown coating :P also one of my rocks is starting to grow some green algae already so I think its time for more crabs and snails since the few I got don't stray too far off from the section of the tank I put them in and they aren't doing much in the right side of the tank.