Considering suggestion (Thanks
) here is what the update looks like:
Fish:
McCosker's Flasher wrasse
Melanurus wrasse (or maybe a male Meleagris Leopard Wrasse)
Kole Tang
Yellow watchman goby
Exquisite Firefish (or Purple) or maybe some Zebra barred dartfish
Clownfish pair (I like the look of the gladiator, black ice, or Picasso Perc)
Considering but would like input:
neon dottyback
Banggai Cardinalfish (should i get more than one?)
For inverts:
-randalls pistol shrimp
-Fire shrimp
-tuxedo urchin
-Nassarius Snails or Trochus Snails
-do i need hermit crabs?
Corals:
Soft-
Finger Leather Coral
Toadstool Mushroom Leather Coral
Zoanthid colony (mixed)
Mushrooms like Rhodactis or hairy
LPS-
Candy Cane Coral
Hammer
Torch Coral
Acans
Favites
Blastomussa
Duncan
SPS-
Montipora
Birds nest
any other suggestions for beginner SPS
Melanurus is awesome and bulletproof.
Leopard wrasse is awesome and almost as bad as a mandarin survival wise. Build your pod population up before adding. You can have success with them, just spend at least a few hours Googling and reading about their needs.
Softies will require occasional carbon use, or 24/7 carbon use. Especially the leathers when they are shedding.
You can find multiple "taste great vs less filling" threads on carbon usage and how often to use it. (I guess that commercial is as old as I am now.)
In either case, use carbon that is not too 'dusty' and *don't* tumble it in a reactor. BRS rox gets good marks. I use carbon for a few days once a month to eliminate softies by products.
Carbon dust has been heavily implicated in tang HLLE disease. The reason for a less dusty variety and not tumbling (and crumbling) in a reactor.
No personal experience with fire fish but from reading they are as notorious as chromis for "started with 5 and now have 1".
Our tank is just a 75 gallon.
From reading, the people that don't understand what we are talking about have 300 gallon tanks or bigger. Plenty of pretty pictures out there of people with big systems and a happy school of 10 chromis hanging around a nice staghorn.
At 150 gallons you may not have a problem.
Banggai cardinals eventually whittle down to 1 pair or 2 pair depending on how many you added at first. We started with 4 and have 1 pair.
PLEASE skip any of the beautiful dottybacks!
God knows you can always add them safely later on if you have to have one.
I have been down that road several times. Beautiful, outgoing, bulletproof, always visible.... and what a PITA to everything else in the tank!
Nassarius snails eat detritus but not algae.
Trochus snails eat algae and are considered one of the more effective snails.
Get both. [emoji4]
10 nassarius and 30 trochus? Maybe 20 trochus? If you get too many they starve and die and contribute to another algae bloom.
Snails recommended at 1 per gallon is for tiny dwarf cerith snails and I would still cut that in half or even just a third.
We currently have 7 algae eating snails in the 75 and that is plenty. Considering removing a few snails so some of the fish may get a chance to have algae to graze on.
Hermit crabs are a personal preference. We have them and love them. Others don't.
Between the trochus and nassarius you should be fine without them.
If you add hermits try blue legs or dwarf zebra for function. Scarlets and electric orange and electric blue for pretty.
There are plenty of hermit crabs that are not reefsafe!
A not perfect General rule, if it's hairy or huge, species only tank.
Add plenty of empty shells *similar to what they are in now* so they can upgrade when they molt and grow bigger. Nothing likes astrea snail shells.
My tanks are not complete without a 4" banded harlequin serpent starfish. They eat detritus.
We have 8 serpent starfish of different (safe?) varieties.
The big Green serpent starfish and possibly the large yellow grow to 2' and kill fish.
Research which one you are getting. [emoji4]
Lps, sweeper tentacles on a few of them? Just place them far enough apart. 4 to 6" usually is enough. Otherwise beautiful choices.
Easier sps, green birdsnest looks awesome under white and blue light.
Pink looks awesome under white and disappears under blue.
Pavona is considered on the easier side.
Sound like you will have a beautiful tank!
Looking forward to pictures of the buildout.
[emoji4]
