First saltwater aquarium setup questions

[fishman101]

Hi guys,

I'm in the process of setting up a 42 gallon (2.5ft x 1.5ft x 1.5ft / 75cm x 45cm x 45cm) tank as my first saltwater/reef tank. The tank is currently cycling with a combination of dry and live rock and will be bare bottom. My current plan is to add fish and invertebrates after my tank has cycled and start adding corals in a few months after that. However, I've got a number of questions regarding the on-going setup and addition of livestock.

1) First of all, I'm running a HOB filter that currently just has activated carbon and an aquaclear sponge. I've heard that using filter pads and sponges aren't too good with the nitrate build up, so would I be better off removing my sponge? Also, should I add media like live rock rubble or ceramic rings?

2) Regarding the livestock for this tank, I am mainly after a pair of clownfish in this tank alongside a couple of peppermint shrimp and snails. The clownfish that I have readily available at my LFS are percula, ocellaris and clarkii. I like all 3 species equally and do not have a preference, so would any respective pair from one of these species be compatible for my tank?

3) For my stocking order, should I be going with invertebrates first then fish later or the other way around? Also, what would be an ideal clean-up-crew for my tank? I was thinking perhaps 1-2 trochus snails alongside peppermint shrimp - is there anything else I can or should add? I've heard nassarius snails won't do as well in a barebottom tank.

Thanks for any and all help!

 

[ReefReadyYouTube]

Welcome to R2R!
I think it would be good to wait for the tank to cycle then when you start to see algae growth add your clean up crew then wait a while to add the fish. Don’t want to throw everything in there at once and shock the system. And clown fish can really go in any size tank. In nature they don’t venture far from there anemones so they’ll be great. And with the HOB filter you can use sponges and pads all you want I would just throw them away after a month or when the get dirty and add new ones.

 

[fishguy242]

1 no sponge lr rubble good
2 clarkii's are going to nip at you everytime you put your hand in
3 you can do together only 2 fish clowns are like damsels hardy
like the bare bottom,trochus,margarita snailsget a pair of peps

and welcome to the reef gonna love it here

 

[fishman101]

Welcome to R2R!
I think it would be good to wait for the tank to cycle then when you start to see algae growth add your clean up crew then wait a while to add the fish. Don’t want to throw everything in there at once and shock the system. And clown fish can really go in any size tank. In nature they don’t venture far from there anemones so they’ll be great. And with the HOB filter you can use sponges and pads all you want I would just throw them away after a month or when the get dirty and add new ones.

Hey thanks for your reply! Do you think it would be better if I went with fish first then clean up crew at a later date? My reasoning is that since my tank will be fairly new and bare bottom, having just fish for a month or so before I add the clean up crew might allow for more established algae growth? Thanks for the tips with the sponges, I'll probably use them for a couple of months and gradually replace with live rock rubble.

1 no sponge lr rubble good
2 clarkii's are going to nip at you everytime you put your hand in
3 you can do together only 2 fish clowns are like damsels hardy
like the bare bottom,trochus,margarita snailsget a pair of peps

and welcome to the reef gonna love it here

Hey thanks for your reply too! I'll start adding in live rock rubble into my HOB. I have some spare ceramic rings media as well, should I mix it in with my live rock rubble? Clarkii's sound interesting haha - since they get larger, is there a chance they'll go after my shrimp or clean up crew? Thanks for the clean up crew suggestions