Newbie Question

[NewReefAdventure]

Afternoon, I'm fairly new - tank only up a month. Water has been tested twice at local store and they say all is good (we started with their water at set-up and live sand. I didn't want to mess it up).

We have a few fish (7 or 8 - I say or because either one is always guarding their nest under the rocks or he's gone as I only see 2 of the 3 firefish at a time). Got a partial CUC when the brown hair like algae was over most sand and partial rock. We've been cleaning it off the glass. With the last water test they said corals next, no more fish... which I am fine with but I also don't want to get too excited and have anything die.

That said, my CUC seems to be on over drive as most algae is now gone minus some on the rocks and a few of the crabs have eaten 3 snails.

So I'm hoping for some advice - 1) should I be adding something extra to the tank for the CUC to eat? I'd rather them not eat each other. 2) realistically, how do you know when you're safely ready for corals? I don't want to kill anything if I can help it (feel bad enough about the snails honestly).

 

[T-J]

Welcome to the reefing community!

If this is your first tank, I'd say to wait a bit longer before adding corals. Having said that, you can try some easier and more forgiving ones like Zoas. They're cheap and can tolerate a lot of different parameters.
What kind of lighting/flow do you have? How big is the tank?

Regarding your CUC, if you think they don't have enough food, you can add algae disks or even sheets of nori. Just don't add too much which can cause your parameters to get out of whack.

 

[i cant think]

Afternoon, I'm fairly new - tank only up a month. Water has been tested twice at local store and they say all is good (we started with their water at set-up and live sand. I didn't want to mess it up).

We have a few fish (7 or 8 - I say or because either one is always guarding their nest under the rocks or he's gone as I only see 2 of the 3 firefish at a time). Got a partial CUC when the brown hair like algae was over most sand and partial rock. We've been cleaning it off the glass. With the last water test they said corals next, no more fish... which I am fine with but I also don't want to get too excited and have anything die.

That said, my CUC seems to be on over drive as most algae is now gone minus some on the rocks and a few of the crabs have eaten 3 snails.

So I'm hoping for some advice - 1) should I be adding something extra to the tank for the CUC to eat? I'd rather them not eat each other. 2) realistically, how do you know when you're safely ready for corals? I don't want to kill anything if I can help it (feel bad enough about the snails honestly).

You know you’re ready for coral when your parameters don’t have extreme spikes. Once you get a couple softies growing, you can go into LPS and then once the tank is 6-7 months old and you have a thriving LPS/Softie tank you can maybe lead into SPS. Then after 2-3 years you can go into the harder inverts.

 

[blaxsun]

What's the size of your tank, what do you currently have for cleanup crew and what are your reef (fish) inhabitants?

 

[NewReefAdventure]

Welcome to the reefing community!

If this is your first tank, I'd say to wait a bit longer before adding corals. Having said that, you can try some easier and more forgiving ones like Zoas. They're cheap and can tolerate a lot of different parameters.
What kind of lighting/flow do you have? How big is the tank?

Regarding your CUC, if you think they don't have enough food, you can add algae disks or even sheets of nori. Just don't add too much which can cause your parameters to get out of whack.

Thanks so much! We have vortech mp40s on the sides and 2 echo tech marine lights. It's a 140g tank.

 

[T-J]

Thanks so much! We have vortech mp40s on the sides and 2 echo tech marine lights. It's a 140g tank.

Depending on which lights, you should be good to go for most anything.
FYI, I run 2 MP40's and 4 Radion XR15 Gen 5's on my 120 mixed reef.

 

[Buckster]

I added a leather about 4 months after starting the tank which had live rock and sand. The leather did not make it. I waited a couple more months and tried again. Palys and Zoas did fine.. After a year I tried SPS from a local person that I got at a reasonable price and they did not make it. My tank is now over two years running and My corals are doing well but GSP still won't grow. GSP thrives in my small 32 biocube.

 

[NewReefAdventure]

What's the size of your tank, what do you currently have for cleanup crew and what are your reef (fish) inhabitants?

140g - astrea snails, red leg hermits, 1 skunk shrimp, 1 pin cushion urchin, and 1 sand sifting startfish for the CUC (that was the recommended to start so hoping was led ok there)... other inhabitants include 2 clowns, 3 (or 2) firefish, and 3 banggai cardinals

 

[NewReefAdventure]

Depending on which lights, you should be good to go for most anything.
FYI, I run 2 MP40's and 4 Radion XR15 Gen 5's on my 120 mixed reef.

Radion xr30w g5

 

[blaxsun]

140g - astrea snails, red leg hermits, 1 skunk shrimp, 1 pin cushion urchin, and 1 sand sifting startfish for the CUC (that was the recommended to start so hoping was led ok there)... other inhabitants include 2 clowns, 3 (or 2) firefish, and 3 banggai cardinals

You could definitely stand to boost your cleanup crew. Some additional suggestions:

* Ring cowries for the rocks (they will potentially consume dinos)
* Nassarius snails, cerith snails and orange lip (or similar) conches for the substrate
* Trochus and turbo snails for the glass

I stopped counting the size of my cleanup crew on my 160-gallon, but at last count it was well over 120 inverts (I also have roughly 4x the fish, just to put that in perspective).

 

[NewReefAdventure]

You could definitely stand to boost your cleanup crew. Some additional suggestions:

* Ring cowries for the rocks (they will potentially consume dinos)
* Nassarius snails, cerith snails and orange lip (or similar) conches for the substrate
* Trochus and turbo snails for the glass

I stopped counting the size of my cleanup crew on my 160-gallon, but at last count it was well over 120 inverts (I also have roughly 4x the fish, just to put that in perspective).

Wow- that sounds like a big cleanup crew. Thanks! Will definitely keep these guys in mind when we start adding more again.

 

[blaxsun]

Wow- that sounds like a big cleanup crew. Thanks! Will definitely keep these guys in mind when we start adding more again.

I'm sure I've lost some, but as many spend their time hiding in rocks or under the sand it's impossible to keep track. I try to add at least a dozen new additions every month.

 

[i cant think]

You could definitely stand to boost your cleanup crew. Some additional suggestions:

* Ring cowries for the rocks (they will potentially consume dinos)
* Nassarius snails, cerith snails and orange lip (or similar) conches for the substrate
* Trochus and turbo snails for the glass

I stopped counting the size of my cleanup crew on my 160-gallon, but at last count it was well over 120 inverts (I also have roughly 4x the fish, just to put that in perspective).

How many of the fish do you see at a time? I assume you don’t see all of them at once because around 32 fish all out at once must be rather hectic.

 

[blaxsun]

How many of the fish do you see at a time? I assume you don’t see all of them at once because around 32 fish all out at once must be rather hectic.

Believe it or not, probably 30-32 of them. The marine betta is somewhat shy and nocturnal, so as long as I sit at my desk and not park myself in front of the tank he's out and about. The same with my two dwarf angels (when the camera comes out, they disappear into the rocks). For whatever reason whenever I upload an image today it comes out purplish instead of the correct color profile, but here's a shot I took with my new Sony A6400 this afternoon. 4-6 fish are hiding in this shot and a few are along the sides of the glass and are hard to spot.

 

[vetteguy53081]

You indicated your LFS said water is good.
Did they give you actual numbers?
Do you know what kits or method they were using to test your water?

As others indicated- wait on coral. I agree- no more fish as you may be subject yet to ammonia and/or nitrate spikes. Stability is where the numbers are stable and remain stable.

The hardest part of this hobby is Impulse. We want coral and fish at the soonest but the word soon and quickly in this hobby = Disaster.
ITS WORTH THE WAIT.
What you can do right now is manage fish, manage water quality and get yourself Hanna or salifert test kits and get acquainted with water testing

 

[i cant think]

Believe it or not, probably 30-32 of them. The marine betta is somewhat shy and nocturnal, so as long as I sit at my desk and not park myself in front of the tank he's out and about. The same with my two dwarf angels (when the camera comes out, they disappear into the rocks). For whatever reason whenever I upload an image today it comes out purplish instead of the correct color profile, but here's a shot I took with my new Sony A6400 this afternoon. 4-6 fish are hiding in this shot and a few are along the sides of the glass and are hard to spot.

That’s surprising as I’d assume a few would be hiding, wonde rig that’s due to them having larger fish able to show them it’s safe. I can count 20 fish in that photo but I’m sure I’ve missed a few!

I have 10 fish in my 4’ tank and see most of them at once but in my nano I have about 8 and only see maybe 2-3, sometimes 4 at a time. During feeding I’ll see about 5-6 but throughout the day I don’t see many.

 

[blaxsun]

That’s surprising as I’d assume a few would be hiding, wonde rig that’s due to them having larger fish able to show them it’s safe. I can count 20 fish in that photo but I’m sure I’ve missed a few!

I have 10 fish in my 4’ tank and see most of them at once but in my nano I have about 8 and only see maybe 2-3, sometimes 4 at a time. During feeding I’ll see about 5-6 but throughout the day I don’t see many.

There's around 24 in that photo - but some blend in really nicely. They all wait until I put the camera away and then come out just to spite me. I added two more wrasses yesterday but they're laying low for the most part. The sixline you can almost never spot - he's literally on the prowl 24/7 and moves effortlessly in-between the rockscape.

 

[i cant think]

You know you’re ready for coral when your parameters don’t have extreme spikes. Once you get a couple softies growing, you can go into LPS and then once the tank is 6-7 months old and you have a thriving LPS/Softie tank you can maybe lead into SPS. Then after 2-3 years you can go into the harder inverts.

Just to clarify, by parameters, I mean;
Mg
Ca
KH
Phos
NO3
NH3
I personally have my KH, Mg, Ca higher than they should be usually just because of the coral and inverts I have in my tank.
Also, by easier coral to start with I mean; mushrooms (Corallimorphia), Fimbriaphyllia (LPS), Caulastrea (LPS), Leathers (Softies), Duncan (LPS), Favia (LPS), GSP (Softies), Xenia (Softies), ect… these are some of the corals that people getting into a reef often start with. After 6-7 months (I personally wait a year or two) then you can begin leaning into SPS if you want to, when you get to this point I’d start with things like; montipora capricornis, seriatopora hystrix, montipora digitata, stylophora and then slowly build into beginner Acroporas (After keeping the easier SPS for 5-6 months and keeping stable parameters).

 

[i cant think]

There's around 24 in that photo - but some blend in really nicely. They all wait until I put the camera away and then come out just to spite me. I added two more wrasses yesterday but they're laying low for the most part. The sixline you can almost never spot - he's literally on the prowl 24/7 and moves effortlessly in-between the rockscape.

That’s interesting, I’d love a few more fish for my 4’ tank but unfortunately I’m running out of room as I have a few medium sized fish in it (Foxface, Angelfish, Bristletooth Tang, CBB, Jade Wrasse - Potentially going to be evicted if she gets any more aggressive).

 

[blaxsun]

That’s interesting, I’d love a few more fish for my 4’ tank but unfortunately I’m running out of room as I have a few medium sized fish in it (Foxface, Angelfish, Bristletooth Tang, CBB, Jade Wrasse - Potentially going to be evicted if she gets any more aggressive).

Having enough caves, crevices and ledges in the rockwork really helps. I'm finding new hiding spots I never realized existed every month.