Stocking for a 30 gallon with 20 gallon refugium Soft Corals/Macroalgae

[jt8791]

3-4 pj cardinals!

Just the cardinals? Maybe for another tank. I could see possibly a 5th fish later down the road but think it will come down to growth and nutrients available.

Could just keep it simple, gsp on the middle of the live rock and let it spread to the back glass and across the rocks. Then just chaeto floating in the 20.

Worst case if the nutrients run low and the dt is fully stocked I’ll put a small nano bottom dweller or two in the 20. Might make it harder to sustain a copepod population but seems to be the simplest option. Sounds better than crowding the display tank to sustain both corals and macro

 

[jt8791]

Maybe a neon goby at the most for a 5th fish in the dt otherwise maybe a smaller blenny in the 20 fuge, 2” or less . Really considering the neon goby for its cleaning benefits but not sure if 2 gobies would work, especially the neon being half the size of the bicolor blenny and ywg.

 

[jt8791]

Maybe a two spot blenny in the 20 to help on bioload. Clown gobies sound interesting for the gsp but not sure one would go well with the stocking in the dt with fish twice it’s size

 

[jt8791]

almost wonder if I should treat it more like a macro tank and stock both lightly but imagine it would be challenging to sustain copepods if I went this route.

30
2 ocellaris
Bicolor blenny
Ywg With tiger pistol shrimp

20
Wheelers or Randall’s shrimp goby
With candy cane pistol shrimp
Tail spot blenny

Not sure if it’s an ideal option but might be a possible solution

 

[jt8791]

Hopefully someone will chime in but that last stocking sounds pretty cool. Especially with a $200 fuge light and maybe that would give me the bio load to pull off gsp and red Xenia and chaeto and red graciliara.

Worry a bit about swimming room in the 20 so would have to limit it to the 10lbs of the life rock.

Debating on how much sand depth for the gobies and pistol shrimp. I do like a decent sand bed if it can be maintained by the livestock in the tank. Not including vacuuming detritus off the surface, but I usually try not to disturb the sand once I start adding nassarius snails

Will fish adapt to the alternate light schedule? Eventually they would have a ball of chaeto for shade.

 

[jt8791]

Holding off on wave maker upgrades and wave controller, Looking into tunze wave makers and battery backup, at least on one per tank.

Probably look into a few other products from them. The rock coral rack looks sharp compared to plastic. Debating on picking up the controller and hooking it into the computer at some point, as long as the computer doesn’t have to be on. The magnetic holders for 1” pipe could work for the pvc water bridge.

Will see what kind of pieces I get in the 40lb box of life rock. Think they will be too big for the 20 at 5-9” so I’ll see what I can make out of the box within that 2’ space. If I’m putting fish in the 20 would just assume get the 20lb box of medium sized rocks, even if I don’t use them all in that tank.

other than nassarius what would my options be for cuc to maintain the sand beds? Sure the pistols and gobies will stir some up but not really cuc

 

[hawk82]

Cerith snails are good for the sand, both the small ones and the florida, they both burrow under and stir it. Unfortunately I have to replace mine alot because my wrasse likes to snack on the small ones.

 

[jt8791]

Change of plans I'm gonna play it safe and avoid plumbing, dropping the 20 off the list now. Gotta get more buckets so I can drain the tank and move it over and away from the wall. Thinking of 1 ac110 filter 2 ac 70s, fuge, cryptic zone and filter media. At that point I would just get 60lb life rock, according to petco 40# large 20# medium, so that's probably the best way to get a good variety of sizes. Will order surface skimmer with ato at some point for one of them, betting all but filter media would be low flow.

And probably just go back to fluval marine 3.0, that way I can spread the rocks out and avoid hanging a light. Will just keep it running as is until I get rocks and filters for now. Possibly drop to a 100w heater and hide it in the filter, even found a finnex mini led refugium light that will fit over an ac110

 

[jt8791]

Alternatively, on the lighting, almost wonder if I could mount an AI Prime 16HD Reef on each end of the tank. A bit overkill but probably the best lighting I will get without hanging a light.

 

[jt8791]

disregard the last one. Forgot about the 2’ light spread

 

[jt8791]

40# life rock is ordered, just gonna slide the stand forward away from the wall. May still do the 20, as a separate tank doing macros later on after this one is all setup. Don't want to break the bank account doing 2 tanks at once.

Will see how rocks end up, thinking two structures with an archway in between. May have to leave the back glass clear for equipment instead of corals and I might just go for the underwater lawn effect with green star polyps. Will stick to small amounts but the tank sounds odd without any crabs in it, at least one emerald and a group of hermits

My usual go to at petco said an ac70 would be too heavy as a cryptic zone. so I may just do 2 ac110 fuges with ac50 for filter media or maybe leave that spot open for a protein skimmer if needed, the ac50 would be a tight fit, could do ac30 alternatively. Like the ac110 for the extra water volume

 

[jt8791]

Debating on dropping the blenny and trying for a pair of ywg with the ocellaris clownfish pair. Hard to say if I could fit a fifth fish into the stocking later on. Almost wonder if orchid dottyback would be an option, once the clownfish are mature or close to it. Thinking two breeding pairs of fish may be too aggressive for a bicolor blenny or royal gramma basslet, which were the only other options I could think of for stocking besides inverts. Think two or even one tiger pistol shrimp would be too much so I'll wait for a pair ranadalli or candy cane pistol shrimp.

Will forget the two ac110 fuges and just go big and grab the 4.7 gallon refugium, cpr i think the brand was. After I buy 2 $90 lights for the ac110s it would be about the same price maybe a hair more.

 

[jt8791]

If I set the tank up next friday it should be cycled on the 1st. Thinking of spending a few months building up the biofilm followed by establishing copepods. Will give me time to save up for the refugium and lights. Wondering if I should build some type of support under that.

I imagine even captive bred ywg will still eat pods. Not sure if I want to push a 5th fish but I will leave that for the final addition if I do so. Will see how finances go, if I take my time building up the biofilm I might make it till income tax for the last few big expenses.

Only thing I'm unsure of is if a 30 gallon is big enough for a pair of yellow watchman gobies and pair of candy cane pistol shrimp. Unless I end up needing the 5th fish for the bioload it sounds fine just the way it is with the clowns and gobies. Would make this sand bed more useful.

Big question is do I do water changes while I am building up the biofilm? Would assume to at least do a big water change before adding copepods and want to say I wouldn't change any water while building layers of biofilm. Just read about that somewhere on the forums last night, if only I could remember what thread it was on.

Gonna grab an ac70 when I set it up, at the least to help with the surface film. Have the power heads up high for that right now. Think I'll just run prefilter and foam, rinse them every few days in hot water, and maybe the biomax it comes with for now. Won't rinse the biomax in tap obviously.

Eventually I'll get the oceanbox/intank ultimate filtration kit for the ac70 with the ato.

Would I build up copepods feeding phytoplankton for a bit before adding the cuc?
Think I'll forget about crabs and go for more variety on snails.
5 Nassarius
5 Super Tongan Nassarius
5 Spiny Star Astraea
5 Cerith
5 Trochus
1+/- Bumble bee
1+/- Margarita
1+/-Astrea Turbo
1+/- Nerite -Do they breed in saltwater?
2 Candy cane pistol shrimp
2 peppermint shrimp
1 scarlet skunk cleaner shrimp
Red Tuxedo urchin

Not sure if that is overkill on the groups of 5, not sure what to get on the singles, . was thinking of ordering the whole cuc from liveaquaria which I would wait for warmer weather here.

Let me know if I should re adjust that, main focus will be on adding ones that maintain the sand bed but if I'm gonna build the biofilm for 3 months and order online I might as well do a full cuc.

Anyone know the inside measurement on the large aquafuge2? debating if I should do a layer of sand from the tank and some rock rubble or marine pure cubes

 

[jt8791]

Will scratch Margarita snails off the list, petco never mentioned the 76F max temp.

Tank is moved, moved it over to the corner, the door is a tad drafty but the heater is on that end. Made sure to have 6" all the way around from the wall. Floor seems more stable over there, tank would shake everytime I walked across the floor before.

So large cpr aquafuge2 on the back right side, ac70 on the back left and protein skimmer on the left side of the tank someday, once I figure out which one to go with.
Will use sand from the tank and some extra life rock to make rubble for the fuge, no point buying marine pure blocks, got plenty of sand and life rock

 

[jt8791]

Okay walking into petco to look at the tanks to get ideas on stocking isn't always the greatest idea. Looks like I'm dropping the gobies and going macro algae again. Just gonna do two ac110 fuges on the back on each side to spread the weight out. will grab a background before i put those on.

Thinking graciliara on the rocks and the route I'm going I may just do chaeto on the sand, maybe keep it on the back side with some small power heads on it. Could look into other options as well. thinking planted plus again for lighting

Thinking once it's cycled I will start ghost feeding for a bit and then order copepods and phytoplankton from algae barn, will see what they have on macro then. Debating on doing a monthly auto ship of tisbe pods. Will break up 10lb of life rock for rubble for fuge and rubble piles I'm thinking of.

Worst case I have to start a copepod breeding tank and an auto ship on pods and phytoplankton although read earlier they can eat spiralina too. Could put some rubble in fuges or leave that for copepod piles and put some marine pure gems in the fuge instead.

2 Ocellaris clownfish
2 Bangai cardinals
1 Mandarin Dragonet
Just skunk cleaner shrimp, snails, crabs, hermit crabs maybe tuxedo urchin

Up for suggestions on any other macros I should throw in here to help sustain the copepod population. Suppose I should set up a bench for breeding and grab a few 5 gallon tanks, as well as 2 10s for ato and qt.

The cardinals just seems fitting in a macro tank, every other bottom dweller i can think of would compete with the mandarin. Wow they ship mandarins small, I wouldn't dare take one home without three months of adding copepods and feeding phytoplankton and spiralina maybe and this would be before cuc and other fish. $40 isnt terrible if it keeps this fish fed, if that's enough I'll keep that auto ship going, makes it easy when its time to order macros. Been wanting to make an algaebarn account.

Mandarin would be last of course but out of the cardinals and clownfish which should I do first?

If anyone gets time to read and respond thank you for your help

 

[jt8791]

Although this tank on practical fish keeping is what got me into macro tanks in the first place. Anyone know what this is growing out of the rocks?

 

[jt8791]

To be honest I think I might have better chancing sustaining pods to feed 2 ywg, if the bio load is sustainable, than attempting a mandarin. I would just assume go the safer route, ywg pair and randall pistol shrimp pair, albeit more water changes, equipment or macro. 6 fish I'm betting I would need a protein skimmer. at least i know ywg will eventually eat other things but I would still establish and add to the pod population either way. Just trying to figure to figure out how to spread out the extra 10lb of rock and make use of the sand, not sure 5lb in a ac110 will leave much room for chaeto, could get a bit in 2 ac20 cryptic zones. not sure i want to put any sand in the fuges.

 

[jt8791]

Okay back to an old idea I’ve been thinking about, species tank for a pair of lined seahorses. Want to focus more on micro fauna populations for this year, phytoplankton, copepods and amphipods. Then next fall or spring after will order a pair from algae barn.

Debating if I should go down to pet Quarters and pick up a male molly they have converted to sw for the bioload after it’s cycled, unless I just feed the micro fauna to grow the macro algae. Want to grow in the graciliara before I add the second light and the chaeto.

Will swap the 425 pumps for 240s and keep them up at the surface. Is the large cpr aquafuge2 too much flow for lined seahorse? Biggest concern is keeping up with the phyto,copepod and amphipod food chain.

Main interests are 2 peppermint and sw ghost shrimp for food source. Bristle worms, micro brittle stars and the other micro stars, forget the name of them for cuc, imagine I will need a bunch nassarius snails but would rather take a natural occurring species that some consider pests as long as it’s beneficial than spend a bunch of money on snails again.

Got an idea for the rock work but will see what I get to work with for pieces. Will take pictures to post, hopefully the aren’t to massive. Only idea I could come up with for big rocks was to build an arch wall from corner to corner, 8” high max, but I debate if they need more swimming room.

But thinking of breaking up at least 10# worth into rubble and making a rubble pit behind the wall, which will have chaeto growing over it. Which would leave the sand in the front, would say in the 4” range after rocks and rubble. Not sure how much rubble I would end up with, want to leave room for a sand bed in the front so will try not to pack it too much with big rocks. Figure some rubble and sand can always go to the fuge later.

 

[jt8791]

Yeah not sure that would work well for them, 29 would have been a better option. I'll just see what I get for pieces and take 5 gallons out and build it piece by piece. At this point I only have one tank and bottle of biospora? think that was the name.

Back to the drawing board stocking wise, and just saw the board for those questions too. Thinking my safest best is to avoid fish that rely on pods for food, even if I do manage to pack 40# rock and 60# of sand in it without it collapsing. Question is how many fish should I have to sustain both chaeto and graciliara?

From what I read it varies from 4-6 3" for this tank size and I'm having a hard time picking one. Most the pairs I see being issues later on, bangais and clownfish, two ywg's alone would be enough work to sustain to pod population, not even sure if the tank itself is big enough for a pair anyways.

Almost consider making it a one fish tank but haven't seen much yet.

 

[Reef Nutrition]

If you are shopping for copepods and phytoplankton, please give us a look. Our Phyto-Feast Live (6 species of live algae) is 20 times as concentrated as our top competitor. We also sell copepods. I recommend Apocyclops panamensis (Apex-Pods). If you can't find us at an LFS, you can order direct and we do have subscription plans. We are experts in phytoplankton and zooplankton with a 1.5 million gallon system to support the global demand for microalgae. Feel free to message me if you have any questions. Thanks for being so detailed with your thread.

-Chad