Stocking my new reef

[Sinibotia]

Hey everyone,
I'm about done cycling my first every reef, a 10 gallon reef. It has about 10 pounds of live rock, 3 or so inches crushed coral substrate, and a Lominie Pixie LED. Ammonia is consistently dropping from 2ppm to 0ppm in less than 24 hours. My plan is to do a big water change soon and then start the stocking process slowly.

My intended stock:
One firefish
One Black Ray Goby (stonogobiops nematodes)
One tiger? pistol shrimp
1 emerald crab
4 nerite snails
4 certith snails
3 scarlet hermit crabs

Corals I'm not entirely sure about. I have roughly 400gph of flow between an aquaclear 50 and a koralia 240 nano. I'm hoping to put an easier LPS coral like a hammer or frogspawn on the top spot of my rocks(where there's quite a bit of flow and light) and fill the rest of the tank with easy soft corals, especially green star polyps(I love the look of them) Do ya'll have any suggestions?

I'm also wondering how to time the stocking. I was planning on initially adding one of the fish, whichever is hardier, the emerald crab, the hermit crabs and some of the snails. How long would I have to wait to add the rest of the non-coral stock? I'm also wondering how I should go about stocking corals. Should I wait until after all my other stock is in? Should I be adding corals along with the rest? Do I need to wait for the waves of algae to pass first?

Here's the tank layout:

I'm open to ideas of how to move the flow around to get a good mix of corals on the rocks.

 

[Flippers4pups]

I would give it a month or two before adding LPS. Soft coral pretty much after cycle.

Nano's will require some diligent husbandry. Test your water frequently.

 

[The Aquatic Arsenal]

I agree, I would suggest waiting a couple of months to allow you aquarium to mature a little more before adding any LPS. Softies will be fine after the cycle like stated above. Honestly I would recommend waiting on coral until you go through the ugly stage.

 

[Sinibotia]

I would give it a month or two before adding LPS. Soft coral pretty much after cycle.

Nano's will require some diligent husbandry. Test your water frequently.

Just to be clear, do you mean the cycle as in ammonia and nitrite 0, or including the stage where bacteria are converting nitrate to nitrogen? I'm still a little confused, coming from years of freshwater.

I would give it a month or two before adding LPS. Soft coral pretty much after cycle.

Nano's will require some diligent husbandry. Test your water frequently.

I've been testing my water every couple of days, and I've got about 20 gallons of water premixed already for if I need to make adjustments. I kept some pretty tough freshwater fish and I'm putting all my experience and research into doing this tank right.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Just to be clear, do you mean the cycle as in ammonia and nitrite 0, or including the stage where bacteria are converting nitrate to nitrogen? I'm still a little confused, coming from years of freshwater.

I've been testing my water every couple of days, and I've got about 20 gallons of water premixed already for if I need to make adjustments. I kept some pretty tough freshwater fish and I'm putting all my experience and research into doing this tank right.

Once your nitrite hits "0" and your nitrate rises and falls, then add.

 

[The Aquatic Arsenal]

You will want to make sure Ammonia and Nitrite are both 0 before adding anything.

 

[Sinibotia]

My ammonia and nitrite are 0, nitrate is high (something in the ballpark of 80). So unlike in freshwater, the nitrate should start going down on its own?

 

[The Aquatic Arsenal]

I would do a water change and help it come down.

 

[Flippers4pups]

My ammonia and nitrite are 0, nitrate is high (something in the ballpark of 80). So unlike in freshwater, the nitrate should start going down on its own?

It should drop from where it's at currently, but still show a value. That's perfectly okay. Sounds like your there.

 

[Sinibotia]

It should drop from where it's at currently, but still show a value. That's perfectly okay. Sounds like your there.

I would do a water change and help it come down.

I did about a 70% change to bring it down, but my calcium is at 340 for some reason (salinity 1.026) so I'm going to have to figure that out before I add any corals... Is it still acceptable to add a fish and a few inverts at this point?

 

[The Aquatic Arsenal]

I don't see why you couldn't add fish and inverts. What salt mix are you using? Calcium shouldn't be that low.

 

[Sinibotia]

I don't see why you couldn't add fish and inverts. What salt mix are you using? Calcium shouldn't be that low.

I get the premixed pacific ocean water from Petco. I work there so I get it at a huge discount, and an RO unit isn't an option where I live right now(in a dorm).

 

[The Aquatic Arsenal]

Does that water state what its parameters are supposed to be?

 

[Sinibotia]

Does that water state what its parameters are supposed to be?

Doesn't state what it's supposed to be but I tested it out of the box just now at 360ppm.

Edit: Just says that the salinity is between 1.022 and 1.027.

 

[The Aquatic Arsenal]

When you go to keep coral you will probably want to dose a 2 part system for alkalinity and calcium. It wouldn't hurt to find out where magnesium is sitting at as well.

 

[BayouReefer]

Sounds like with the water your using you may have to start dosing Calcium and Alkalinity. What is your Alk?

 

[Sinibotia]

When you go to keep coral you will probably want to dose a 2 part system for alkalinity and calcium. It wouldn't hurt to find out where magnesium is sitting at as well.

I don't have a magnesium test kit yet, but I'll have to get one. Alkalinity is sitting at 8 dKH, and I'll pick up a 2 part system (something else I get a discount on )

Ideally I'll only be changing a gallon or so per week and shouldnt have too many calcium-thirsty corals so I can make up the difference with dosing.

 

[The Aquatic Arsenal]

Gotta love employee discounts

 

[Sinibotia]

Gotta love employee discounts

40% on petco brand stuff including their premixed saltwater and 20% on livestock, and our store is actually really solid on fish (both marine and freshwater)

 

[Sinibotia]

I ended up adding an emerald crab, a certith snail and 3 blue leg hermit crabs (after water changes to bring nitrate down to 15 or so). Petco didn't have any black ray gobies and the only fire fish had a ripped up tail so I decided to wait on the fish. The inverts are doing quite well though, and the tiny white snails that I thought might be pyramid snails are nowhere to be found on my certith so hopefully I can add more snails soon.