What is my next step?

[kput]

Hello all, I've recently purchased and finished setting up an established 120g reef tank (Tank was running 4-5 years before I purchased) and I want to make sure I'm not missing anything before I start adding fish. ( I plan to start with a Cowfish in about 3-4 weeks). The Tank has 2 Vortech MP40's, a Radion Gen 1 and Gen 3, Skimmer, and Reeflink system, return pump is a Jebao (SP?).

The tank has been up and fully running for about 3 days now with roughly 70lbs of live rock that was already in the tank, and 13lbs Fiji live rock added last night. I kept around 50% of the sand from the previous setup, and added 40lbs of Live sand. All sand and rock was kept in water to prevent bacteria die-off in the move.
The sump is established with live rock and a sand bed, I've recently added two softball clumps of cheato as well. I also added a handful of new CUC members last night, as I lost almost all the snails in the move.

Currently I have 3~ Mexican Turbo, 3~ Nerite, 3~ Cerith. There are also three large snails already in there (3" Turbans and Fighting Conch).
I've added 1 emerald crab, and I've seen probably 5-6 hermits running around. There are also some Mushroom corals (?), pest starfish, and other little odd plants here and there.

I'm thinking my next step should be to start establishing the pod population, as I haven't seen any in the tank. Is there anything I'm missing or should be doing before I add my Cow? Obviously I plan to monitor parameters, and do weekly WC's, I just want to make sure everything is in line and prepped with all the time I've got to spare.

Thanks!

 

[lapin]

Sounds great
I would do a few tests over a week or 2 to be sure your tank is somewhat stable before adding any livestock.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I would let tank run at LEAST 3 weeks and using bacteria culture such as Bacter 7 BEFORE considering any livestock and cowfish is best added to an established , not new tank. A couple of black Mollies would even be a good first addition as they will eat and help seed tank and they will graze on any green growth that would appear.

 

[Mical]

Everything you listed sounds like a good start and as lapin stated I'ld wait also just to make sure params are in check. One note, your MP40s are real water movers and you might keep them on the low side to accommodate your cowfish as they like more of a lagoon water movement.

 

[kput]

Everything you listed sounds like a good start and as lapin stated I'ld wait also just to make sure params are in check. One note, your MP40s are real water movers and you might keep them on the low side to accommodate your cowfish as they like more of a lagoon water movement.

I've been messing around with them a bit and have them turned to 40-50% capacity most of the time on lagoon, dropping down to 20-30 for constant and reef-crest modes. I'll have to mess with them more, hard to tell what the flow looks like with nothing in the tank lol

I would let tank run at LEAST 3 weeks and using bacteria culture such as Bacter 7 BEFORE considering any livestock and cowfish is best added to an established , not new tank. A couple of black Mollies would even be a good first addition as they will eat and help seed tank and they will graze on any green growth that would appear.

I'll look into the Bacter 7, I'm hoping that I've managed to keep the majority of the tanks established bacteria alive and well.. I've got 4 freshwater tanks cycling currently and it's driving me insane. I definitely intend to make sure the tank is running well before the cowfish gets brought home.

 

[kput]

Checked water parameters today, everything seems to be doing fine.
I added 4 black mollies, 2 of them seem to have gotten into a fight with some rocks thanks to the vortechs and might not make it

Turned them off and turned the return pump way down so they're swimming happily now.