Planning new 400

[Prariecanuck]

Hi all, I'm planning a new 400 gallon peaceful fowlr tank. Tank will be 96x30x30 and will be a plywood build with front viewing only. I'm going to try a skimmerless system using a large diy wet dry and a diy ats for my filtration. I'm also doing a diy 3d background too. I got must of the stuff I need for the build already just waiting on kids sports to slow down so I'll have time to go at it hard.
I'd like some opinions on the stocking list to see what everyone's thoughts are.

Yellow tangs x5
Powder blue
Regal tang
Blond naso
Yellow eye kole
Orange shoulder
Emporor angel
Majestic angel
Long nose hawk
Long nose butterfly
Copperband butterfly
Black and white chromis x10
Flame angel
Bi color angel
Elibi angel
Green manderine in time of corse
Also what order you would add them all in too

[Cujo#31]

Outside of the obvious "add all fish of same species at same time" I have heard the flame angel and bicolor can be a mean little fellows towards other dwarfs but maybe by adding them last, adding both emperor and majestic as final occupants, given the size of your tank everyone should play nice. Lots of hiding spots, but also ur angels and tangs will need a ton of open space. Watch the Yellow tangs, they can be very agressive or so I've heard eve though I have no issues with mine with sailfin and hippo. My two bits FWIW. Good luck

[tytown]

Yeah my bicolor is a little terror and beats on my eiblis and golden all day long.
I just built a 400 gallon FOWLR in march and am building up my livestock. Though its usually recommended its not easy to find all the desired fish of the same species to add them all at once!
Consider adding some Blennies, they make wicked additions to a FOWLR aquarium and they make awesome custodians.
Would be interesting to see how your going to go skimmerless with such load. My skimmer hasnt arrived yet but i'm temporarily using an ASM G1-x and G2 and the skimmer cups are full every 3 days. This is with an adult clown trigger, adult emperor, couple blennies, couple small angels, 200 lbs of cured rock, and a 40 gallon fuge with a healthy ball of cheato.
PM me if you want to talk build.

[lpsreefer]

Adding the fish at certain times sounds good. It all boils down to what you can get from your local reefers/LFS.

My experience with out using a skimmer is you'll need something to keep your nitrates downs.
With using a wet/Dry filter your nitrate well creep up.
Having lot of rock and flow for filtration is good.

Biopellets are a good source to reduce nitrates.
There are many other sources way also.

As for adding fish. Heres how i would do it.

First: Yellow tangs x5
Second: Powder blue
First: Regal tang
First: Blond naso
Second: Yellow eye kole
Second: Orange shoulder
Last: Emperor angel
Last: Majestic angel
First: Long nose hawk
Last: Long nose butterfly (Keep in mind THat they prefer an established tank)
Last: Copperband butterfly (Keep in mind THat they prefer an established tank)
First: Black and white chromis x10
Second: Flame angel
Second: Bi color angel
Second: Elibi angel
Last:Green mandarin in time of course(Keep in mind THat they prefer an established tank)

When adding fish i also recommend doing it at night time. To Cutting down on aggression. Feeding lots if the first few days helps out.

Looking forward to see the build.

[neoh]

I did a FOWLR last year. Got all the fish at once. Then one of them had velvet..

Wish you better luck than I!

[Bowen]

Nice to see people who can run such big tanks! I don't have anything to contribute, unfortunately, but I'm looking for black and white chromis as well; do you have a particular species in mind, or do you find them all about the same temperament-wise?

[matt_C]

Chromis nitida - Barrier reef chromis?
or
Chromis retrofasciata - Black-bar chromis?
or
Chromis dimidiata - Chocolatedip chromis?

[Bowen]

Or C. margaritifer, hanui, or iomelas/maculatus? There are a bunch of black and white chromis species and there seems to be a lot of inconsistency :/

[Spooch]

Hi... Just wondering how your 400g fowlr is making out with no skimmer. I personally have a stocked over 3 year old 300g Fowlr. I run a large skimmer with a bio pellet reactor and it works awesome. But I'm curious on how your design turned out?