What to stock

[Rene]

Ok, I will have my display tank set up soon. I was wondering what order to stock and how fast? Do I put inverts in first? A little at a time? How long do I have to wait for corals?

Its a 230 gal tank with the solaris light and lots of flow. It will have a 1 inch sandbed.

I have a 50 gal quarantien tank set up. Should I have some fish and corals in there to get ready?

[jasond]

I would wait till your water parameters are in check, and the tank has finished cycling. Even if you are using cured LR, there still may be a mini cycle (atleast mine did). I personally didnt add anything to my tank until the water was ready, inverts/fish/coral. The waiting is painful, but atleast you wont have any casualties!

Sounds like a nice set up, lets see some pics!!

Goodluck,

Jason

[michika]

I assume by your post that you want to do a reef system. Do you know if you will be doing a SPS reef or a LPS/Softie reef?

Post your water parameters, and we can give you a better idea of when to add livestock. Usually most people add their clean up crew, then some fish, and finally a few corals. After that you can add fish and corals provided everything stays stable. I would start with deciding what kind of clean up crew I want, and then making a list of all the fish I like. Then research your fish choices and edit out what won't work for you.

[Lance]

Take your time and add slowly. Adding livestock too quickly will only cause you grief. Like Michika says, start with the CU crew, and add the smaller and more timid fish before the more aggressive ones.

[Drock169]

Like everyone says finish cycling, then gradually add your clean up crew (CUC). I like to add corals and inverts next, then fish last. When adding fish like lance said, least aggressive to most aggressive, and generally adding them slowly like a few small ones or one large one every other week so your system can adjust. The exception is with tangs in which its best to add them at the same time if your going to mix species.

[Rene]

do I add the whole clean up crew at once? or a little at a time? I think I will be needing a big crew for a tank this size.

[michika]

You can add it all at once if you are confident your parameters are in check, speaking of, what are yours? Adding them all at once may be cheaper since you live out of the city, but you need ot make sure that the water quality is perfect. Right now you'll probably just want a small clean up crew, something to get things going, snails, hermits (some people say yes, some say no), shrimp, etc.

[Rene]

The 230 gallon display is not set up yet. I am currently cooking about 400-500 lbs of rock in the garage and it will be around another 4 weeks till its done..

I have a 50 gallon set up now as a qt.

Can I add all the clean up crew once I have the main tank going? Is it ok to just drop in 200-300 crabs and snails all at once? or do I want to qt them first?

And if I need to qt my fish and corals for three weeks should I add them to the qt soon? So they will be ready for the display tank?

[michika]

Since you 230g is set up yet, you have to wait to ensure there is no cycle, or that any cycles you have are finished.

You don't have to QT your clean up crew, you run a risk of them starving if you do in some cases.

Wait on the fish until you are sure your clean up crew is doing okay in your display.

[Rene]

Thanks for the advise! seems like there is still so much left to learn.

[VFX]

With CUC, I find that I always need less than the 'recommended' amount.

For example:

J&L suggest this package for 180-240 gallon reefs.

150 - Blue Legged Hermits
30 - Red Scarlet Hermit
50 - Astrea Snails
50 - Margarita Snails
50 - Cerith Snails

I'd maybe add 1/2 or 2/3 that amount at first. In that way, if there's not enough detritus/algae etc. to sustain 300+ newly added inverts, you wont starve anyone.

You can always add more later if you find you need them.

.

[Rene]

Will they breed in the tank? can I just bring up the population that way?

[VFX]

To be honest, even in my old 15g nano tank, I never saw half my CUC once I'd put them in.

I don't know if they multiplied or not in there, well some snails did, but I don't think the ever hermits did.

.

[bv_reefer]

margarita snails are pretty decent at scavenging, beware the price of turbo snails, they're good at cleaning but they're clumsy as heck, i'd still end up going for lots of blue leg hermits, they're pretty efficient imo.

[ElGuappo]

I have had better luck with margarita snails then turbos. they are not as big do a fine job and do not knock any corals around. I have 12 margarita snails and 6 Turbos.(as of today i added 3 mexican)

Down side to margaritas is that my hermits despite how many shells i give them like to kill them for their shells.

As far as breeding in the tank iam not too sure only if they find a good enough hiding spot for the eggs. my sally lightfoot always gets my eggs even the ones i dont see. he will just come out from behind the rock with a sac. not sure but i asume hermits would eat eggs if they come accross them.

I would also put some scarlett hermits in just fora change of color.

[VFX]

+1 on avoiding Turbos...

I find Trochus, Nassarius & Ceriths do a pretty good job.

.

[ElGuappo]

Guess i shouldmetion i also have some pyramids and dovetails.

[Rippin]

Yes, I've found that the recommended number of CUC critters from sources to be too high.

In a newly established system there may be not enough food for all of those snails, crabs and especially shrimp (unless you feed them).

Eventually your CUC system will balance itself out and will only support the amount your tank can provide, in terms of food.

In a new tank, sand-dwelling critters (nassarius, conches) will be of little or no use, and would most probably die off.

If you're cooking rock, there may not be enough left on the rock to support a large CUC immediately. Wait until the algae blooms (which undoubtedly you'll have) settles down, then add your CUC.

[danny zubot]

Adding that many of anything to your tank will cause an amonia spike, which may kill the vast majority of your cleaners. I would wait until your live rock in is place before adding any livestock. That way you will have a buffer to counteract an amonia spike. After all, LR does most of your filtrating.

Sounds like it will be a nice system, with the solaris light and all.:biggrin: