What to do - thoughts appreciated
 

Our tank has had salt in it now for 2 weeks and the sand cloud from Thursday night has cleared. All params are stable and very close to what I'd like to see
79.9 - 80.3 F
pH 8.13
Silicates 0
Copper 0
NH3 0
NO2 0
NO3 0
PO4 0
KH 9
Ca 460
Mg 1350
Sg 1.026

So now I have a decision to make;
1 - Start off with some easy softies and feed them to seed the tank ( plus QT some fish ) or ...
2 - QT a fish or 2 and start seeding the tank with them next month

Choice 1 is obviously the more costly risk, but will give fish something to come home to
Choice 2 will probably seed more readily and be less risky for this beginner, but then I'll have to wait for a QT cycle before adding anything to the DT

In the meantime I have a big ball of chaeto in it's tank and I'm getting some small branching algae on the LR and a hi flow area of glass
If I add any kind of CUC right now, it would be just a snail or 2 as I wouldn't want them to starve

So, what are your thoughts ?
Thanks for your input

In the meantime, I've decided to get 2 Astrea snails, one Red Scarlet hermit and a bag of shells
I only have 15lbs of LR so I think that's plenty for a start
I'm going to J&L this afternoon and really want to bring something live home :biggrin:

I shoulda mentioned ...
I'm starting to get some algae that looks like turf ?
And green whisker-like sprouts, some of which have white feather-duster-lookin' heads
I hope that will be some food for the new guys

This is the best I can do in a short time

http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...d/DSC01047.jpg

I'm not surprised with the lack of responses an this beautiful long weekend

you only have 15lbs of rock in a 75gl?

get at least 50 more lbs, let the tank cycle for two more weeks after that. then test your water. if everything is at 0 you can start a SMALL cuc... don't rush anything. no point in stressing out living things. add more rock and go from there. leave fish out of the picture until you all all the rock in the tank you'll be wanting.

While your trying to make up your mind which way to go, this is a good article to read and who knows it may help you with your decision :mrgreen:

http://forum.marinedepot.com/Topic23945.aspx

I'd think to grab some more rock...

I got my tank started with some cocktail shrimp. I did use MB7... Don't know if it made a huge difference but it was about 2 weeks.

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I would't QT the first fish in IMO. I think QTing is great later when adding to an established tank but kinda pointless in a new one like yours. If it was me I'd get a fish.

I know, I know ...
I wish I could have found about 75lbs back in Jan/Feb
There wasn't any rock to be found when I was curing it
Now what I did find is cured and the tank is 'scaped

I have a small amount of space in the sump for maybe another 20-30lbs stuffed in but it won't stay clean with the arrangement. It will collect detritus, but I have already been thinking about it.
I don't want to re-scape just yet

Thanks for the input Flash