What to stock

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.

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.

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.

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