How to stock 16 gallon tall?

[truth64]

So for a long time now I have always wanted to have a beautiful reef tank with lots of coral and fish, and my sister got me a 16 gallon tank as a gift with a heater, filter and aquarium salt! So I threw in some live sand and live rock, put in a powerhead, a sand sifting starfish, a tiny hermit crab and two four-striped damsels. It has been running like that for about two months now and the damsels are doing great, so I wanted to start adding some coral and a clownfish or two. But someone at petco told me if I add anything else I will have a bio overload. But it looks pretty boring as is! Is there a way to get around that and be able to add some more life and color to it? I don't want to feel like I got all excited for nothing...

 

[BigRedsReefs10]

You could add some coral depending on your lighting, but the clowns would be a definite no.


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[truth64]

The tank comes with LED lights, will coral be okay under that?

 

[BigRedsReefs10]

Depends on the led system, but if they're something that came with the tank, then they're most likely not strong enough. What's the dimensions of the tank? Current params? Which reef salt are you using?


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[truth64]

The salt is the instant ocean brand. As for the dimensions, I'm not sure what they are, but the tank is a little narrow and tall. It came with test strips that test nitrate, nitrite, total alkalinity and ph, and it just tells you if the readings are ideal, okay or dangerous. I tested yesterday and it says everything is ideal.

 

[BigRedsReefs10]

First thing I'd recommend (besides a quality light) before getting into corals is a quality test kit for nitrate, calcium, and alkalinity, I'd also consider a refractometer a must as swing arm hydrometers are terribly inaccurate. Your tank dimensions and budget on lighting would help us give you some recommendations on lights. Also are you using ro/di water?


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[truth64]

Thanks for the recommendations, I'll probably get a better test kit and refractometer next time I'm in the store. I'm pretty sure my water is DI