setup stock advice/critique

[phish7740]

my first tank, cycling 1 week, amonia is still below .25, i added "Cycle", rock smell subsided. (i know i shouldnt have added fish so early)

FOWLR

100 gal tank 60" 24" deep
85# live rock
85# small CC
40 watts right now but
upgrading to 320 watt T5 4x80
or 640 watt T5 8x80
fuval 405

hichhikers
(1) red legged hermit crab
(1) snail

(6) yellowtail damsel
(1) blue damsel
(1) 3 stripe damsel
(3) green chromies

keeping 1-3 of above fish

some snails and hermit crabs for cleanup crew

To Get:
(1) Maroon Clown
(1) purple Tang or Chevron Tang
(1) green clown goby
(1) Fridmani or purple Pseudochromis
(1) lyretail or hoevens wrasse
(1) flame or coral beauty Angel (suggestions welcome)
(1) blue urchin

gorgonians
zoos
soft corals
mushrooms

1) has anyone had LSP with this (320watt T5) (3.2 watt/gal) light?

i would like to have at least one low light anenome near the top if needed 2) (suggestions?)

3) do i need a powerhead beside the 340gph canister, if so what size?

4) is a wrasse going to be ok in a CC bed (its small #5 CC) (i know i should have sand but my lfs sold me this before i knew) im going to keep the CC in this FOWLR and eventually do a nano reef with sand.

5) also is this the order i should add them?

6) do i have room/compatibility for a puffer (clown/blue hawaiian)??


Thanks in advance for your help/advice!

 

[roka64]

(3) green chromies

I would keep these. Those damsels are pretty aggressive.

3) do i need a powerhead beside the 340gph canister, if so what size?

I have a 55G w/the fluvial 304 and two 10-30G PHs. One pointing up for surface agitation/gas exchange. They other one is pointing at the mess of cyano in one corner of my tank. If you are planning on corals, I think you might need more water flow. I'm not a reefer so I'll let the more experienced take a look at your set up and reccommend accordingly.

I think the puffer will eat your inverts, crabs, snails, possibly the urchin, and maybe some corals (not too sure about the corals).

 

[phish7740]

ohh yea i have an airpump also so ihave plenty of gas exchange

 

[jaiden]

you need 10x flow, so 100gph in your tank., you also need to do WC's to keep your AMM down while you cycle. You need to slow down. 11 fish in a 1 week old tank is death.

 

[phish7740]

i know the lfs told me to cycle with 8-12 damsels/chromies fish instead of the shrimp wich i didnt know was a supermarket shrimp (thought it was a critter i was suposto add). thats ok that the damsels will not survive i guess i read/lfs/interpret said a large fowlr can cycle in 2 weeks with damsels. guess i did the "old" method.

OR is it going to take 2 weeks to START cycling?
how long will the ammonia spike last once it goes up?
i have a QT i can set up should i put the ones i want to survive in there while the amonia spikes?

when will the ammonia go up (still 0-.25 Nitrite=0, Nitrate=0) i added Cycle by Nutrafin on day 3 with the fish.

should i be taking the rocks out periodically and "cleaning them" brushing them and rinsing them? both LFS said they were cured, they look "pretty good" they have some reddish/purple bumps on them....two pieces have whiteish/yellow "scale" looking hard deposit on them. it would be great if can find a close up pics of cured and uncured rock.

i have cut the final stock list to the following
1-2 chromie or damsel (survivors)
maroon clown
chevron tang
_______? wrasse (cant figure out which)
majestic angel

1-3 large hermits
1-3 large snails
or other cleanup that wont get eaten??

and i want something to grow on the rocks be it mushrooms, zoos, softs, leathers
so i still dont know if i should get a 320 or 640 T5 light. once i get a light will stuff just start growing?

i know im impatient and took some bad advice...help i feel lost but doing ok at the same time with all the mixed info from here, AA.com forum, and lfs.

"100gph"??......do you mean 1000gph?

i have 350 ill get 1-2 powerheads with those mini filters i saw rated around 6-700gph?
and point them onto the rocks???? my flow from inlet to outlet is from right to left.

 

[jaiden]

Yes, sorry I meant 1000gph. maxijet 900's are good because they have high flow and low wattage. Where to point them is up to you. try to keep some flow in all parts of the tank, but high/low flow areas are ok. Don't worry about a "mini filter" just put on the plastic screens they come with to keep the fish from getting hurt.

don't touch the rocks. if you see anything obviously dead, you could siphon it off, but stuff will break down on its own

as long as you're testing for AMM and keeping it relatively low with water changes, you should be OK. Your cycle will take a couple weeks to complete.

cured/uncured looks pretty much the same. It will cure on its own if it isn't, but let's hope that it is for the sake of the fish.

 

[phish7740]

UPDATE:

ok so i took out 80% of the CC and added sand...woo hoo...glad i did it now before i purchased any real fish. i like the sand look much better and now i wont have to worry about keeping certiant fish that need sand ie wrasse or gobie.

i also got two maxi-jet 1200...put them in the corners and moved the canister in/out closer to the center.

im also getting a protien skimmer next week.

now i just have to decide on lights while the cycle finishes.

also did a 25% water change lastnight and the Nitrates jumped up to 5. lfs said my phosphates are a little high but the skimmer should take care of that.

 

[roka64]

before i purchased any real fish

ACK! Makes me think of my LFS, she has an "easy care fish". It is just a plastic fish in one of her tanks...

Have you lost anything?

 

[seaham358]

you really need a new LFS for advice. A skimmer will NOT remove PO4. And if your Nitrate jumped up after a water change there is a problem with your test kit or your water has nitrates. The reason for a WC is to LOWER nitrate and PO4. Test your water for these. Are you using tap water?
No need for fancy lighting if your keeping it a fowlr tank. You can get away with lower lighting in these tanks, this is a place to save some money and get other things needed.
If your LR was cured you may not see an amm spike, cured LR has the benificial bacteria on it already so don't be shocked if you don't get a spike. Don't plan on the damsels dying and good luck getting them out of the tank.
NO need to take the LR out and clean it. I wish you would SLOW down and do more reading abut care of a SW tank before trying to nail down the fish you want. If you don't know what your doing and start adding fish they may no be around long.
What skimmer?? some are crap so tell us what your looing at before you buy it.

 

[phish7740]

lfs said nitrate jumped because i stired things up during the water change...which i did. true?

now that i have sand i wont vacume again...going to test everything tonight again, how do i lower po4? lfs said there is phos guard? i have a bag of phosX in the canister that the first lfs gave me when i bought the filter.

i am using filterd water, its a 10 stage filter that takes out everything, better than the $60 filter at the lfs but its not RO. both lfs said it will be fine sind im doing fowlr.
alk is fine, i havent tested calcium yet

i have been reading lots. its just there is so much info that is contradicting its hard to decifer what is true.

as far as skimmers im looking at the berlin turbo 250g or coralife 125g hang on back. any advice?

lost one chromie (didnt eat for 2 days) and two damsels (during the substrate change)

i have a friend who will take 2-3 damsels

 

[roka64]

fs said nitrate jumped because i stired things up during the water change...which i did. true?

It could have been removing the CC. 80% of funk in the CC is a lot of stuff to be stirred up. Usually 30-50% should be removed.

 

[phish7740]

the test were done after the WC (vacuming) but before i removed the CC

 

[roka64]

Sorry to hear about your fish. I think you are still trying to do too much too fast. You might want to slow down. Just my $.02.

 

[sir_dudeguy]

ohh yea i have an airpump also so ihave plenty of gas exchange

i dont think you're sposed to use these in saltwater..i think thats what i heard

 

[seaham358]

Test your new water for PO4 and nitrates also. Unless your using ro/di water there is a chance that your filtered water is not removing it all.
PO4 you need to find the source and then go from there, test new water if thats not the source how much and what are you feeding. If you can't track down the source then you can use a phosban reactor or some other PO4 remover. What are the numbers for your PO4 and nitrate now.
I would remove as much of the CC as you can, covering it with sand will just hide it for a while, CC always finds its way backup to the top.
Stired things up how? By removing the CC or doing a vac on what it left?
Test you filtered water and post numbers.. You can have 20 filters and still have crap in the water. What are the filters? Just micron and carbon?
Add no new fish or inverts till you get things running better and learn more about the hobby.
This is a great site to learn and we are all here to hepl out.
Which corallife skimmer?

 

[phish7740]

yea the air pump is one of the reasons im not going back to that store, im only patronizing the other store in town.

ill have to go to the lfs to get a po4 test kit, i brough in my water last time. ill do that tomorrow and check it again.

so po4 can either be from my water source or overfeeding? it might be overfeeding.

i did remove as much of the CC as possible, now i have to wait for the sand to settle out some more.

im not going to add anything else till i know the cycle is done and all the chemistry is good.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Produ...ein_Skimmers&ref=3969&subref=AA&N=2004+113771
this one but ill need a hang on.

 

[seaham358]

I know a few guys that have the super skimmer and they have nothing but good things to say about it..

 

[phish7740]

ok...i got PO4 test kit and tested my watersouce/after filtering and clear as day it was 0 (light light green)

the rest looks good too:

amonia <0.25 (bright yellow)
Nitrite =0 (blue)
Nitrate= 0(urin yellow)
Ph =8.2
Cal =540
PO4= 0
SG .022

two weeks in everything looks clear...trying to figure out the best places for the powerheads.

ph has dropped twice to 7.8...added buffer and is fine...going to see if it drops each night like i read somewhere on here. this going to be an ongoing battle isnt it? (reason for a drip)

havent seen an amonia spike yet?

 

[roka64]

this going to be an ongoing battle isnt it? (reason for a drip)

Not if you have good gas exchange. Do you have a canopy for the lighting? If so, that could effect your pH.

 

[phish7740]

if canopy= glass top, no i took it off only about 12" of glass in the middle is permanant

should i put the air hoses on the powerheads so they take in air???