How would you stock my 75g tank?

[TanksNStuff]

Hi all, I'm new to reefing and have recently set up a 75g reef ready tank. I won't bore you with all the details but if you want them you can check out my Tale of the Tank thread where I have quite the novel going.

Here is a basic list of my current equipment:
75g corner overflow
30g sump (skimmer/fuge/bubble trap/return chambers)
Helical 26w compact fluro in clamp-on reflector (this is for fuge lighting)
AquaC EV-120 skimmer w/mag 7 pump
Marineland Stealth 250w heater
Mag 9.5 return pump
VorTech MP20 for circulation
Coralife digital thermometer (been working fine so far)
Current USA Nova Extreme T5 (48", 2 - 10k daylights / 2 Actinics)

Livestock:
2 Clownfish (one larger, one juvenile - they "met" for the first time last night and are getting along great!)
Liverock - about 60+ lbs. in DT, 5-10 lbs. in sump/fuge (LR is sitting directly on eggcrate which is on the entire bottom except for a 2" border between the glass sides.)

NOTE: When I bought the tank, I also got about 55g of the water and all of the live sand from previous owner who had this up and running for about 5 months with purple covered LR and lot's of amazing looking corals. I had a small algae bloom a few days after setting it up, but this has vanished except some that remains on the LR. I'm pretty sure my tank is considered cycled because my tests have been consistently within acceptable ranges for a few weeks now.

Here are a few pics of it all setup, taken last night... I didn't get one of my sump with the skimmer in it, but I added a pic of when I first setup the tank:

Full tank shot - Front

(Right) side view -

Full tank shot - Back (Half-wall divides the rooms)

Stand / Sump, Older pic when I first set it up. I've since added the skimmer in overflow drain section and LR/chaeto in the fuge section -

OK, so now that you see what I got... I'm looking for suggestions on how to start stocking this tank. I will do it slowly so that I keep the water cycle balanced. What I'm really interested in is suggestions on what I should get first, then next, etc. Placement ideas would also be helpful for suggested corals (high/low, rock/sand, etc.)

1. First of all, do you think I have enough rock in the tank? I didn't want to overcrowd it with rock, but now that I look at the pics it looks a bit empty to me. Or, should I just keep what I have and let the future corals fill it out?

2. I already have about 20 snails (10 astrea and 10 cerinth) and a coco worm on order (group buy) and should have those in a couple weeks. Will there be enough for them to eat and stay alive, or will I have to feed them too?

3. Should I add more fish before getting some corals? While I think the tank is cycled, it might be better to see how fish do before adding corals, no? I'm hoping my clowns will mate, host an anemone, and eventually have babies. Just thought I'd mention that in case that will affect what goes in and when.

4. When I do get corals, which type should I start with? Keep in mind that I don't have a chiller and probably won't due to space available. I plan on adding an ATO on that shelf on the right side of the stand, so there won't be much room for anything else under my stand.

I'm really looking to add some color to the tank soon since most of the rock is white and will take a while to be covered in coralline. Anyway, thanks in advance for any advice.
George

 

[Jcurry@wesketch]

Personally I wouldn't add anymore rock at this point because the coral you buy (unless their frags) will be on rock. I would try and sell the coco worm as soon as you get it. They need to be feed phytoplankton daily to survive, which if overfeed can easily create problems in such a small tank.

For corals I would start out with some mushrooms, a toadstool leather, pulsing xenia, calaustrea and a finger leather. Then maybe try your hand with some easier LPS like Hammer coral, frogspawn.

Check out this site for more info on corals:

http://www.coralidea.com/coral.html

 

[mnat]

You probably want to add the fish before the corals. Fish are going to add bioload to your tank and you have to make sure the system can keep up with the waste produced by those fish. Corals really won't change your bioload at all. Add slowly and try to stay away from the impulse buy (I should follow my own advice sometimes). You have a wide variety of fish you can add it is going to be up to you the type of system you want. You can fit clowns, dwarf angels, wrasses, some tangs, gobies, blennies, firefish, and dottybacks. The trick is finding fish that will get along and having an order of adding fish (ususally least agressive to most aggressive). We try to get fish that will be in different levels of the tank i.e. clowns stay out in the middle of the tank, coral beauty swims around all over and our goby sticks to the bottom of the tank.

Jcurry pretty much nailed the coral advice so I will just give him a +1.

 

[TanksNStuff]

Thanks Jcurry. I appreciate the advice. Sell the coco? I specifically asked the folks in the invert group buy thread if the coco would be ok with what I have and I was told it would be fine, which is why I added it to my order. If it won't survive with what I have, then let me know and I'll remove it before the order gets sent in.

I'll check that site out and start looking into those corals you suggested.

 

[TanksNStuff]

Thanks to you too mnat. I figured getting the fish first might be the way to go, but also want to get some color in their asap.

I will probably pickup a couple more fish before jumping into corals, but I'm going to get some sooner or later and would still like more advice on corals too.

As to your fish list, I had my eye on a couple of those already so that should give me a good start.

 

[rafal07013]

I would think about corals you want to keep based on your system and experience and than match colors of the fish. my assumption is that you would go with softies, zoas, acans - I would select fish based on size, color and need for the tank.

For example:

a) pair of clowns for orange
b) 6 line wrasse or yellow wrasse - for the purpose of pest control
c) depending on color of the wrasse - either small yellow tang or purple tang
d) dwarf angel

 

[Uncko Macko]

What brand is that switch box? Is it a DJ lighting Switch box?

 

[TanksNStuff]

What brand is that switch box? Is it a DJ lighting Switch box?

If you are talking about the 8-switch power panel mounted under the stand, it's a "Chauvet". Not sure where the original owner's bought it from, but I believe it's the same as This one

It also has a ground wire on it, which I attached to the plug on my grounding rod for the tank. Why do you ask by the way?

 

[Uncko Macko]

That is a good idea. I was thinking about making a programmable controller and that switch box would probly be perfect(after some mods) for that. But I havent been able to come across programmable controllers cheap enough. Probly better to buy one. But I like to tinker with stuff like this.

 

[Uncko Macko]

Does it have 1 power cord?

 

[Jcurry@wesketch]

Coco worms can survive in an aqurium but I wouldn't recommend them to someone starting out and especially not as a first invert. Just beaware that you'll need to target feed it with phytoplankton every couple of days. Without other corals in the tank to feed on the excess phyto it's very easy to foul the water and end up with algae problems.
Personally I would add corals before more fish because of the lower bioload.

 

[TanksNStuff]

Uncko... Yes, it has one power cord that controls all 8 switches. Think of it as an 8 outlet powerstrip, and each plug has it's own on/off toggle on the front panel. The plug for each button is directly behind it too, so it's easy to match them up properly. It's great for manually flipping any piece of equipment on/off without looking for the end of each plug (turn off the skimmer to empty the cup, turn off the ato pump to fill your container, turn off the return pump, etc). It's not really "controllable" though, unless you figure out some way to put a timer on each one or mod it some other way. The plugs are right next to each other so it would be near impossible to just line up timers.

Jcurry... Yea, I already canceled the coco on my order. I asked before adding it, they said sure... it will be fine, so I put it on. After the advice here and further research on them, I decided to skip it for right now. Maybe I'll get one at some point down the road though cause I think they look cool.
I also see your point on corals before more fish due to lower bioload. I still might get at least one more fish though before corals. My girlfriend is getting into the tank and she's got a bunch of fish picked out that she wants to add to it, lol. She hasn't really looked into the corals yet, but when she does I'll be in real trouble, heh.

Oh, and Rafal, you are pretty much on the money for what I want coral-wise. And that list of fish was pretty much what I settled on after reading mnat's post and researching his suggestions... at least for starters.

Anyway, thanks for the tips gang.

 

[WarmSoda]

I like what Rafal said about the colors. Just fill in as many as you can.

As for which to put in first; I say fish. They're no need to rush anything. Add your bio-load slowly until you reach your goal, or you skimmer can't take it anymore. While your doing that, add the more hardy corals (Maybe the Zoo's) in between the bio-load 'breaks', and after you stock our fish, add the more fragile corals, although I don't see many fragile ones on your 'list'.

 

[JRWOHLER]

I am going to suggest you don't get a purple or even yellow tang. My reasoning is that the smaller the tank the more the bad traits(aggresiveness and territorialness(is that a word)) will come out. My suggestion would be one of the following tangs kole, convict, lavender, or tomini. They are all smaller and generally more peaceful.

I think the blennies and gobbies are a very interesting bunch of fish to watch not always the most colorful but still fun.

Some CB cardinal fish are nice.

My sort of suggestion with your pair of clowns would be something like in this order.
One cardinal or chromis something like that, small fish.
One blenny(sailfin, bicolor, or starry) or gobby can add with above fish.
And then one tang and wrasse 6 line.

That would be max IMHO the tang is the biggest pig in the group.(ie most waste)

I wouldn't worry about adding more rock...you will probably add some if you get some larger corals as they will often be attatched to some rock.

Corals I would start try to keep each hill sort of type specific...I sort of sort of regret a few choices I made. Just keeping some corals under control is tough like GSP or kenya tree. Take your time and figure out what you really like before you start adding any corals would be my suggestion.

I would get some sort of cleaner shrimp they are pretty cool, sea cucumber(ugly but really useful) and a couple conchs. Those are my favorites. Can add some crabs too but just add what you like don't add like 50 I think the number they suggest is way toooooooo high on crabs.

 

[TanksNStuff]

Thanks for the input JR! I'll certainly take it all into consideration. Especially the tang suggestions and keeping corals grouped by type.

I also had planned for either a conch or cucumber (or both) but not until I get enough fish to give them something to clean up. Crabs I'm not sure about... they are one of my favorite foods and I might be tempted to cook them up, lol. (JK)