stocking my 46

[Skelator]

hey guys i have a 46g bowfront thats been up 2 months. its been cycled for a couple weeks. my nitrate is at 5-10. i have 36 lbs of rock as of now and 40 lbs of live sand. right now i have a very small blue damsel and a very small 3 or 4 stripe damsel, and 5 small hermit crabs. today i got a ocelleris clown approx 2.5 inches long. hes doing good swimming around quite a bit.


now i really like the flame angel fish i think i would like that to be the "show" fish so to speak. so what would be good tank mates to go with? the lfs had mt cycle the tank with the damsels so if they needc to go im not too concerned.

the yelllow watchmen goby, Royal Gramma Basslet Fish, sea cucumber seem pretty cool.


any toughts or ideas would be greatly appreciated thanks, Mike


oh before i forget could i add another clown if i want to later or would i have had to do them both art the same time?

 

[nickrobertson87]

The nitrates still seem a little high to be adding much more livestock just yet. How do all of the other parameters look (Nitrite, ammonia, pH, Salinity)?

 

[saltcrazy]

Are you going to add coral? Keep in mind a flame angel is a possible coral nipper. Be careful adding multiple clowns, they could get territorial in a small tank. I had 2 and they chased my tangs anytime they were around there territory. Glad to see things are going well with the new setup

 

[Nicole79]

I secone Nickrobertson87, get those nitrates down before you add anything else.

I would suggest if you plan on doing a reef tank, to Get those damsels out before you start filling with coral.

They are aggressive as all heck and royal pain to remove after the fact. you will have to tear your tank- rockwork apart to get them

Good Luck!

I speak from experience!

 

[Skelator]

Ok thanks guys. 10 nitrates is high the lfs said everything was perfect. I haven't done any water changes yet or anything so I suppose I'm due. I also have some purigen I can use from my freshwater days.


Everything else looked good the lfs said it was all perfect. This is a pretty good store too so I trust their opinion.

 

[dannyp02908]

I peresonally would not consider nitrates of 10 to be high. Fish can easily handle nitrates in to the 40s. Coral like them lower but can handle them around 10. Go slow adding fish. A young tank, even though it seems cycled, doesn't have the bacterial population to sustain an addition of several fish at once.

 

[LoveTheReef]

I agree with Dan -- nitrates around 5-10 are not terribly high.

As long as your other params are good, you can add more bio-load "slowly".

You can maintain nitrate and other param levels with more water changes.

- Archit

 

[RiverRat]

Welcome!
I actually keep my Nitrates around 20-30...shhh don't tell anyone (I keep fish, inverts, lps, and zoas......dont' really have many SPS). I don't have any problems.

That being said.....your tank is young, the best thing you can do is go slow.
Let the bacteria grow to fit the needs of your tank.

I also like the royal gramma.

 

[Skelator]

Ok sounds good, thank you got the replies. The lfs said My tap water actually tested at 5 nitrate. They said I shouldn't be concerned with a reading that low.

Should I be getting a skimmer soon? I don't have a sump so ill prolly just go with a hob unit. I was looking at reef octopus bh-2000 or a aquac remora s pro with the pump cover thing. I picked these out by reading reviews but I really know nothing about skimmers as I have never had one.

I've also noticed no other life of any kind aside from the fish I have added. I've had nothing in the live sand I bought or the 11 lbs of live rock I bought. The other 25 lbs of rock I got was the dry south sea rock.

 

[Dfrontiero89]

I ahve a 46 as well. I use the aqua c remora skimmer and it works great! As for livestock I have 2 Perc clowns, 2 green chromis, 2 banghai cardinals, a royal gramma, and a mandarin. I am wanting to add one more show fish as well. I think a flame angel is a great idea but be careful with him because he may nip corals. Best of luck and can't give any better advice than to be very very patient and take your time. I didn't the first time and lost everything and a lot of money. Patience is deff key in this hobby.

Dave

 

[Skelator]

is there anything specific i should be looking for before i add new fish? or should i wait a month or more between new additions? believe me id rather not have any issues especially due to lack of patience.

 

[dannyp02908]

add 1 fish at a time, test the water. since the tank is young, you may see a quick ammonia/nitrite spike. If you do, do not add anything until the spike goes away. This will likely happen for the first year or so.

 

[Dfrontiero89]

I had my 46 setup for about 3-4 months cycling with live sand and rock. I then added 2 green chromis. About a month after i added the clowns, then added the rest all within 6 months after. The tank has now been setup for about a year and a half. I will eventually get pictures up on here since I haven't since the nano.

 

[Skelator]

ok thanks for the advise. this tank was a chichlid tank since prolly 1998. im trying to get the differences down between fresh and salt.

 

[Nicole79]

another good rule of thumb is to add the most aggressive fish you plan on keeping last.

 

[Turbosnail]

Ok couple of questions first how are you filtering the tank? I notice you said you don't have a skimmer or sump. Second are you using tap water in the tank? If you are you should switch to RO water either get an RO/DI unit or by water from your LFS. Most of our sponsors sell RO water. You should get some test kits and do your own water tests that way you can keep a closer eye on the parameters. I would suggest more of a CUC(clean up crew). I agree with Dan a lot of great advise. I also agree with Nicole damsels become pests and they tend to become aggressive. Just take it slow I know it is hard. Just remember nothing in this hobby happens fast except a tank crash. Good luck with the tank and remember ask and you will always get an answer here.

 

[Dfrontiero89]

As Turbosnail said, the RO water is huge. In the first tank I had I used tap water and water conditioner and that deff contributed to my green hair algae outbreak and eventual disaster. I have a public place in town where people can go fill their water there and it goes through a RO system since using that things have been great. If you don't have a Lfs you could look for a place like this.

 

[Skelator]

ive been using a canister filter with just filter media in it. i have a crappy old powerhead with a filter on the bottom of it. i wanna get a new powerhead but im not sure how much flow i should go for? the lfs said the canister filter was ok to use if i cleaned it out every month or so.

as far as the tap water yes im guilty of using tap water. the tank has been up 2 months exactly and it still looks as clean as the day i set it up. no algae it is really clean and ive done nothing to it except top off the water as needed. im not sure if this is good or not to be honest.


ive thought about maybe getting a cheap r/o but im not really sure how it works. the lfs sells it but its kinda expensive if i remember right.

as far as a refugium i would like to do one but i dunno if its worth it. inside the stand is pretty narrow. do the hob refugiums make any real difference? i would get the large but even then i think its like 2.5g capacity. would that really make a difference?

i will most likely remove the damsels once i get some other fish to replace them.

 

[Turbosnail]

RO units are fairly easy to setup and if you needed help that is what we are here for. As far as the HOB refugium every little bit helps. The canister filter is a nitrate factory you should clean it out every week. Measure the space under your stand and post it here. I am sure there is enough space to put a tank under there. We just need to determine how big of a tank will fit. Or you can go the route of a good HOB skimmer. The addition of the HOB fuge and skimmer may be enough for the tank. It is all going to come down to Bio Load which means the more livestock you add the more of a bio load there is going to be. So if the bio load gets to high the fuge and skimmer may not be able to keep up and the addition of a sump and bigger skimmer may be necessary. I hope all of this is helping.

 

[Skelator]

i just took a quick measurement it looks like i could get a 10g in there. i measured the 10g in my kids room and its only 10" wide and 20" long if i remember right. i have a 20g long laying around too but i think its too wide. tomorrow ill clean out the stand and see if it fits but i doubt it. sorry for all the questions ive been reading alot but this is still very new to me. i really appreciate the help,thanks, Mike