new 37 gallon reef

[waterguy1]

okay guys- this is my new reef aquarium, it's been set up maybe a month now, and i just needed some help with stocking, etc. the tank is equiped with just about everything exept proper filtration, which will be purchased in around a month. it has a 298w MH fixture, though i only use 250 watts on it to save a little electricity. it has a 200w heater, a 750 gph koralia evolution pump, and two smaller pumps around 240 gph that i plan to add later. currently it's only filter is a top fin power filter rated for 60 gallons, as well as app. 45 ibs base rock seeded by around 10 ibs live rock. in a month, I plan to buy a 14" HOB refugium w/ protein skimmer. now a pic.

 

[waterguy1]

cool. i just wanted to be sure that the pic posted correctly before writing more.
now, I know i shouldn NOT have a fish in there this early, but my nano-tank crashed and my little clown was the main resident, so I had to add him to the new tank and give away all my corals (which sucked). other than him, i just have a big turbo snail and 7 assorted hermits. I will get the HOB fuge w/ skimmer by the end of january.
more pics now.
first my little bitty 1" clown fish, than a couple crabs.

 

[waterguy1]

the other fish I plan to stock are as follows, in order from first to last:
1.watchman goby (yellow prawn goby)
2.bangaii cardinal
3. falco hawk fish
4. flasher wrasse
5. dwarf angelfish , of which species i am not sure. im thinkin a flame angel, a lemonpeel, a coral beauty, or a rusty angel.

as far as sessile inverts, i dont really know, other than lots of ricordea, button polyps, a clam, and whatever else. IDK if the tank is okay for an sps or two, but if so, that's cool. Im also thinkin about a tree coral of some sort and a toadstool. all other suggestions are welcome, about fish or corals, and i could also use some help with finding what kinda cleaner crew i should get. thanks!

 

[Newman]

For CUC in 37 gals you could do these and cover your needs nicely:
Astrea snail (2-4 of them. they'll probably breed)
Cerith or dwarf cerith snails (2-4 will also breed a lot)
Dwarf hermits(3-4 of them, theyll fight for shells/snails)
Nassarius snails(2-3, vibex recommended, theyll breed and youll have more anyway)
Peppermint Shrimp (situational, mainly for aiptasia)

Those will cover your glass, rocks and sandbed. the rest is cleaning the glass very well with an algae scraper magnet thing, and youll be set. instead of astrea, there are also trochus and margharita snails, all do a god job, up to your preferences really with these CUC members.

What kind of light do you have over the tank for photosynthetic animals like corals and the clam?

 

[waterguy1]

I have a 298w MH/T5 combination fixture, but i usually only run the 250w metal halide during the day. enough for stony corals, or should i run the t5s too?

 

[Newman]

the MH is what K rating?
sounds like its bright enough for just about anything photosynthetic.
another thing you must check out for stony corals is constant water parameters, clean water (no ammonia, nitrite and nitrate), and adequate calcium, magnesium, steady pH and alkalinity levels. so testing those, the GH and KH wouldnt hurt either.

 

[waterguy1]

MH bulb is I think 20000K. for the calcium/magnesium that I would need, are there any good supplements you would recommend? or any good, easy, species to get started with? and what about LPS? I've heard they are a little easier to keep than sps. correct?

 

[Lorna]

dont supplement at this point all the trace elements you need are in your salt mix provided you use a good quality salt prep. Reef crystals, tropic marin pro etc are all good choices mostly it is personal preference. Find one you like and stick with it as changing can cause issues. Adding supplemental ca withought corals to use it can cause an out of balance situation with ph and alk. If you aren't testing daily for it don't be adding it. Be prepared for a diatom outbreak and you are on your way.......

 

[waterguy1]

okay, thanks. the water I used to set up this tank was actually pre-mixed water I bought from a lfs. but the water I use for water changes I mix with instant ocean sea salt. I'm not the kind of person that will test the water daily (though if it becomes necessary, I probably will), so if supplements aren't the best idea, will I still be okay without them? will regular water changes eliminate the need for them? thanks again for the info.

 

[Newman]

yes good water changes can keep your levels up so no need for supplements untill your tank is loaded with SPS and the demand is very high.
start with hardy SPS like montipora. see how they grow.
dont get anything until you know your tank params are stable and your tank is completely done with your cycle.

 

[waterguy1]

Allright, water changes it is. but like I said, It's not like the tank will be sps-dominated or anything. I will mainly be keeping soft corals and some lps (easier and cheaper) with a couple hardy sps too if I can. Mainly I'm into the plating montipora. I saw a tank where they made cliffs and overhangs everywhere, and I thought that would look pretty awesome. Those are more Hardy than average sps, right? oh, and also: is it too early to introfuce a couple shrooms or zoas to the tank? probably, since I have'nt got the fuge or skimmer quite yet, but, I just wanna be sure.

 

[Newman]

yes monti caps are a good starter SPS.
if you know your water parameters are staying acceptable, then you can throw in a few mushrooms or something right now...

 

[waterguy1]

k, cool. oh, and I'm startin to see red slime sprouting on the rocks. thats just part of the ciycling, right?

 

[Newman]

it can be. turkey baste it off and syphon it out. eventually youll beat it.

 

[waterguy1]

I will be making some more progress by febuary, or the end of january. thats when I will get my fuge, skimmer, and most likely some of my cleanup crew. the reason this is going pretty slow is because I'm on a very tight budget, so sorry for the lack of progress lately...

Btw, does anybody know if "purple up" works? My rocks need some coraline desperatley.

 

[Newman]

it works gradually but beware that its a dosing product that will raise your alkalinity and /or pH and other related things that help coralline to grow. if you cannot test for KH and pH then dont use purple up. it's not even necessary. as long as your parameters are fine, you will get coralline growth w/o the need of the additive because nothing else in your tank would be eating the minerals and ions anyway (you dont have any stony corals). thus if you have coralline algae now, it will be the only living thing in your tank that uses the ions/minerals from your water to grow. It will not deplete them too much because you are doing water changes every once in a while right? (at least once every 2 weeks once you've finished cycling). since you do not have anything in your tank yet you wont need to go crazy with water changes unless your nitrates actually build(as the pod populations rise this may happen).

Another thing is that coralline doesnt happen to grow very fast. if you add purple up, you wont get it overnight lol. it will still take many months to completely cover your rocks, its best to just let it grow naturally.

If you have 0 visible coralline algae now (remember it comes in other colors than pink/purple), then you'll surely get it from coral frags or if you used some portion of live rock for your scape.
Coralline isn't something to be concerned about this early in the game. Yes it would make your rocks look slightly more alive but it will do so slowly even if you do use the product. I would use it. you have no coral or anything else that can take advantage of what youre adding either. when you do have stony corals, they can use stuff from purple up to grow.

 

[waterguy1]

K, I'll consider it... but what you said made me think about getting a couple peices of LR covered in coraline and trying to seed the base rock with those instead of the crappy little peices I have now...

And also, about water flow, I need another pump for the other side, right? I was thinkin about another koralia 750 for the right side, then my two little powerheads in the back, near the bottom, to get some water flow over the sand to keep algae at bay. or instead of another 750, a 1400 on the right. is 1400 too much? is there any such thing as too much flow?

 

[Newman]

judge flow by how much you think your tank's inhabitants could handle. if you want fish then imagine it in there and as long as its not struggling to keep alive in the current, youre ok lol.

you dont always have to have two powerheads on opposite sides of the tank, but more flow is good, and you will want to have good circulation all through your tank so that debris doesnt flow into the back of your rockwork and just stay/accumulate there. plan your flow pattern so that these things dont happen.

youll eventually get coralline with coral frags.

 

[waterguy1]

well, I was mainly thinking about the amount of flow for my corals. with my koralia750 and my two powerheads, do you think I have enough for a mixed reef?

 

[Newman]

i do, why dont you try it out and se (if you already have all those powerheads and arent using them for anything )