75 Gallon fishlist suggestions/rework

[BlueBekaw]

Hello all! I've been a long time lurker here but decide to finally post something that requires a more specific answer. What fish and how many should I put in my new 75 gallon reef system? (I'm wordy, what's blue is what my post is about)

Some information on my build: 1in. sandbed, 60lbs of rock (mostly dead corals from a tank someone took apart), a 20g sump with eshopps protein skimmer (old model, similar to s120), planning to add a refugium (still looking at lights), SEIO 1000gph powerhead, jbj arctica 1/4 hp chiller, tunze 1355 ato, ATI sunpower 4 bulb T5 (running 1 white, 2 blue+, 1 actinic), and I have a 25w UV sterilizer, I'm waiting on some plumbing parts to set that up (hopefully by the end of this month)

Okay so let's get into the meat and potatoes!

What's in my tank rn: 2 oscellaris clownfish, 2 mollies, a royal gramma, and a yellow watchman goby plus some cuc (I think 10 astrea, 5 scarlet hermits and 3 emerald crabs)

What I would like to add (open to suggestions as well!): Firefish (orange model), lawnmower blenny, banggai cardinalfish, 6 line wrasse, MAYBE a yellow tang (still on the fence hearing 75g might be too small but my rockwork has tons of open swimming space... I like the fact that they eat algae), and considering a flame angel (heard they might peck at corals but they look magnificent).

My tank might be a little overstocked as I was reading other suggestions people had on 75g builds, (7 to 9 fish as opposed to the 12 on my list) but even being a little lazy with water changes (I plan to have a religious weekly 10g water change regiment when my tank is stocked) with my current stock I have no nitrates or phosphates (yes I cycled my tank, fishless style, took 3 weeks and a half) and my other params are decent: salinity 1.026, pH 8.4, Magnesium 1350, calcium 400, my biggest struggle is with alk (its at 7 rn, I would like it at 8), no corals in there yet. Currently I have just a tiny bit of coralline growing at the teeth of my overflow box (still fighting the diatom stage of my tank... it's only about 3 months old not including the month it took to cycle... cuc and mollies are helping me slowly over time).

So that's about it! I'd just like to hear some thoughts on my stocklist and if I should ether replace a fish because a, b, and c or remove anything from my list cuz it's too full. A picture of my tank as of today is shown below! It's very rough, I know; new tank uglies are no joke! My tank is fuzzy cuz of diatoms and yes, I have an outbreak of vermetid snails... not sure how they got there. I'll nuke if I find they're bothering my corals when I add them but for now I'll let them be.

 

[BlennyTime]

Welcome!! I would recommend against a six line wrasse, they have a tendency to turn mean. I did a yellow tang in my 75 for a year, but I was upgrading to a 180 so it was only temporary. Flameback angel is cool, mine doesn’t nip at corals if he’s fed and is very active.

You are probably ok on the rest, just add slowly and test your levels to make sure they don’t start to creep up.

Have fun

 

[ichthyogeek]

I wouldn't put a sixline in with a firefish. Something like a fairy or flasher wrasse on the other hand might be a good idea though.

For the yellow tang, a tomini tang might be a better option as a grazer in the tank. But if it's also meant for the color, a lemonpeel or other yellow dwarf angelfish might work.

Note on the banggai cardinalfish: just do your best to buy captive bred if possible. Don't beat yourself up if you can't.

 

[BlueBekaw]

Thanks for the suggestion! I heard six lines could be mean and a lot of the fish I wanna add are really docile so I might decide against him and go for a flasher/fairy wrasse... The tang was more for grazing I guess? Yellows are pretty common in my area whereas the other smaller tangs are harder to find. I don't necessarily plan on upgrading though so its probably for the best I either skip the tang altogether or go for one of the smaller species. Oh and on the banggai I heard they are being overfished so of course I'd do my best to get captive bred (at the very least I know my clowns are and probably the mollies, not sure about the other two). It's actually almost easier in my area to get the captives than the wild caught so yay!