Adding fish to a Coral only Tank

[Fish Fan]

Can you show a pic of what kind is good.

I use something like this. I use them more in freshwater than saltwater, but they are a decent, cheap biomedia.

https://www.dollargeneral.com/p/dg-...VxDfUAR2TfgXHEAQYAyABEgKjMPD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

[H.E. Pennypacker]

Have you ever run an ICP on the tank? Maybe metals or some containment?

 

[ggNoRe]

Why not get Matrix? That is what I run in my coral only tank. I paid $7 for 250ml which was enough for 50g. I used a portion of the bottle

I'm honestly just going to use a piece of filter pad I threw in my sump and maybe some chaeto from there for good measure. Was curious about the pot scrubber for future reference. Pic of my display tank added for fun.

 

[ggNoRe]

Agreed that's low surface area, yet still some SA is in effect due to structures in the tank, corals themselves, the entire back wall coralline growth is very high surface area. Though that's not a proper display, it still eats ammonia fast fast

Those fish needed to be really big but they weren't for a 20 I'll bet

You weren't leaving food uneaten and littered about, that tank is treated better than that I can tell.

Adding bottle bac is not how we'd fix this even if it was a verified cycle issue, we'd add surface area.

Every surface there is already full with bacteria, there isn't less due to less fish

The surfaces in that tank have the same filter ability as if they came from a ten fish tank. Fish don't control the presence of our filter bacteria, surface area is the limiter along with flowpathing designs for the setup.

What did your ammonia testing say happened? Can't believe I'm asking that lol / denier of all non seneye test readouts / still curious to know.

I didn't take a proper ammonia test. I found an old expired ammonia badge in a box and threw it in but doubt it still works. Nitrates tested 3 which means it should technically be cycled. But keep in mind this is after a fish died and was removed this morning.