Feedback on my tank

[SAnanoreef]

Long time reader first time poster...

I've recently got into this hobby and have had my first real tank (had a small nano that I didn't cycle correctly and crashed)

So I have a 3ft aqua reef tank, which is around 175ltr and 65ltr sump. Since I purchased it I've upgraded a few items:
Return pump - aqua medic 3.2
Skimmer - deltec 1351
Wave maker - Controllerable tunz and a non controllerable
Doser - 3 pump (unsure of brand)
Lighting - 4ft ati t5 (planning for future tank upgrade)

So I've currently had my tank running for close to 4 months, I cycled with rea sea mature reef kit. Since then I haven't been dosing with anything yet.

I'm looking at going for a lps dominant with a few sps here and there along with a few fish. Atm I have:
1 x copper and
1 x royal gamma
2 x clowns
1 x mandarins
1 x yellow tail blue wrass

So look for people's thoughts on my tank

 

[Ron Reefman]

Welcome to Reef 2 Reef!

I have a couple of question/comments.

What is the 'copper'? A butterfly?

If so, it's a difficult fish to keep as they are very deliberate eaters and prefer live food.

Also the mandarin is a difficult fish, especially in a new tank. They do way better in much older tanks with copepod populations.

Both fish may survive for months while they starve to death. However, if you are LUCKY, you may have fish that are out of the norm and do OK eating in a normal tank.

I hope you are on the lucky side of the ledger. Good luck, stick around, ask questions and show off your tank!

 

[Reefnman2]

Welcome to R2R, your tank is looking good, good job!

 

[SAnanoreef]

Welcome to Reef 2 Reef!

I have a couple of question/comments.

What is the 'copper'? A butterfly?

If so, it's a difficult fish to keep as they are very deliberate eaters and prefer live food.

Also the mandarin is a difficult fish, especially in a new tank. They do way better in much older tanks with copepod populations.

Both fish may survive for months while they starve to death. However, if you are LUCKY, you may have fish that are out of the norm and do OK eating in a normal tank.

I hope you are on the lucky side of the ledger. Good luck, stick around, ask questions and show off your tank!

I think I got extremely lucky my copperband is eating frozen shrimp and cockles like no tomorrow. Also with my mandarin I seeded my tank with live coco pods prior to putting him in however he also is eating frozen foods well also. I have another order of cocopods on there way for him so hopefully that will keep him happy

 

[MERKEY]

Hello and welcome!

 

[Nburg's Reef]

Welcome. I think it looks like a great start.
I will say your plan of LPS and some SPS can get a bit tricky, although not impossible, because both corals may like slightly different conditions.

Generally, LPS like lower flow, lower lighting and some can be fed heavily or like dirty water (although I am in the camp that SPS like dirty water too, but can't tolerate some of the dirtier water tanks that LPS can still thrive in.

Generally, SPS like lots of flow and more light than LPS.

I think coral placement is key. Think long term and how the coral grows. With your tall rocks formations with out a lot of upper surface area to place corals, you need to make sure each coral is placed in a good spot that will allow it to grow out without running into others. LPS on lower or partly shaded parts in lower flow and save the high flow/upper rock portions for your SPS. And make sure you place them far enough away where they wont kill the SPS with their sweeper tentacles.

LPS are more forgiving with chemistry as well Alk/Calcium/Mag. With SPS, they don't do well unless you maintain stable alkalinity so test and dose often.

Looks like you're running a fuge, which is nice, however, I am in the camp that they are overkill on newer tanks and may strip the water of NO3 and other things the coral can use. Make sure you keep an eye on nitrates, you want them lower, but still detectable. your fuge doesn't look huge, so its probably good to keep it going, especially to keep pods reproducing for your mandarin. Also, I would skip any wrasse or other fish that also eat copepods so your mandarin has all he can eat.

Try to keep the green start polyps and xenia to the one rock... they can spread and become a nuisance once your tank kicks into gear. Your tank looks really good for being only a few months old. Once it matures, you will see a growth explosion.

Lastly, take things slow and don't over react. Bad things happen when you try to change things quickly. Keep it simple and don't chance chemistry numbers. If where things are now are good, just work on keeping them stable as is.