Getting back into the hobby

[jkon81]

Hello, this is a long winded post/intro so please have patience with me. I want to give you my current equipment and parameters first and after will be my questions/predicament. Thanks for your understanding!

Equipment:
-Biocube 32 With stock hood-No upgrade options. Have a cat that I don’t trust.
-Upgraded Intank media basket
-Hygger Wavemaker 2600 gph
-20 lbs Caribsea Aragalive Special Grade sand
-Caribsea Liferock 20lbs
-Tropic Marin Reef salt
-4 Stage RODI incoming TDS 135-outgoing 0

Parameters:
-Started aquarium cycle August 13-2022
-Dark Aquarium-No lights on currently
-Temp 78.4°-79.4°
-S.G. 1.025
-Ammonia 0
-Nitrite .25 ppm
-Nitrate 6.5 ppm
-Total Water volume 24.25 gallons

Notes:
- Have not used any filter media through the cycle
-Aquarium cycling dark/no lights
-Seeded aquarium with Microbacter Start XLM and Dr. Tim’s One and only bacterias. Dosed ammonia chloride.

I’m not completely new to saltwater aquariums I have about 7 years experience that ended in 2007 so a lot has changed and I’m definitely rusty but doing my best to research all the new tech and husbandry methods.

What I’d like for this aquarium livestock wise are the following:

Fish:
2 clowns
1 sandsifting Goby
1 Firefish
1 (Fish X) Haven’t decided recommendations welcome!

Inverts:
CUC
2 cleaner shrimp
*maybe a small starfish

Corals:
Mostly softs, mushroom, leather, zoas, any recommendations welcome!

So my big question is, when my cycle is complete where should I start???

I was thinking of continuing to go dark and maybe add some copepods and phyto to get them established before adding fish and lights. Then after that I’m really not sure? Fish with lights on? Which fish? Probably shouldn’t add any inverts yet, there’s not much to eat. No algae growth or anything. Tank is sterile besides the bacteria. I’d definitely be interested on your thoughts, experiences similar to mine, and recommendations!

 

[Nano sapiens]

There is a trend in the hobby to try and speed up the start-up and tank maturation process, and it can be done to an extent. But I still think the traditional 'patience to allow the system to acquire stability' path is well worth the effort.

Besides having as much reef associated microbial diversity as possible, I'm an advocate for stocking the system with a wide variety of smaller creatures (pods, worms, etc.) and a small contingent of small snails and hermits soon after the cycle has been completed. That also includes adding hardy corals fairly rapidly as they will sequester nutrients as they grow and they can start to cover the available live rock surfaces, which helps preclude alga from gaining a foothold. Photosynthetic corals produce relatively little waste as nutrients are tightly cycled between it and it's symbiotic zooxanthellae partners.

A single adult fish (or a pair of small juveniles) to start with after a little while and then additional fish introductions in a slow and cautious manner is prudent IME since fish basically excrete back into the water most of what they have eaten and the system needs to adjust to be able to process the additional waste. Also too many fish all at once can wipe out the microfauna before it even has a chance to sufficiently populate.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

But I still think the traditional 'patience to allow the system to acquire stability' path is well worth the effort

Agree 100%, especially with a nano tank started with dry rock.

OP, Your tank is cycled. Turn on the lights and let the algae cycle begin. Pods and phyto are fine and will help build your food web. As @Nano sapiens suggested, easy coral and some small cuc critters will also help with tank maturation and stability.

Slow and steady, my friend.
One thing that has not changed while you were gone is, nothing good happens fast in this hobby

 

[jkon81]

Very interesting! I’m in no rush to add livestock, in fact my goal is to create a robust micro biome first that can support higher life later. What you’re saying is to let microfauna take its course. Add pods, add some hardy corals, snails, then finally add a fish? It goes against a lot of what I’ve read but I’m not opposed to the idea. Wouldn't adding snails and crabs so early be a problem with a sterile setup in dark conditions? Or would I need to supplement feed them?

 

[jabberwock]

No clowns. The cube shape keeps fish stacked up on top of each other.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Very interesting! I’m in no rush to add livestock, in fact my goal is to create a robust micro biome first that can support higher life later. What you’re saying is to let microfauna take its course. Add pods, add some hardy corals, snails, then finally add a fish? It goes against a lot of what I’ve read but I’m not opposed to the idea. Wouldn't adding snails and crabs so early be a problem with a sterile setup in dark conditions? Or would I need to supplement feed them?

My suggestion is to turn on the lights first... Let the diatoms come and then your algae eaters will have something to consume. Then they'll get to focus on the green algae and possibly cyano/dinos. No need to supplement, lol

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

No clowns. The cube shape keeps fish stacked up on top of each other.

I have clowns in my biocube... Their nem is near the top of my scape and they hang out there most of the time.
What is the reason you think clowns in a cube is a bad thing?

 

[jkon81]

Agree 100%, especially with a nano tank started with dry rock.

OP, Your tank is cycled. Turn on the lights and let the algae cycle begin. Pods and phyto are fine and will help build your food web. As @Nano sapiens suggested, easy coral and some small cuc critters will also help with tank maturation and stability.

Slow and steady, my friend.
One thing that has not changed while you were gone is, nothing good happens fast in this hobby

Agree 100%, especially with a nano tank started with dry rock.

OP, Your tank is cycled. Turn on the lights and let the algae cycle begin. Pods and phyto are fine and will help build your food web. As @Nano sapiens suggested, easy coral and some small cuc critters will also help with tank maturation and stability.

Slow and steady, my friend.
One thing that has not changed while you were gone is, nothing good happens fast in this hobby

 

[jabberwock]

I have clowns in my biocube... Their nem is near the top of my scape and they hang out there most of the time.
What is the reason you think clowns in a cube is a bad thing?

Mine were a murderous pair of super aggressive fish. Your milage may vary. I will never own another clown pair.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Mine were a murderous pair of super aggressive fish. Your milage may vary. I will never own another clown pair.

You had some bad luck.

 

[jabberwock]

You had some bad luck.

They are damsels. Known to be aggressive, especially when they start to get to breeding size. Not worth the hassle in my opinion. Like owning a pitbull.

 

[jkon81]

Agree 100%, especially with a nano tank started with dry rock.

OP, Your tank is cycled. Turn on the lights and let the algae cycle begin. Pods and phyto are fine and will help build your food web. As @Nano sapiens suggested, easy coral and some small cuc critters will also help with tank maturation and stability.

Slow and steady, my friend.
One thing that has not changed while you were gone is, nothing good happens fast in this hobby

Thank you! You are making more sense to me than watching BRS Videos all day lol. Are there any specific corals you might recommend this early in the game? I don’t know if it makes a difference or not but I do have Chemi pure blue and purigen for filtration at some point.

 

[jkon81]

No clowns. The cube shape keeps fish stacked up on top of each other.

That’s interesting. Clowns aren’t my first choice. My heart is really set on a sand sifting goby. So anything that gets along with that goofy grumpy looking fish and doesn’t want to eat soft corals are welcome in the tank when conditions are right.

 

[Nano sapiens]

Wouldn't adding snails and crabs so early be a problem with a sterile setup in dark conditions? Or would I need to supplement feed them?

It is advantageous to have a small CUC in there as soon as you start lighting the tank. It's better to have a crew ready to consume the inevitable algae right away than letting it get out of control. You can add additional CUC as the tank matures if you see the resident crew is not keeping up.

Another option for a first fish is one that actually helps deal with problem algae. I like the little Bimaculatus '2-spot' Blennies for really small nanos and the larger 'Tail Spot Blenny' for the bit larger systems. They might not be lawnmowers, but they help with film algae and they are definitely entertaining.

 

[Nano sapiens]

That’s interesting. Clowns aren’t my first choice. My heart is really set on a sand sifting goby. So anything that gets along with that goofy grumpy looking fish and doesn’t want to eat soft corals are welcome in the tank when conditions are right.

The Sand Sifting Gobies are awesome, but there are some caveats to consider. They tend to do best in large systems with an ample amount of sand and all the associated organisms as they can quickly clear a smaller sand bed of everything. They also have the annoying habit of depositing sand all over the place, including on top of the corals, which in a smaller system is not tolerated well due to any specific area being more likely to get dumped on more often.

 

[davidcalgary29]

They are damsels. Known to be aggressive, especially when they start to get to breeding size. Not worth the hassle in my opinion. Like owning a pitbull.

Clowns are the only fish that I've ever seen that have directly gone after their owners' hands. Repeatedly. My lyretail damselfish and yellow damsel certainly do not exhibit this behaviour, and are no more aggressive than their tankmates.

I note that OP is looking for some type of sea star; aside from some non-fish eating mini brittle stars, this isn't a good idea for a new tank. The only sea stars that I've been able to keep alive for more than a year are pacific tile stars (I still have three of them), which are lovely and undemanding. They also survived water temperatures of 5C, which I think is a testament to their hardiness.

You have a lot of great options for first fish. Fang blennies are extremely underrated and really great fish. Whitespotted pygmy filefish are simply wonderful, but they're just so hard to source these days, even though most of them are now captive-bred. And my absolute favourite reef fish is the captive-bred orchid dottyback -- I've still never had a problem with any of them -- although multiple people on this site report aggression issues. Centimetre for centimetre though, there's no more spectacular fish than the fridmani dottyback, especially as it darts in and out of aquascape.