New tank process and stocking list critique

[Michael Hughes]

Entirely new to reefing but I've been keeping freshwater tanks for decades, so I'm familiar with the nitrogen cycle and importance of biological filtration, nutrient export, etc. Currently I'm in the planning stage for a 125 gal mixed reef for our living room, and as this is my first reef tank, I'd appreciate some feedback on my tentative plan.

This will be a somewhat low tech system (no sump, protein skimmer, etc.) for simplicity. With this approach I can also invest more in quality powerheads and lights. As long as bioload is manageable, live rock and well-designed flow should do the trick. I may run a small HOB just to polish the water.

After getting the tank and building the stand, I'm planning on putting an RO system in the garage. I'm thinking two brute trash cans, one for storing freshwater and the other for mixing and storing saltwater. I can run the RO wastewater line down to the bay door and into the front garden.

Once the tank is up and running, should I be fine to dispose of the saltwater from weekly water changes in the front yard? I'm not concerned about sea grape, railroad vine, beach sunflower, or sand cordgrass, as they should all be quite salt tolerant. Would other plants (Bougainvillea, blue plumbago, etc.) tolerate the salt in water change wastewater pretty well?

I plan to scape the tank dry. Thankfully I have access to some really nice Florida limestone from a nearby supplier. It is not quite as porous as rock from my LFS but has great potential for making some overhanging ledges and whatnot. My main concern is whether Florida limestone might contain phosphates that could contribute to algae problems. If not, my plan is to use the limestone and superglue it together with porous rock from the LFS to make the hardscape.

Then I plan to add dry aragonite sand, probably 60-80 lbs, and incorporate some crushed coral as well. I'll fill the tank, test the salinity, and cut out the lights for the first 4 months (as per the suggestiom from BRS) to give the good microbes a head start before giving algae a change to take hold.

As for cycling, I've read various opinions on reef2reef regarding which starter cultures are best, but it seems a generally good idea to incorporate multiple bacterial strains. In my opinion, biodiversity (at any level) is always a positive. With this in mind, would it be worth it to include a 20 lb bag of Nature's Ocean (or some other live sand) along with the starter culture(s) of bacteria? Or would this be negligible?

After "instant" cycling I plan on adding a pair of ocellaris clownfish and continuing to monitor ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. After 4-6 weeks, I'l look to add a lawnmower blenny to get started on algae control.

At this point I'll plan on setting up a small QT tank (probably a 20 long) and running any subsequent fish through a 30 day quarantine. Would it be worth it to run a separate 90 day QT for inverts or is that overkill?

As long as parameters are fine I'll look to add new livestock every month or two, in very small increments (mostly 1 fish at a time, depending on species). Here's my tentative stocking plan, listed in order of introduction:

2 ocellaris clownfish
1 lawnmower blenny
1-2 red firefish
Shrimp goby and pistol shrimp pair (leaning towards tiger pistol with orange stripe prawn goby)
1 wrasse for pest control (preferably pink streaked, but maybe a sixline if the pistol shrimp is big enough to be off the menu)
1 foxface rabbitfish
1 royal gramma
3-7 azure damsels
1 longnose hawkfish
1 tang (probably a bristletooth or lavender)

For inverts, I'm thinking:
Hermits (blue leg and/or scarlet reef)
Snails (Bumblebee and super Tongan nassarius)
1 Florida porcelain crab
1 tuxedo urchin

Corals (to be added once the tank is fully cycled):
GSP, pulsing xenia, zoas, leathers, various LPS, and later Stylophora and a Monti cap. Some day I'd love to try Seriatopora and Acropora, but I'll start with more manageable genera first. I plan to start with pulsing xenia and GSP to help with nutrient export.

I'd appreciate your thoughts on my stocking list, particularly with relation to the fishes. Once they grow out, I'm prepared to trade out the rabbitfish and/or tang for a smaller individual if needed.

Thanks for your input!

Michael Hughes

 

[TX_REEF]

Welcome and nice plan! Here are my thoughts

• with a tank that size, I highly recommend you consider a sump because you will likely want equipment for mechanical filtration and nutrient export down the line. HOB filters are unlikely to provide sufficient mechanical filtration to a tank that size. Drilling glass is super easy and sumps are as easy or difficult to work with as you make them. check out my tank thread for an easy DIY setup idea.
• bagged "live sand" and bottled bacteria will not instant-cycle anything. The only way to "instant cycle" is to use mature live rock either from the ocean (like Tampa Bay Saltwater @LiverockRocks ) or a local hobbyist with a mature system that you trust who is willing to part with some rock. If you use the caribsea live sand and/or bottled bacteria, you should still follow normal cycle protocol.
• Do you have an equipment list? Lighting and flow is important for corals.
• Trochus snails are an awesome cleanup crew member i always recommend, as are skunk cleaner shrimp
• sixline wrasse is unlikely to bother a pistol shrimp
• stocking list looks good, go slow and aim for no more than 1 fish or paired fish per month
  • My only critique is the damsels - finish the rest of your stocking plan first then decide if you still want them. Once you have an established gang of damsels, they will be quite murderous towards any other fish you add, unless the fish you add are much larger than them. They are also likely to attack each other while they establish a pecking order, and casualties are not uncommon.
• GSP and Xenia will spread aggressively once established. I highly recommend you keep them on isolated rock "islands" away from the main rockscape.

 

[JayM]

I second the above and would add one thing. If you plan to QT all of your fish, you should QT your first additions as well. If they end up sick, you'll have to deal with treating the DT (fallow, hypo salinity, etc.) before you can add anymore livestock. If you QT first, you can be relatively certain that your DT is disease free.

 

[Michael Hughes]

Thanks @JayM for the insight on quarantining the first additions before adding them to the display. Makes sense to me.

@TX_REEF I appreciate your feedback! I've been reading more and more threads about azure damsels, and though they're considered "more peaceful" than other damsels, I think I'd rather keep my options open for future tank additions due to the risks involved. May try to go for some black axil chromis instead. I'm also trying with the idea of lyretail anthias, though I'd probably want to build/buy a refugium for supplemental food first.

Funny you ask about the equipment list. Yesterday I bought a used 125 gallon my wife found on FB marketplace. Has two overflows, a small sump (looks 20ish gallons?) built into the stand, protein skimmer, in-line UV sterilizer, and two custom made slow-flow filters that drain into the sump. Came with the stand, lid, a metal halide fixture (needs bulbs), wavemaker, and 100+ lbs of (now-dead) rock all for $100. Couldn't pass it up for the price, so now I do in fact have a sump. I can post some pics of the plumbing once I get the stand out of my car this weekend.

Looks like I'll have to start a build thread soon!