Stocking a 35 gallon tank

Popcornlover15 · Jun 26, 2020

I’ve always had freshwater tanks but this will be my first saltwater tank and I’ve been watching BRS 52 weeks of reefing. The tank I’m getting is a DSA 35 gallon rimless tank that’s dimensions are 23x23x15. It comes with everything I’ll need, including the sump, an ai prime light, two powerheads, a skimmer, and live rock. The only things I need to get are a return pump and an RODI system so please let me know if you have any suggestions for those two items!

For stocking I’m looking at-
2 blue legged hermit crabs, some snails, and a cleaner shrimp
A pair of clownfish
A banggai cardinalfish
Either a fire fish OR a Royal Gramma
Maybe an orange spotted goby if possible

Then I’m looking at these corals after the tank has been setup for awhile-
Candy Cane Coral
Green Star Polyps- I’ll make sure these don’t take over the tank
Trumpet Coral
Hammer Coral

Will the ai prime light be able to successfully grow these corals/ are there any other corals to look at? Any suggestions on my stocking list? Any other information a new reefer should know?

Peach02 · Jun 26, 2020

Welcome to the hobby

Return pump I’d reccomend the sicce silent 0.5 or 1 depending on how much flow you want and space

as for stocking they all seem good just remember sometimes crabs will go after snails especially if there are no spare shells ,I would reccomend the fire fish as they are less aggressive / territorial or introduce the gramma last, other ideas could be a pair of banjaii cardinals instead of a single one, a small wrasse, a blenny(my faveroutes are bicolour, Midas and starry)

the ai prime will definitely be able to grow those corals, some other corals i would reccomend are zoanthids (make sure to be very careful with touching them), torches, frogspawn, leather corals and mushrooms eg ricordia or morphs but be careful with the morphs or zoanthids taking over similar to the green star polyp.

As for info for new reefers, research is the best thing eg this forum, BRS, other YouTube channels) , try to keep your rocks away from glass and out them in before sand for stability and ease to clean glass, water changes and carbon can solve most problems and try to test your water or get your LFS to once or twice a fortnight at least especially in newer tanks, personally I’d go with dry rock if you can’t find a clean source of live rock, I’d also reccomend getting or renting a par meter to set up your light

Popcornlover15 · Jun 26, 2020

Peach02 said:
Welcome to the hobby
Return pump I’d reccomend the sicce silent 0.5 or 1 depending on how much flow you want and space

as for stocking they all seem good just remember sometimes crabs will go after snails especially if there are no spare shells ,I would reccomend the fire fish as they are less aggressive / territorial or introduce the gramma last, other ideas could be a pair of banjaii cardinals instead of a single one, a small wrasse, a blenny(my faveroutes are bicolour, Midas and starry)

the ai prime will definitely be able to grow those corals, some other corals i would reccomend are zoanthids (make sure to be very careful with touching them), torches, frogspawn, leather corals and mushrooms eg ricordia or morphs but be careful with the morphs or zoanthids taking over similar to the green star polyp.

As for info for new reefers, research is the best thing eg this forum, BRS, other YouTube channels) , try to keep your rocks away from glass and out them in before sand for stability and ease to clean glass, water changes and carbon can solve most problems and try to test your water or get your LFS to once or twice a fortnight at least especially in newer tanks, personally I’d go with dry rock if you can’t find a clean source of live rock, I’d also reccomend getting or renting a par meter to set up your light

Thank you so much for your response, it really helped! My next question is in which order I should add the fish I want if I choose my previous list and choose the firefish over the royal gramma. After cycling, would it be okay to add them in an order of all the crabs, snails, and cleaner shrimp, then the firefish, cardinalfish, pair of clownfish, and then the goby after the tank is set up awhile?

Peach02 · Jun 26, 2020

That order sounds good, only thing I might change is putting the cleaner shrimp in last since they like stable coniditions and can be quite expensive but up to you and if you feel your tank is stable earlier on and there is the risk of a fish thinking it’s food if added last but all of your fish are reef safe so shouldn’t be a problem

TaraT · Jul 23, 2020

hi, I was wondering how your tank is coming along? I’m just starting my first tank as well and have a very similar stocking list. Thanks!

Popcornlover15 · Jul 24, 2020

TaraT said:
hi, I was wondering how your tank is coming along? I’m just starting my first tank as well and have a very similar stocking list. Thanks!

It’s pretty good, I got my tank used and it was already established rock and sand so I tested my water after a week and then added the firefish first. I made a lot of caves so he could hide out since they’re easily frightened. Then, I waited another week until he became used to the tank (I feel like I should’ve waited longer since he’s still skiddish around the other fish) and I got the banggai cardinalfish who happily settled in a corner. I got a pair of clownfish from someone who was moving and the clownfish had already been around a firefish and a cardinalfish so they worked out really well in the tank. I have yet to add the goby since I learned that I need to lay more sand down first for him to be happy and I think I’m going to get a yellow watchman instead since they are more common around me. I got a pretty good deal and have a candy cane, a blasto wellsi, a hammer, a zooanthid colony, and two different sets of gsp coral growing wonderfully under the lights too.