Stocking help for 90g macro tank

[reddevilant]

Hello! As the title states I need some help with stocking my 90 gallon macro algae tank. I made the stupid mistake of making my first fish three Regal Damsels. Don’t get me wrong they are absolutely beautiful and I love them, but recently they’ve started bothering my inverts which are either expensive (for a college student lol) or have been really hard to find recently. I really want to add more fish for more natural and constant fertilization for the macros and the damsels make that impossible so I’ll probably be taking them to my LFS.

My current stocking ideas:
- 1 of each Assessor basslet (gold, blue, and Randalls)
- 2 shark nose gobies
- 2 yellow line or clown gobies
- 3-5 dartfish (still trying to decide which species)

I’m still relatively new to the hobby so all advice, ideas, and any of your knowledge/experience with the fish I listed is greatly appreciated. And just a reminder that the fish have to be macro and invert safe. Thanks!

 

[P-Dub]

Stocklist looks fine to me, but return your Damsels first.

 

[reddevilant]

Stocklist looks fine to me, but return your Damsels first.

Definitely. My only real concern so far is mixing goby species as I’ve never had them before. But from the info I could gather most only need at least 10 gal so I assume my tank should be good to have a few of them. Thanks!

 

[reddevilant]

Anybody have any experience with Seale’s Cardinals?

 

[vlangel]

I have a heavily stocked 56 gallon macro tank. My macros are red grape caulerpa, grasilaria hayi, halimeda and I hope to add shoal seagrass to the display. It does have a 30 g fuge and 20 g sump however. I have 2 pajama cardinal fish, 2 citron green gobies, a barnacle blenny, 4 masked gobies, a firefish goby, a royal gramma, 4 yellowtail damsels, an oscellaris clownfish, and a tomini tang.

Anyway I think most cardinal fish, dart fish, gobies and blennies are ok. I added yellowtail damsels, the tomini tang and an oscellarus clownfish last as they can be a bit more aggressive.

 

[reddevilant]

I have a heavily stocked 56 gallon macro tank. My macros are red grape caulerpa, grasilaria hayi, halimeda and I hope to add shoal seagrass to the display. It does have a 30 g fuge and 20 g sump however. I have 2 pajama cardinal fish, 2 citron green gobies, a barnacle blenny, 4 masked gobies, a firefish goby, a royal gramma, 4 yellowtail damsels, an oscellaris clownfish, and a tomini tang.

Anyway I think most cardinal fish, dart fish, gobies and blennies are ok. I added yellowtail damsels, the tomini tang and an oscellarus clownfish last as they can be a bit more aggressive.

Awesome! And here I was worrying that my list was too much lol. I guess the macros give you even more leeway with stocking than I thought with all the nutrients they’ll eat up. Thanks for the info!

 

[vlangel]

Awesome! And here I was worrying that my list was too much lol. I guess the macros give you even more leeway with stocking than I thought with all the nutrients they’ll eat up. Thanks for the info!

I intentionally run my nitrates and phosphates higher than most reefs so the macro algae and shoal seagrass (in my fuge ) have enough nutrients. My nitrates are always around 30 ppm and phosphates are about .05 ppm. Sometimes it's hard for me to keep the phosphates high enough. As long as my sensitive inverts, (snails, conch, cucumber) are not negatively effected by overly high nitrates I am happy.

 

[Zionas]

If you want Damsels get the more peaceful ones from the Chrysiptera family. Talbot’s, Azure, Yellowtail, etc.

 

[reddevilant]

I intentionally run my nitrates and phosphates higher than most reefs so the macro algae and shoal seagrass (in my fuge ) have enough nutrients. My nitrates are always around 30 ppm and phosphates are about .05 ppm. Sometimes it's hard for me to keep the phosphates high enough. As long as my sensitive inverts, (snails, conch, cucumber) are not negatively effected by overly high nitrates I am happy.

Have you ever run into issues with diatoms/cyano? I had a small bloom which I got some trochus to take care of. I ask because while they look healthy I haven't seen any significant growth in my macros so I'm thinking they're being outcompeted. I had some brown algae growing on the glass which is almost totally gone now but I still have these red/purple, and occasionally green, dots on the rock. I assume it's pretty hard because the trochus don't eat it. My nitrates are usually between 5-10 ppm and phosphates are also around 0.5.

 

[reddevilant]

If you want Damsels get the more peaceful ones from the Chrysiptera family. Talbot’s, Azure, Yellowtail, etc.

Yeah I should've done more research and tried to curb my excitement at getting my first fish for the tank. The royals are absolutely beautiful but they're a big pain in the butt and they started getting nippy with my inverts around feeding time so they gotta go.

 

[vlangel]

Have you ever run into issues with diatoms/cyano? I had a small bloom which I got some trochus to take care of. I ask because while they look healthy I haven't seen any significant growth in my macros so I'm thinking they're being outcompeted. I had some brown algae growing on the glass which is almost totally gone now but I still have these red/purple, and occasionally green, dots on the rock. I assume it's pretty hard because the trochus don't eat it. My nitrates are usually between 5-10 ppm and phosphates are also around 0.5.

Generally the macro algae will out compete most of the nuisance algae. I do get a bit of a reddish brown algae on the sandbed after the lights come on. It's not terrible and only on the sand but it is aggravating. I have never had it looked at under a microscope so I do not know if it is diatoms, cyano or dinos. I just stir the sand once or twice a week.

 

[reddevilant]

Generally the macro algae will out compete most of the nuisance algae. I do get a bit of a reddish brown algae on the sandbed after the lights come on. It's not terrible and only on the sand but it is aggravating. I have never had it looked at under a microscope so I do not know if it is diatoms, cyano or dinos. I just stir the sand once or twice a week.

Good to hear! The trochus have done a pretty good job so far so I may get a few more.

 

[vlangel]

Good to hear! The trochus have done a pretty good job so far so I may get a few more.

That is great that you found a remedy and snails are a good choice when they do the job!