checking setup

[R33f3r]

Hi all, just wanted to ask any or all the experienced reefers if they could see any problems with the setup I am planning to have by the end of May?

29 gal Biocube, everything stock just change output with hydor flo, and add bag of chem pure ellite.

20 Lbs. Oolite sand, will be using 15 Lbs., and about 15-20 live cured rock.

I plan on adding my hermits and a few snails first, and some empty shells for the hermits, as well as a cleaner shrimp. My first fish will be a royal gramma followed by a ocellaris clownfish and then a yellow watchman goby to pair with a pistol shrimp.
I plan on having a colt coral and green star polyps but that will be farther down the road as its my first step into the reef tank.
All the fish added will have about a month inbetween adding another.

All suggestions and info would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

[Cookieman888]

Sounds like a decent plan so far, although I would think about bumping up the liverock a bit if you can. Might need a little more substrate to keep the pistols happy. The down side of that is nitrates may become a problem at some point in the future unless you are religious in vacuuming the bottom. Don't discount zoas and mushrooms as first corals. They add lots of colour, are relatively cheap, multiply readily, tend to be very hardy, and require little if any special care. I'm not saying its impossible to kill them, but it would take some skill and planning

[Guest]

LOL I disagree with cookieman888 I swear after a nuclear blast the only things left will be the zoas and mushrooms...... Sounds good otherwise... I would also suggest you add more live rock if you can afford it (or more base rock and let the tank cycle longer) another thing is what kind of skimmer will you be running? Try to use ro/di water for top ups and water changes and the rule to use when adding livestock is "when you absolutely positive a new addition to the tank will go well .....wait one more week!"" Another thing to consider is you could add the corals first and then the fish...good luck and happy reefing...

[Cookieman888]

Shayneh what I said ways "don't discount" (don't avoid) zoas and mushrooms, because they are for the most part so very, very easy! These should be the very first corals for any new comer to reefing.

[BurgerKing]

Shayneh/cookieman; It is r33f3r's first time with SW(same with me) so are you sure corals would be the best things to add first?? I too want to keep corals but would be worried about effin it all up.

[R33f3r]

It's not my first time with SW, it's just my first time attempting corals and a reef. Thanks for all the help and suggestions.

[Cookieman888]

Shayneh/cookieman; It is r33f3r's first time with SW(same with me) so are you sure corals would be the best things to add first?? I too want to keep corals but would be worried about effin it all up.

Like I said in my previous post, killing zoas and mushrooms isn't impossible but you would really need to work at it. Just as an indication, several months ago I dropped a zoa fragin behind a rock wall by accident and I couldn't get to it without ripping apart the tank. Well 2 weekends ago I re-did my tank. I found the frag I dropped. It had landed upside down in the sand. I placed this frag under light and within 2 days the remaining polyps opened.
There are difficult corals to keep...mushrooms and zoas don't fall into that category. I would add mushrooms and zoas to a tank long before I ever added fish.

[SATELLITE]

depends on the lights and flow you have i think most soft corals will do great. xenia or anthellia are great zoas/pallys are great, i find mushrooms are good to but they get big and can grow fast and then start to cover too much rock or other corals killing them. just go through a few site and look up some corals, clove polyps, green star, ice blue polyps are nice and easy.. good luck with what you get

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