New 90 Gal Reef Tank...new in hobby!

Mizuno · 03-27-2008, 12:03 PM

Hi all;

I am new to the marine aquarist hobby, but I have been listening for a few months now in an attempt to get up to speed.

A couple of questions for you regarding my 90 gallon tank (30 gal sump, protein skimmer, 3 powerheads, 100 pds of live rock, 40 various hermit crab, 30 astrea snails, 2 cerith snails, 1 emerald crab, 2 percula clowns and 1x5" open brain coral):

1) I never saw the tank cycle even though I was religious about testing the water parameters almost daily. The most I've seen at about the 3 week point, was a small and temporary rise in NITRATES. After multiple water changes and another 2 months, I have not seen any Ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrates, or phosphates??? Could I have missed something? Is there a sure way to check if a tank has cycled?

2) Assuming my tank has fully cycled, can I continue to add fish and coral slowly? What sorts of fish do you all recommend to add to the percs? (my wife likes flame angels and snowflake eels...problem?) We also added the brain coral abit early....limited coraline algae growth.

I look forward to hearing back from you all.
Mizuno

RocketSeason · 03-27-2008, 12:14 PM

Hello and welcome to the hobby!!!

Sounds like you are off to a great start. Depending on the quality of your Live Rock, the cycle could have been small and quick. You may not have seen it happen, but it sounds like if its been up for over 2 months the cycle would have come and gone.

I do not know how much flow your powerheads are giving you, but you may want to add more. It's rather surprising how much flow your stuff really wants.

As for adding fish, Percs get along with almost everything, (although they can be territorial around smaller fish) Flame angels are a great choice but watch that they don't nip your corals. I do not know alot about snowflake eels, but my guess is that they will most likely eat anything they can fit in their mouths. Eels are fairly messy creatures and aren't usually a great idea for reef aquariums where great water parameters are needed for optimal conditions for sensitive corals.

You may want to increase your cleanup crew as well. Snails and hermit crabs tend to disappear (at least they do in my tank) I try to have 1 snail per gallon of water. Others may suggest less than that though, and I stock mine with mostly Nasarrius sp? Snails.

Post some pics and keep us updated!

poppin_fresh · 03-27-2008, 05:35 PM

I would say that you are good to add a couple more fish (slowly) and maybe some more coral.

What are you running for lighting, this may determine what kind of coral you should add. Also, like Matt suggested, the eel may not be a good choice, but there are many other cool fish that may be happy in there. Some hardy ones that come to mind are Wrasses, Firefish, Chromis and Gobies (some),

Mizuno · 03-28-2008, 08:51 PM

Good to hear you think the tank has cycled...I must have missed it???
I'll avoid the eel and the flame angel nipping at my coral sounds risky....gotta try something though!
I will definitely add more snails and crabs. You're right...they keep dissapearing.
Thanks

Mizuno · 03-28-2008, 08:55 PM

We are running Actinic / metal halides cause we wanted corals. What type should I add now? How many at a time?

The fairy wrasses look nice....and the b-g chromis too. How many chromis should I get at once? I think they like schools of 6 to 12???

RocketSeason · 03-28-2008, 10:17 PM

I have had both a Potters and a Coral Beauty Angel. They are great fish indeed. I wouldn't write it off just yet. do a bit of research first.

**CarmieJo** · 03-28-2008, 10:45 PM

Hi Mizuno and

to TR.

I set my tank up with fully cured LR and never saw a cycle either. Did you add all of the hermits and snails at once? Was that when the nitrates spiked? Either way, after a couple months I think it must be cycled. I would say you may not need to add to the clean up crew right now. With only 2 fish in a 90 there's probably not a lot to clean up. Nassarius are good addition when you are ready for more because they stir the top layer of sand.

Personally I would go ahead and slowly add a couple more fish. It is important to know what fish are on your wish list. Then you need to research those fish and other tank inhabitants carefully and ask questions of others experience. For instance I wanted a mandarin but knew that I would have to wait until my fuge was established and I had a sustainable pod population. In the meantime I bought a sixline wrasse. I'd researched both and they seemed compatible but I didn't ask. Turns out that the sixline, even though he eats everything, would out compete and beat up the mandarin. The sixline is one of my favorites but I would still like that mandarin someday.

Blue-green chromis are a good choice in that they are hardy and active. I have always heard that you should start with an odd number. Some people have great luck with them but I like others experienced my school diminishing one by one.

PhotoJohn · 03-29-2008, 01:47 AM

I personally dont think you should dump 6 or 8 fish into your system all at once. Try adding 3 at most if they are small. You may want to look into different gobies. Gobies may be my favorite kind of fish, always doing something.

as for corals, since you are running MH lights, you can pretty much grow any sps frags. I personally like acros and any plate forming corals. If you have strong MH lights you may need to acclimate your corals to the new lights. You can do this by shading the coral with light diffuser or starting it in the bottom of the tank and moving it up bit by bit. I bleached more than one frag by just dropping it into the top section of the tank in full light. You may want to start with a "cheap" frag and see how it goes. Dont start with $100 LE corals.