Couple of "newbie" reefkeeper questions...

[jcallari164]

This is my first post here, so bear with me...

I've kept a bunch of different FOWLR set-ups in the past (the last was dismantled before we moved into an apartment with no room for our 30g and 55g tanks)... I have a bit of experience with the newbie fishkeeping and water chemistry issues...

Based on the below information, is my tank ready to start gradually
adding corals/coral frags, if so, what are good starting points, and is
my lighting going to be sufficient?

3 months ago, I started a 29g potential reef setup. Currently, I have the following equipment and livestock:

Equipment:
29g AGA aquarium
2 Hydor-Koralia "powerheads"
1 Aquaclear 201 powerhead
CPR Bak-Pak 2R+ HOB skimmer
Pro-clear 75 wet-dry converted to pure sump/algae scrubber

Lighting:
Current Orbit 30" compact fluorescent fixture with: 65W dual sunlight
6700K/10000K and a 65W Dual Actinic (420 nm and 460 nm), also has
2 LEDs for moonlight.

Filtration:
30 pounds of cured LR (probably closer to 35 pounds, not too sure)
2.5"-3" DSB (seeded from friends long standing, well matured reef)

Livestock:
1 tank-raised Ocellaris clown
1 tank-raised Neon Goby
1 Flame Angel
2 Emerald Mithrax crabs
2 Nassarius snails

Water chemistry is near perfect. 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and undetectable
nitrates. PH is 8.2 at night, 8.4 during "daylight". Phosphates are at 0.2 ppm. Calcium is approximately 450 ppm. Alkalinity is good. dKH is 8/9.

Thanks a lot!

John

 

[Brian5000]

You have a similar setup I had before I upgraded. Your system looks pretty good. I know for a fact that your lighting will handle any soft coral or LPS you want. I'm not sure about SPS, but they might do ok. Clams and anenomes...I'm not sure.
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[jcallari164]

You have a similar setup I had before I upgraded. Your system looks pretty good. I know for a fact that your lighting will handle any soft coral or LPS you want. I'm not sure about SPS, but they might do ok. Clams and anenomes...I'm not sure.

Anemones are a PITA. I had a Clarkii clown and a Sebae anemone in a 55g that was a rewarding, but frustrating anemone to keep... I may try a small anemone at some point, but I'm not even certain that the Ocellaris will be interested...

I'm thinking of starting with Zoos, as there's a person local to me that aquacultures them and sells the frags pretty reasonably.

 

[mr_X]

hey. what kind of zoos does he have? i'd be interested in checking out his inventory.

 

[Anonymous]

I think you can start adding a few. Maybe start with 'shrooms?

The angel might nip at polyps, so when you do buy something with polyps, start with something cheap, just in case? Some are just fine, but others can act up.

 

[IslandCrow]

Sounds like a really good setup. I'd probably stick with soft corals, and perhaps some LPS like candy canes, certain Favia, hammer/frogspawn coral, etc. The lighting is probably insufficient for most SPS, and definitely inadequate for any of your clownfish hosting anemones or any tridachnid clams. I know most angels are notorious for nipping at polyps, but I think that's mainly on SPS. I'm really not sure. Your parameters sound real good. .2ppm phosphate shouldn't be an issue for soft corals or most LPS, but many SPS are unhappy with any detectable levels of nitrates or phosphates.

 

[jcallari164]

Sounds like a really good setup. I'd probably stick with soft corals, and perhaps some LPS like candy canes, certain Favia, hammer/frogspawn coral, etc. The lighting is probably insufficient for most SPS, and definitely inadequate for any of your clownfish hosting anemones or any tridachnid clams. I know most angels are notorious for nipping at polyps, but I think that's mainly on SPS. I'm really not sure. Your parameters sound real good. .2ppm phosphate shouldn't be an issue for soft corals or most LPS, but many SPS are unhappy with any detectable levels of nitrates or phosphates.

Phosphates have actually dropped to almost 0 after my testing today...

I have a feeling this angel is going to be a pain in the ass with nipping at corals. In my past FOWLR tank, I kept a Cherub Angel, and it wasn't as busy a grazer as this Flame is. My Flame literally spends all of its time grazing on all the available algae on LR and the walls of the tank. It also has chomped on a few pods that were poking out of the LR... Plus, it eats the pellets I feed for the Ocellaris and the Goby, it ate frozen that I fed the other day, and it eats about half of the piece of dried algae I put in the tank on a clip...

I'm going to take a shot at some polyps to start. I'll monitor the behavior of the Flame, and if it nips, it goes bye-bye. I like it a lot, but not enough to scrap the idea of keeping corals. We shall see.