ECFENCING

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New to this forum.... and wanted to get some feedback on stocking.

I have a 70 gallon that has been up and running for about a month now with the following specs:
Dimensions: 3'longx1.5'deepx 2'high
(1) 60lbs live rock
(2) 50lbs Southdown sand
(3) Some base rock (15lbs)
(4) ASM g2 skimmer
(5) Two captive raised perc clowns
(6) four hermit crabs
(7) Water parameters are as follows:
Ph=8.2, sg=1.025,temp fluctuates between 78-80, ammonia=0,nitrites=0 and nitrates=15ppm

I'm thinking about getting the following at saltwaterfish.com to add to my current 70 gallon tank:

(1) Yellow tang 2"-3"
(2) A pajama cardinal
(3) Some blue hermit crabs (10-20)
(4) Some turbo snails (20)
(5) An orange star -forgot the species
(6) and one or two cleaner shrimp

I plan to quarantine the tang and pajama cardinal in my 44.


I haven't set up my quarantine tank yet so advice would be appreciated. Could I just take about a cup or two of the sand from the 70 and mix it in with the arrogonite that I have in my existing 44 and let that run for a few days to set up the biological filter before I acclimate them to the 44? I would use a cpr bak pak as a skimmer in conjunction with a wet dry..


How long on the quarantine period? 2-3 weeks ok?

I was also thinking about going bb with black cutting board or starboard and upgrading to a 125 a year down the road. (That's all my wife would let me upgrade to LOL :

Thanks in advance.

Ernie
 

ECFENCING

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Kris: Thanks for your reply.

For now yes but I eventually would like to stock sps. So I think I am going to convert to a bare bottom at some point. I forgot to mention flow in the tank. I have two seio 620's.

Should have gone bigger in the first place
 
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Why are your nitrates high?

I think your stock list is pretty normal and shouldn't cause too many problems. But if you are setting the goal of moving to SPS during the life of this tank, you might want to think about putting corals in before adding so many fish. Most successful SPS tanks have little to no fish (or at least small ones). If you put in all your fish up front (and I don't think there are too many in your list for an SPS tank), then it will be more difficult for you to learn the water requirements of most SPS corals.

Basically, your water is going to be a lot dirtier as a result of the fish, which will make it harder to keep SPS. If you put the corals in first, and then upgrade slowly to SPS, you will "feel out" the parameters and the water quality of the tank without sacrificing any colonies.
 

ECFENCING

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Josh

Thanks for the reply. I'll have to check the nitrates again. I'm getting a new Salifert Test Kit soon. What do you think of getting rid of the 1" substrate I have in my tank? I was thinking about keeping it for now and adding some turbo snails and cucumbers. I heard that the sand bed was good for sps because of microfauna.

I think you have a good point though on starting with corals and migrating toSPS I think I'll need to test for alkalinity and calcium levels and get a calcium reactor?

I'll try to post some pics but my camera is a nikon coolpix 4300 and it doesn't take good tank shots.
 

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