dustins first tank. 120 gallon(lots of pics)

[dustin_P74]

UPDATE: ok so i just tested my rites again and it is now at 0.5mg/l so once i do another 5 gallon water change tonight i should be at 0 and then ill give it a week and then slowly start stocking. im thinking about putting a goby in there as my first fish or an onyx clown if i can find one.

[dustin_P74]

ok so i have a question, whats the acceptable range of rates in a fowlr tank? and whats a good clean up crew to have

[yote]

As close to zero as possible.But I'd shoot for less than under 20 if at all possible.

[dustin_P74]

thanks yote. so now i need to know what a good cleaner crew for my tank would be

[Bifferwine]

A lot of people have hermit crabs, but I don't like them because they will end up killing your snails. I recommend going hermit free for a cleaner crew.

Snails will make up the bulk of your cleaner crew. A few mexican turbo snails will take care of algae on the rocks. Several dozen astraea snails will take care of the glass, and several dozen nassarius snails will take care of the sand. You can also throw in a handful of other snails like nerites and trochus. A few little conchs make unique additions too. If your parameters have been stable for several weeks, a brittle star or serpent star is a good thing to add, as well as some cleaner shrimp and/or peppermint shrimp.

[dustin_P74]

do you think that ill need turbos to clean the rocks if im doing a tang dominated tank, wont the tangs take care of the algae on the rocks? and if i get a goby wont it clean the sand bed?

[Bifferwine]

Fish will not be able to take the place of snails for cleaning. Tangs will only eat certain types of algae. Sea hares and mexican turbo snails are the only animals that will readily eat nuisance hair algae. Tangs won't touch the stuff.

And a goby won't be able to keep the entire sand bed clean. You'll need several dozen snails to do that.

[dustin_P74]

so if i get snails and a goby will there be enough food for the both of them to survive on

[Bifferwine]

Yeah, as long as you feed the tank, snails will have no problem finding food.

[dustin_P74]

ok another update: my ammonia and rites are at 0 and my rates are under 25 mg/l, i dont remember the exact number because i tested it this morning. so now im kinda in the boring wait a week or so stage before i can start stocking. but as far as that goes im thinking about going to the LFS and seeing what they have im either gonna make my first fish a diamond goby and if i cant find that at the LFS im just gonna get two clowns. and if i do get the clowns how long can they really go without an annemenie (or however the hell you spell it) comfortably? and can i get a cleaner crew immediately or should i wait a little while?