75g Reef Questions

[hoopsdaddy]

My 75g reef tank has finished cycling and I have begun adding a few items. I have 3 Chromas, 10 blue hermits, and 10 snails.
I have approx 250watts VHO and have not added a skimmer yet.
How many or what combination of janitors is best and what is the easiest most colorful corals for beginners?
Any(most) advice would be helpful.
Thanks in advance for the tips.
HD

 

[ReefWannabe]

you may want to slow down. If your tank just cycled its going to be tough to support 3 fish at once so fast. I would hold out a little while before you add anything else to let the tank play catchup.

As for coral, you could keep some zooanthids mushrooms and soft coral.

I would get a skimmer as your next purchase though.

 

[hoopsdaddy]

Thanks RW I appreciate the advice. How soon should I add a skimmer? Advice on the web and at the LFS is very unspecific. I hear "at startup" or as late as "six months". What would you say are the top two/three choices?
Thanks again,
HD

 

[jhnrb]

skimmer needed at least when fish are added. so next move should be for skimmer. if everything you added lives for at least 2 to three months you can continue to add additional animals, but only if coraline algae has started to appear, and only if your water parameters are still good. good luck, happy fishin.

 

[minireefer]

Also the light you may need to be updated to support most coral

 

[salt newbie01]

I would agree the next purchase should be a protein skimmer. They are the key to keeping your water clean IMO. As they said you should probably wait a while before adding any other inhabitants to the tank. Saltwater tanks are very touchy to change - they have to "catch up" to the new bio load of fish or corals.
You will probably need more light before getting too many corals. Some do not require a lot of light but most will - you should aim for at least 5 watts per gallon. That will cover you on most softies and LPS corals. Just my .02 HTH