Fish Suggestions

ryangorney

Reefing newb
Fish Suggestions
Hi everyone. I am new to livingreefs this week and this is only my second post. I was amazed with the responses from my first so I plan on becoming an active member in this community.
I have a two month old 90 gallon FO tank. There is some lava rock and slate in the tank to provide hiding places for my fish. I have two 70 gallon heaters set at 76 degrees, two Emperor Bio-Wheel 400’s, and a small air stone running the aquarium. When I first started the aquarium I added some additives to speed up the cycle time. I can’t remember the name of the product but it was in two bottles and you added one teaspoon of each per 10 gallons. Once bottle was bacteria and the other added oxygen to the water.
My SG is 1.0225, ammonia level is at 0, PH at 8.3, and Nitrite 0.75ppm. In order to reduce the Nitrite I did a 20% water change and added PhosGuard. Things appear to be settling down. I am also doing partial water changes each week (about 8 gallons) and changing one of my four filters once per week in rotation.
Currently in the take I have the following:
1 – Long Spined Sea Urchin (I feed him pieces of raw shrimp once a week)
1 – Lion Fish (I feed him about 4-6 Live Rosie’s a week)
3 – Damsel Fish (two 3-Stripe Damsel and 1 Blue Damsel, had more but the lion ate them. I expected this and was really using these fish in the beginning to get the cycle going) (I feed them flake and frozen brine daily).
2 – Emerald Crabs (to start eating the green and brown algae that is appearing on the crushed coral bottom)
1 – Cardinal Fish (I feed him frozen brine daily)
1 – Powder Brown Tang (I feed him flake food daily)
(I also had a cowfish which died. I found out later that he was sold to the aquarium store from a previous owner and may have been sick to begin with. However the store told me he probably got stabbed by the long spined – I have another forum question on this one).
My basic questions are:
1) Does it appear that I have a proper setup?
2) Am I feeding the fish the correct food with the right frequency?
3) What other fish would you recommend? What is my number limit in a 90 gallon? I am interested in something colorful as well as unique. I would also like an eel someday.
Thank you,
Ryan
 
the lava rock is no good and you should not have any live animals in the tank until it is finished cycling nitrite is very fatel to fish and inverts. the lion will eat the damsel and cardnal sometime. and the best thing to have for rock is some live rock or you can get some base rock cheap it will be the best filtration you can have for a sw tank. do you have a protien skimmer?
 
i suggest ditching the two bio wheels, they are no good. also replace the crushed coral with agranite sand, crushed coral has no place in marine aquaria. and get a protein skimmer, it is one of the most important pieces of equipment to buy, especially with a predator tank like you have. another thing is to stop feeding the lion freshwater fish, they have no nutritional value to a saltwater fish instead i suggest sliversides, damsels, and table shrimp if you can get him to eat those. and also get rid of the air stone, its not needed
 
Uh oh, now I am worried. The aquarium store suggested crushed coral and the Bio Wheels. This is sounding like a total tank redo. What does Lava Rock do harmful? Would you replace it with Live Rock? How do you add sand to an established aquarium?
 
empty the tank water into a tub of a cooler and keep it dump out all the crushed coral and fill with new sand and then add your water back gently so that you minimise stiring up the new sand. lava rock can leach out heavy metals into te water. why is your nitrite so high? of are you talking about nitrate?
 
Thanks James. If I am emptying the tank do I put a gravel filter in? I am not sure why the Nitrite levels are so high. I am talking about Nitrite.
 
your tank is not finished cycling. do not use an undergravel filter they are not to be used in saltwater tanks as they can cause major water quality issues. after thinking aboout it the nitrite is more than likely that way since you do not have any live rock=nothing for the bacteria to live in so if you clean the power filters often like you sould be when using them tan you never will get a good build up of bacteria in the tank to keep all the levels good
 
Sorry for all the questions but I am a newbie. Would a 40lb bag of sand cover my 90 gallon tank? It is rectangular. How many inches deep should the sand be? If I get a protein skimmer which type do you recommend? I never clean the bio wheel itself, just replace the bag filters. Would these still work with the skimmer and live rock? If not what filtration should I use?
 
the live rock and skimmer are all you need, the bio wheels arent needed. also i would go with about 100lbs of sand, roughly 1lb per gallon, and unless you want a DBS (deep sand bed) then 1 inch coverage will be fine. and for skimmers look into the octopus brand, they are probably the best bang for your buck and if your going to keep and lionfish and possibly an eel, your going to need all the skimming you can get
 
Lots of good suggestions have been mentioned. I want to say GO SLOW. Don't make alot of changes fast.
If you are going to remove your crushed coral, don't do it all at once. Remove maybe 1/4 when you do a water change and replace it with a little sand, maybe 1" at most. After you have it all out, you can add more to make the sand bed deeper if you want.
You have some big fish and messy eaters. And, not enough filtration to handle the bioload. A FO tank is usually filtered by a wet/dry filter with bioballs or a sump with live rock. 2 hang on tank filters won't work for what you want. You need to increase your filtration capacity. Do you have room to set up a sump?
Octopus is a great skimmer, but not as necessary for a FO tank as a reef with coral. I would concentrate more on your means of filtration than looking to buy a skimmer.
Good luck, and take it slow. Nothing happens fast in this hobby except disasters.
 
All very good information.
I usually wouldnt suggest a wet/dry system.But I think this http://www.sealife-systems.com/proseries.html would take care of your filtration.Plus it comes with a skimmer.

I'm actually using the 200 series right now on my 125 reef.Couldnt pass it up for the price ($10.00).And after running it for a month,I may stay with it.The skimmers actually does as good a job as any skimmer I've seen.Even the $600.00 + ETSS skimmers at my LFS.You can even get the over-flow box for use on non-drilled tanks.
 
Crushed coral leads to water quality problems because the particles are so big that they trap crap and the crap rots away into the water.

You shouldn't be using any rock that's not from the ocean. Lava rock doesn't come from the ocean and often contains various metals. These metals leach out and dissolve into the water. Metals = fatal to inverts and potentially fatal to fish.

If you have ANY nitrite, your animals are in danger. Nitrite is highly toxic. If your tank was properly cycled, you shouldn't see any nitrite. Nitrite in your tank can mean several things. You stocked fish too fast (you shouldn't add more than one fish every 3 weeks). You feed your fish too much. You have insufficient filtration. You have too many fish. Or it could be a combination of all these things.
 
Crushed coral leads to water quality problems because the particles are so big that they trap crap and the crap rots away into the water.

You shouldn't be using any rock that's not from the ocean. Lava rock doesn't come from the ocean and often contains various metals. These metals leach out and dissolve into the water. Metals = fatal to inverts and potentially fatal to fish.

If you have ANY nitrite, your animals are in danger. Nitrite is highly toxic. If your tank was properly cycled, you shouldn't see any nitrite. Nitrite in your tank can mean several things. You stocked fish too fast (you shouldn't add more than one fish every 3 weeks). You feed your fish too much. You have insufficient filtration. You have too many fish. Or it could be a combination of all these things.
 
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