Questions about my 100g SW

emily120289

emily120289

Reefing newb
Hey, I'm fairly new to saltwater and I recently purchased a 100g tank (72 1/2 x 18 1/2 x 19 3/8) about 2 months ago hoping to start a SW reef tank. I've done my research and let my tank cycle for awhile, its been roughly a little under 2 months now and my readings of my tank are as follows, 80 degrees F, salinity is 1.022, my PH is 8.2, ammonia = 0, Nitrite = 0, Nitrate = 10. My question is, is my tank fully cycled? Would it be ok too add fish, corals, inverts etc? Below is a list of fish I would like to add to my tank, any suggestions would be great! Thanks.

:sfish:Stocking list :sfish:
​
1. x2 Ocellaris Clownfish (Pair / Tank Raised)
2. x3 Blue/Green Chromis
3. x3 Bartlett Anthias (1 Male, 2 Female)
4. x1 Blue Hippo Tang (Baby, 2 inches long)
5. x1 Skunk cleaner Shrimp
6. x1 Purple Dottyback
7. x1 Flame Angel


Thanks again.
 
Did you see nitrites and ammonia go up? If yes, and they are back down to zero, then your tank has cycled. Two months is long enough for any tank to fully cycle, so I think you are good to go. I would raise your salinity up a little bit before you add any animals -- to 1.025 or 1.026. Everything else looks great. What did you use to cycle? Most people use live rock and/or a piece of shrimp from the grocery store. I assume you have live rock and sand in the tank already?

That looks like a great stocking list. You may want to add another cleaner shrimp though. Mine have always like to chill in pairs. :)

Also, think about your clean up crew. You should add them around the same time you start adding fish. Snails, crabs, starfish, other types of shrimp etc.

Great start!
 
Great news! Yes, I used the live sand/live rock method to cycle my tank. My nitrites and ammonia did raise up, and have gone back down to a steady 0 for the past few days. Thank you for the suggestions! All that patience has finally paid off! thanks again.
 
Thank you!

What are the chances of having a clownfish pair host an anemone in an aquarium? Are there any anemones clownfish prefer? Also does anyone have any suggestions in regards to different corals for beginners?
 
Anyone have any luck with a Gold rim Tang? (White Cheek)? and would it be possible to add a baby Gold rim Tang to my 100g? or is the tank too small?
 
The white cheeks can be pretty difficult, but you could try it when the tank is more established.

And the chance of them being hosted totally depends on the clowns, they are funny creatures and might decide they prefer your overflow instead. However, nems are very challenging to keep. They require higher than average lighting conditions, pristine water conditions and stability. The last two arent often found in tanks younger than a year, so I would hold off on adding the nem.
 
Ok great, thank you for the information and input I do apperciate it! with the stocking list I have listed above, should I add the different species seperately if so in what order? Or is it possible to add them all at once?
 
You should leave about 3 weeks in between adding each fish, or pairs/groups of fish. You can't add them all at once (well, you can... But they'd probably all die, hahaha). The reason for that is the bacteria in your tank can only handle processing so much waste (fish poop, food you are giving them) at one time. You need to leave the bacterial population time to catch up with each new addition. In general, you want to stock the least aggressive fish first, and add the most aggressive fish last. If you add aggressive fish first, they will establish their territories and are more likely to bully any fish you add afterwards.

The chromis or clowns would be good to start with. Clowns can be aggressive, but they are very hardy, which is important for the fish added in the beginning, and ocellaris clowns are probably the least aggressive type out there.

I would probably add the flame angel last, and the dottyback second to last. None of the fish you picked out are particularly aggressive, so in your case, I don't think it matters that much which order you add them.
 
You should only add one or two fish every 3 weeks, to add them all at once would be dangerous and not fun because then you cant look forward to any more additions. However, you can add as many inverts as you want at once and as often as you like.

When adding fish, you want to add them least aggressive to most, but some fish need well established tanks to do well, so I would add them in this order:
Clowns
Chromis
Hippo (who will need a bigger home eventually)
Dottyback
Angel
White cheek
Anthias (need a well established tank to do well)
 
skip the chromis, biggest mistake i made was putting them in my 55 gal, the only way i will ever get those fish out is in a little pine fish box.
 
I think that can be said about almost any fish, but I also think you have chromis confused with damsel fish. Chromis are nice, damsel fish are the devil.
 
hehe i have two chromis that hate each other with a passion lol there was a third but those other two jerks killed him. My batch must just be extra agressive.
 
Actually, that can be common with chormis. I feed mine twice a day to keep the aggression to a minimum and have had no chromis on chromis violence
 

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