Need large saltwater tank help with stocking

[shaned]

<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Support,</span></span>
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;"> </span></span>
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">I need some knowledgable advice before placing my next fishtank order. I’m a new saltwater tank enthusiast (about 1 year old tank) and I have a few questions about buying items to add to my tank .. I need to know if these items will ‘get along’ with my other tankmates. I currently have a 170 gallon tank with lots of extras including 640 watt T5 lights, wet/dry sump, refugium, protein skimmer, phosphate reactor, UV light sterilizer, etc. I’ve tested my water for Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate all of which are OK. I also have a digital thermometer and check the PH levels too. My salinity tests normal with a refractometer device. </span></span>
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;"> </span></span>
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">My current tank contents include about 60 lbs live rock, a few decorative pieces, 1 green tip anemone, a new carpet anemone and a new brain soft coral. Fish include a large yellow tank, large tomatoe clown, large Cuban Hogfish, two blenny’s (pink and blue spot), fire hawk and longnose hawk, heniocas (butterfly fish). </span></span>
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;"> </span></span>
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">I’d like to add other fish but not sure how many to add at once. I’d also like to add other corals, snails, etc but again I’m not sure when to add them to my tank. Would it be wise to buy a few items at a time and then later add more items?</span></span>
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;"> </span></span>
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Below is a list of items I’m considering purchasing to add to my tank .. but not all at once of course! Are these good choices? Any advice and/or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.</span></span>
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;"> </span></span>
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Thanks,
Shane Draper</span></span>
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">678-662-6336</span></span>
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[showtime305]

<span style="color: black;">I would advise you get your total rock amount up to 170-200 pounds. You can add more rock between the fish and coral additions. If you don't add the rock and continue to add more fish, your tank may not be able to handle the bio-load of the additional and food you are going to feed. Once you have a good amount of rock in there, you can probably get away with adding 2-3 fish at a time. Just remember to give your tank time to adjust between livestock additions.</span>

 

[ms_ k]

I definitely would add the mandarin dragonette (goby) last. You'll need more live rock to support it, and the live rock should be in the tank for 6 months to a year before adding the mandarin. You definitely do need to add more live rock. A lot of people recommend 1-1.5 pounds per gallon of water.

 

[FutureInterest]

Wow that's quite a list... Proceed slowly and add as you go. Too much at one time might cause your system to crash. You might be able to get away with that much live rock as your nitrate reduction system, but then again you might not. Monitor your parameters closely and make adjustments as need be. If you don't want to dump more live rock into the main display, I'd suggest dumping a bunch of lava rock into the sump or refugium... It serves the same function of live rock, it jsut don't look as pretty. I have 100 lbs of LR in my 78 gallon tank (wierd sized acrylic tank) and 30 lbs of lava rock in the sump. The lava rock is extremely porous and serves as a nice place for pods to grow and denitrification.

Also, you're going to have territoriality issues with a bunch of those fish and some of them need to be monitored with shrimp. The general rule is to add the more aggressive/territorial fish last. GL.