Returning beginner

[Deucenbc]

I tried to get into coral and salt water awhile ago by entering with a 20 long. After failing miserably (only 2 clown fish and 1 snail survived my ineptness) I returned to my 55 normal water and 65 cichlid tanks. Recently due to covid my wife and I have been reworking our house and she suggested I move our 3 survivors to another standard 54 gal we have. We have decided to make it a fish only tank due to us only running 2 otb fluval 70 filters on it. I still am not a fan of out LFS and do not trust the info they give me. I have been chemically cycling the tank with "Seed" for 2 and a half weeks (it's what the LFS suggested) and I have 0 ammonia 0 nitrites and 10 nitrates. The 2 clowns and snail look happy. The LFS says I need to wait 4 to 6 weeks before adding any fish. Does this logic not defeat the logic of using chemical cycling? I need advice. The wife wants to travel to :Columbia SC this weekend t ok look for fish. I want to keep her enthusium but I do not want to be a murderer. Can I get some advice please?

 

[Deucenbc]

I am also Simo cycling an AIO 32 gal that will be my coral tank. Its running the same numbers but without any nitrates and has no livestock in it.

 

[jcook54]

Welcome back! I know there's a temptation to start getting stuff right away, we all feel the pull. It sounds like you had a small tank with 2 clown and a snail that were in a 20g tank. You fired up a bigger tank and moved that livestock into that system. Did you move the rocks and some substrate from the smaller system to to bigger one? That would make for a lot of good biological filtration and the cycle would be minimal. Also, was there any ammonia ever detected in the lager system that you've been cycling for 2+ weeks?

 

[Deucenbc]

New sand... was the wet sand... 3 rocks only... rest plus a few more went into the coral tank. Highest ammonia I have had over the time is 1 Ppm..... I am not wanting to rush the coral 32g but wondering is I should drop in 2 clowns in there now while I let it continue to time establish.

 

[Deucenbc]

And for the fish only... what is my suggested time/ numbers before I add more fish to it

 

[jcook54]

I always judge whether a tank is ready based on the Nitrogen cycle. Ammonia --> Nitrite --> Nitrate. If you've seen ammonia go up and down, nitrite will do the same thing and finally you'll start seeing nitrates. Nitrate production is the end of the cycle and it sounds like your fish only can handle another fish if you'd like to go that route. It's a big balancing act. Animals produce waster and the bacteria load breaks down that waste. If you had the same system with 2 fish going for a year there would be balance and you still wouldn't want to add a dozen fish at one time since the balance would really be thrown out of whack. Since you used a biological sand and imported some of the bacteria filled live rock to the new system, it sounds to me like you had a mini cycle (as expected) and it's over.

2-1/2 weeks is a short amount of time to start adding fish when you're talking about a brand new system. However, I consider your situation more of a tank "upgrade" since you were able to use some of the live rock from the smaller system. With that in mind, as long as you're not seeing any ammonia or nitrite (and the nitrate levels are rising) I'd say get a fish or two and keep an eye on the ammonia level just to be safe.

 

[Deucenbc]

Thank you for the info. Next question.... I am looking for suggestions for a centerpiece fish for my fish only. Since it is only 55g... I know I cannot go big.. I was thinking no more that 12 fish + cleanup crew when I am done... can you offer some suggestions for my size tank?

 

[jcook54]

For the frag tank, you mentioned that you used some of the live rock from the previous system, right? You could add a fish or just "ghost feed" a pinch of fish food every once in a while. The food acts as nutrients for the tank and as it breaks down, the bacteria have something to eat and the beneficial bacteria have a chance to eat and grow. The frag tank will need some sort of input to keep the existing bacteria fed and happy. This can be accomplished by feeding a bit or adding a fish and keeping and eye on ammonia levels.

What do y'all think? Am I rushing things with my suggestions? Honestly, I've only ever started a single system from scratch and that was near 20 years ago. Every system I've setup since then had a lot of rock and bio-media that I was able to import from the sump of my existing system.

 

[jcook54]

Here's a few fish that I think every tank should have that would work in a 55g.

• Royal Gramma - Brilliant color, great attitude and a somewhat brave little fish that is usually out and not as shy as some other tank inhabitants.
• Yellow Coris Wrasse - You need to have a lid since these guys can jump but they're very pretty, very active and do a good job at taking down any "pests" that might pop up.
• Blue Sapphire Damsel - This is another great small fish that has a ton of color and a pretty good attitude. Stay away from most damsels in a 55g but I've always kept this little beauties and have never had an issue. They are sometimes call a Springeri or Springer's Damsel.
• Goby paired with a pistol shrimp - I always go with Watchman gobies because they get relatively large but there are quite a few different species that can pair up with a shrimp. This mutually beneficial relationship is one of my favorite things about keeping saltwater fish. I'm more focused on corals but I love it when a goby & shrimp are paired up. It's fun to watch and just plain cool.

12 fish seems like a lot for a 55g tank. Especially if you want a centerpiece fish. When I hear centerpiece I think large. I've got a 65g with 7 smaller fish in it and it's already pretty busy. I'm not sure I could fit 12 even if I went with all small species.

 

[Deucenbc]

My terms may be off... maybe focal is better... like maybe a flame angel or bristlerooth tang.
I figure if I know what my focal fish is... I will be able to better plan the rest

 

[Adam]

My terms may be off... maybe focal is better... like maybe a flame angel or bristlerooth tang.
I figure if I know what my focal fish is... I will be able to better plan the rest

For a 55 gallon a Flame Angle probably won't do well because the tank is a little too small. About the only tang that will do good long term in a 55 is a Tomini, which is a bristletooth.

With your fish stocking try to stop thinking in terms of number fish per gallon. A good general rule is one inch of the adult size of the fish per gallon. So with a 55 gallon tank there's only about 48 gallons to begin with. Then after you add rock and sand you're probably only looking at 35-38ish gallons. With the inch per gallon rule you're looking at 38" max. A Tomini Tang is around 6" as an adult, now you're down to 32, after the two clowns you're down to around 26" unless you clowns are a larger species, like Maroon's, which will lower the number even more. Figure around 8-10 fish total in a tank that size.

 

[gill]

I would just go slow. Overstocking too fast is your biggest risk. And I always encourage people to QT. Even with a FOWLR, you don't want a parasite in the tank.

There are all kinds of awesome fish that we reefers cannot keep that could be a centerpiece. Lots of pygmy angels (Lemonpeel!). I think that tank is going to be small for any tang or regular angel, assuming you are successful. Or a cool puffer or wrasse. I mean, sure, you can focus on reef-safe fish, but man, for a FOWLR there's many cool fish that a reefer has to look at in the store only.