Is this good?

[blackbeard88]

Hello. I've been studying the saltwater hobby for about 2 years now and I'm finally ready to start my first tank. I wanted to say what I have and here any suggestions from other hobbyists.

To start with, I went with the 32 gallon LED Coralife tank. This is only because I'm going to college soon and want to be able to take it with me. For the media, I plan to use:

Marine Pure Bio balls
Seachem Purigen
Filter Floss
(Any suggestions here would be great. I started to get lost on what media to use)

It will be a FOWLR for a while but I plan on adding low light corals (or upgrading tank size) once I know what I'm doing.

I'm a little unsure of my stocking list but this is what I can think of:

2 Clownfish
1 Orchid Dottyback
Shrimp and Goby pair
Cleaner Shrimp

For the Clean Up Crew, I couldn't really think of what would be good to have over some others so if you don't mind dropping some suggestions. However, here is what I thought might be good to use:

A few Trochus Snails
1-2 Emerald Crabs
2-4 Hermit crabs (doesn't matter what kind)

A question I have is do I add the clean up crew first or the fish? I have Dr. Tim's One and Only to start my tank up and some ammonia drops to keep them alive while I quarantine my fish, but I've seen where people did the clean up crew first and others did the fish first. What do you suggest?

[mcgyvr]

IMO..
As far as fish.. Thats a 100% personal choice.. Its all you.. of course make sure they are suitable for a small tank and stuff but which fish is all personal..

2 emerald crabs are too much for such a small tank and will starve. Even 1 likely will too.
Hermits really just end up eating your snails which is find as long as you repopulate every once in a while..
I would skip hermits.. do an all snail clean up crew..
A few trochus or astrea and some nassarius if you plan on a sand bed..
Hard to beat this deal... though I'd recommend buying a crew for a tank 1/2 your size... unless you stay with hermits then its fine as the hermits will eat half the snails or more.. :)


The initial intend of a "clean up crew" is to "clean up" the outcome of the "ugly stages" of a new tank.. Thats usually diatoms, then green hair/film algae, then even cyano..

So they are technically added once that starts or shortly after to clean it up..


Also there is usually no need to continue dosing ammonia post cycle.. The bacteria will live a long time (studies have shown a year or more) without any additional input into the tank.. and as soon as you put snails,etc.. in you now have "poop" being generated not to mention plenty of other sources of food/carbon..

Only use ammonia once or twice during initial cycle just up to 1ppm or 2ppm levels.. Then throw it away..

[blackbeard88]

I'll throw the hermits and emerald crabs out and stick with snails, unless I need them later. Do you have any suggestions for the media basket? I feel as if I'd be missing something and I'm not sure what I should get. As I said before, I'm going to use Marine Pure Bio balls, Seachem Purigen, and some filter floss. I just want to do everything right the first time and not have to start over.