Post Cycle Questions

[Squall]

OK- so I waited my five weeks and my tank has cycled. I added four snails to my 40 breeder. Two ceriths, one margarita, and one astrae(sp?). They all seem to be doing great, granted it is only day four of them being in the tank. No ammonia, nitrite, or nitrate. Everything else reads about average.

So what do I do next?

Do I wait another week and get a coral or do you add fish first? I know the fish have to be in a quarantine tank for four to six weeks. So should I get my first fish and quarantine it and just let the 40 breeder sit with the snails till the fish gets the all clear? I eventually want to stock the tank with a clown pair, royal gamma, firefish, and high-fin goby(to go with pistol shrimp). Which fish would be best to get first? Does anyone think these fish would have a problem with each other-or the tank size?

I plan on mainly soft corals (mushrooms/zoas) and a few lps (frog/hammer)-but no anemones.

I have a 29 gallon sump and a separate 20 gallon refugium hooked up to the 40 breeder. Another question- I had a koralia nano in the refugium to move water, but it just seemed to blow the macroalgae around too much. The refugium water drops into the sump, and so it has a slow flow on its own, is this enough or should I put the koralia nano back in?

So what do I do next?

[bertoni]

If the ammonia has been zero for a week, you could start adding easy-to-keep animals. Those fish can be added in any order, although I'd skip one of them to keep the bioload down. The tank would be ready for them before quarantine was done.

You could add some soft corals like the mushrooms or zoanthids now, IMO. I'd wait on the LPS (stony corals).

I might put a small powerhead into that refugium. You could see whether a film develops on the surface or the water looks stagnant. Also, checking the pH might be useful.