New owner, old tank...what can i put in here?:)

[TheFisheye]

Well hello everyone...new to the site, and the hobby. I just "inherited" an established tank that was pretty much neglected for about 2yrs. It probably went that long without a water change(just dechlorinated tapwater top offs). Unplugged heater, and busted shaft on skimmer pump to boot. Somehow 1-ocellaris clown, 2-yellowtail damsels, and 1-B&W Heniochus survived. Also an emporer angel survived, but had to be euthanized due to HLLE(looked like he was dropped in a blender). Anyways, I have since bleached all the dead coral that was in the tank, and replaced the sandbed with carrib. arrogonite sand/chips. Fixed the skimmer and heater. The tank did not cycle, and all seems to be well. PH-8.4, KH-16, 0ppm NO3,NO2,PO4, and sg-1.025. I've added two more baby ocellaris clowns that seem to get along with the adult ocellaris, a Banded Dragon sleeper goby, and a Bristletooth Tomini tang. Along with 4 Cortez Turbos, 10 ceriths, 10 nassarious, 6 scarlet reef hermits, and 20 dwarf blue leg hermits.
Finnaly(apologies for the essay) i want to add 2 scarlet skunk cleaner shrimp, and how ever many blue/green chromis you would recommend 3 prefferably. Also maybe an anemone for the clowns. Thanks for the advice in advance, and wow...this is addicting allready

[RedM3]

Is the tank you're talking about the 180g in your signature?

[TheFisheye]

yes...it is...no LR... but i do have bio filter media that has been in the sump since '07

[TheFisheye]

also...i've just started water changes with RO/DI(probably 50 gal worth so far) if that matters. I've read a lot(a whole lot) about the hobby, so hopefully the info was good, but i think i have a good grasp on the chemistry part...plus it's a 205 gal system, so it doesn't change too fast

[njudson]

I would definitely recommend getting some Live Rock. The life that comes with it is too cool to miss out on imo plus its great for the overall health of your tank. Go with 80% dry rock if price is a concern.

Also you definitely have room for more fish. Read up on Angels, tangs and wrasses ... see what you like and add slowly.

goodluck!

[Chris27]

Slow down buddy, without rock, you'll want something comparable in there to take up some room. Each fish needs a place to go and hide at night when the lights go out.....if you just have a minimal amount of old fake coral pieces, you'll end up with a bunch of stressed fish because they have no territory to retreat to when scared or threatened. In a situation like that, the fish will become aggressive towards each other or just flat out scared....which can lead to poor nutrition and overall health.

Don't add any more fish just yet, get some rock, dry, live, plastic, whatever, and make a little reef in there for them. Give everyone time to adjust, and then add some more livestock later.

[eja99]

I would skim like crazy. I'm not sure how a tank without water changes and a skimmer would register 0 phosphates, nitrates, etc.

I bought a tank in similar condition and it took about 2 months of wet skimming/water changes to get the nitrates/phosphate to test at 0. And then it took another few months of pruning to get the hair algae under control.

+1 on moving slowly and buying live rock.

Good luck.

[TheFisheye]

i have probably about 120-150lbs(guess) of dead, real coral/rock in the tank...with plenty of caves and structure...all of the fish can hide...even the butterfly..though he doesn't go into the rocks much

[TheFisheye]

well i assume that the rock in the tank became live after being in there for 3 1/2years(as far as bacteria is concerned)...it must have acted as the filter just as live rock would...i have bio floss in the sump, the activated carbon and filter floss were changed, just not regularly...and that has never come out so it has the bacteria still on it, and i imagine it will eventually spread throughout the newly cleaned rock...the tank has been up and running in good condition for not quite 3 months...and in that 3 months i have done many water changes and i have the water tested regularly...as for the skimmer...the shaft could have broken a week before i fixed it, or a year...don't know...either it's a freaky weird anomoly, or the pet shop people testing the water ride to work on the short bus