40 gallon Innovative Marine

meganallison88 · 02/04/2016, 08:59 PM

so I'm getting my tank at the end of this month!! just looking for any tips on setting it all up. I plan on doing about 30lbs of live sand and 30-40lbs of live rock. how long will my tank cycle for? I was told with live rock and live sand that I may not even notice a cycle happening... is this true?
how long should I wait to add fish?
I have my fish list...
-2 snowflake clownfish
-1 purple firefish
-1 orange stripe prawn goby& shrimp pair
-1 royal gramma basslet
-1 white banded possum wrasse

I will doing some beginner corals but I'm not sure which are the easiest to keep lol. but which order should I add the fish in?

also if anyone has any pictures of their IM 40 gallon i'd love to see different rock setups!
thanks in advance!

Deberber · 02/04/2016, 09:20 PM

First off, there will be a cycle even if you have live rock. You will just have to check daily for an ammonium spike. Once the ammonium goes down then tank has cycled. After tank cycled, fish can start to be added. 6 fish is definitely pushing it in there but with a little extra work you should be fine. Just make sure you watch aggression with the clown pair.

Far as corals for beginners, any type of leather coral. Duncan's are also pretty. You also shouldn't have much problem with a frogspawn.

thelawnwrangler · 02/04/2016, 09:51 PM

3 months in I am enjoying and having good success with Zoas. I like the soft corals too like green star polyp although some think they grow too much, and suggest having it isolated on a rock. I want to move to lps torch or frog spawn next.

I started with live rock and live sand and had a cycle 2-3 weeks. After cycle I added CUC first then a week later or so added a clown pair.

Take it slow and enjoy!

TimeConsumer · 02/04/2016, 10:33 PM

Easiest corals to keep will be your softies. Mushrooms, xenia, star polyps, nepthea, finger leather, etc. Problem is that some of those usually end up taking over your tank. Plenty of LPS are easy like hammers, frogspawn, candy cane, galaxea, etc just watch your calc and alk more carefully.

I personally love florida ricordea among the beginner corals. They are very easy to take care of and beautiful specimins.

meganallison88 · 02/05/2016, 11:37 AM

Thanks for the replies! I really enjoy the green star polyps but I will put them on a rock by themselves! So once it's cycled add the cuc and then when I add my clowns... I want to get an anemone later down the road, will the clowns still go to the aneome even if it's added after them?
Does it matter which order I add the fish in?

TimeConsumer · 02/05/2016, 02:40 PM

Sometimes the clowns won't go to an anemone at all. Wild caught ones are more likely, especially if you get a nem that hosts them naturally in the wild. The snowflake is an ocellaris and it's natural hosts are all very big, difficult to keep anemones.

But sometimes they jump in to a bubble-tip just fine. You never really know. My ocellaris pair didn't touch my RBTA, but they loved my nepthea.

02/04/2016, 08:59 PM	#1
meganallison88 Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2016 Posts: 15	40 gallon Innovative Marine so I'm getting my tank at the end of this month!! just looking for any tips on setting it all up. I plan on doing about 30lbs of live sand and 30-40lbs of live rock. how long will my tank cycle for? I was told with live rock and live sand that I may not even notice a cycle happening... is this true? how long should I wait to add fish? I have my fish list... -2 snowflake clownfish -1 purple firefish -1 orange stripe prawn goby& shrimp pair -1 royal gramma basslet -1 white banded possum wrasse I will doing some beginner corals but I'm not sure which are the easiest to keep lol. but which order should I add the fish in? also if anyone has any pictures of their IM 40 gallon i'd love to see different rock setups! thanks in advance!

02/04/2016, 10:33 PM	#4
TimeConsumer Registered Member Join Date: May 2011 Location: New Orleans, La Posts: 1,919	Easiest corals to keep will be your softies. Mushrooms, xenia, star polyps, nepthea, finger leather, etc. Problem is that some of those usually end up taking over your tank. Plenty of LPS are easy like hammers, frogspawn, candy cane, galaxea, etc just watch your calc and alk more carefully. I personally love florida ricordea among the beginner corals. They are very easy to take care of and beautiful specimins. __________________ Steve - Retired from reefing, for now.

02/05/2016, 02:40 PM	#6
TimeConsumer Registered Member Join Date: May 2011 Location: New Orleans, La Posts: 1,919	Sometimes the clowns won't go to an anemone at all. Wild caught ones are more likely, especially if you get a nem that hosts them naturally in the wild. The snowflake is an ocellaris and it's natural hosts are all very big, difficult to keep anemones. But sometimes they jump in to a bubble-tip just fine. You never really know. My ocellaris pair didn't touch my RBTA, but they loved my nepthea. __________________ Steve - Retired from reefing, for now.

02/04/2016, 09:20 PM	#2
Deberber Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: North Carolina Posts: 451	First off, there will be a cycle even if you have live rock. You will just have to check daily for an ammonium spike. Once the ammonium goes down then tank has cycled. After tank cycled, fish can start to be added. 6 fish is definitely pushing it in there but with a little extra work you should be fine. Just make sure you watch aggression with the clown pair. Far as corals for beginners, any type of leather coral. Duncan's are also pretty. You also shouldn't have much problem with a frogspawn.

02/04/2016, 09:51 PM	#3
thelawnwrangler Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2015 Location: Northern New Jersey Posts: 863	3 months in I am enjoying and having good success with Zoas. I like the soft corals too like green star polyp although some think they grow too much, and suggest having it isolated on a rock. I want to move to lps torch or frog spawn next. I started with live rock and live sand and had a cycle 2-3 weeks. After cycle I added CUC first then a week later or so added a clown pair. Take it slow and enjoy!

02/05/2016, 11:37 AM	#5
meganallison88 Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2016 Posts: 15	Thanks for the replies! I really enjoy the green star polyps but I will put them on a rock by themselves! So once it's cycled add the cuc and then when I add my clowns... I want to get an anemone later down the road, will the clowns still go to the aneome even if it's added after them? Does it matter which order I add the fish in?