Mixed Reef Starter Recommendations

[BF90GREEF]

I'm just now getting into this hobby and would like some advice so I get my aquarium started out correctly. I want to set up a mixed reef aquarium. I have a 90 gallon Mega flow tank with about 90 lbs of BRS Reef Saver Dry Aquarium Live Rock, 25 lbs of real live rock, and 80 lbs of Aragamax Oolitic Select Sand (about 1 1/2" deep). The aquarium is now in its cycling stage (about 1 week). As a beginner, I know I will be learning a lot and want to avoid killing corals due to my inexperience. I would like recommendations on how to proceed populating my tank with the corals and eventually a few fish. If you could recommend 4 or 5 beginner corals, I would appreciate that as well.

[applejk]

Welcome to the hobby! When I started my new tank I actually used this: http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...m?pcatid=18986 to speed up my cycling process. I had a buddy add that and the next week he started adding corals. I wouldn't suggest you do the same but that will speed up your cycling process.

As far as fish you should start with a cheap damsel or something to help cycle your tank. Damsels are fairly hardy and a good tester fish. As far as corals go you can't go wrong with xenia, green star polyps, or kenya trees. I have found those are cheap and people usually give those away for free. If the damsels and corals live after your cycle then you should be good to add more. I'd start with softies and LPS as the SPS are a bit harder to keep. Good luck

[sde1500]

Cycling with a fish is cruel to the fish and very much unnecessary. Do not add any fish until you are 100% sure your cycle is complete. When your cycle is complete, add a few snails, you're going to be getting plenty of algae growth for them to eat.

First step is to read. Since you started with some live rock, your cycle should be under way. Keep testing ammonia and nitrites. Once those are gone you'll be through the cycle. You have a few weeks. In the mean time, read the stickies, the one here with the giant red arrow pointing at it, very helpful.

Best starter fish would be clowns. Easy to care for, and very forgiving to newbie mistakes. Most damsels can be pretty aggressive, and I'd avoid them. Other good ones are firefish, some gobies, blennies, or bangaii cardinals.

Best starter corals are maybe some cheap mushrooms, xenia, green star polyps, or some zoanthids. Many of these can spread like crazy, be warned. What type of lights are on the tank, what do you use for filtration, all this is important to know to really know what corals you can keep.

[thegrun]

+1, please do not add any fish to your tank to cycle it, it is completely unnecessary and will not speed things along.
Do read through the stickies at the top of this forum "Setting Up: How To", they contain a wealth of good information.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=1031074

[CStrickland]

Originally Posted by BF90GREEF

I'm just now getting into this hobby and would like some advice so I get my aquarium started out correctly. I want to set up a mixed reef aquarium. I have a 90 gallon Mega flow tank with about 90 lbs of BRS Reef Saver Dry Aquarium Live Rock, 25 lbs of real live rock, and 80 lbs of Aragamax Oolitic Select Sand (about 1 1/2" deep). The aquarium is now in its cycling stage (about 1 week). As a beginner, I know I will be learning a lot and want to avoid killing corals due to my inexperience. I would like recommendations on how to proceed populating my tank with the corals and eventually a few fish. If you could recommend 4 or 5 beginner corals, I would appreciate that as well.

Welcome!
you have a lot of options for fish in a 90g. Liveaquaria.com is my fav place to browse, they have good pics and info about the tank size, diet, and general hardiness of the fish they sell; also pay attention to "reef safe" - doesn't eat coral, and if you'll want some snails and crabs to keep the tank clean, don't pick anything that eats them. Even if you don't buy from there it's a good place to research.

I think you've got the right idea asking these questions now, things go a lot easier when you plan ahead. Like with choosing fish, if you plan your whole list now you can add them in order of least to most aggressive to give shy guys a chance to get comfy before bullies try to stake out territory. You can google "90 gallon stock list" to get an idea of what's standard for your tank, and when you have an idea of what appeals to you, there's lots of experts in here to review your list for compatibility.

Do you have lights yet? That has a lot to do with which photosynthetic coral will be happy in your tank. Like sde said, softies are very tolerant of newb mistakes, but can get out of hand. For me the fish need more planning than coral, I know coral is an animal too, but I just don't get sad the same way if one dies. So I'm more prone to be adventurous with coral. A good way to take a chance without spending a lot is to connect with a local reefer club. They often have "frag swaps" where you can buy a little chunk of something for $5-$10 just to give it a try, and it's a nice way to make friends in the hobby too.

[BF90GREEF]

Thanks everyone for the advice. I have the following equipment: two AI Hydra TwentySix HD LED lights for the aquarium, 26" Emerald Sump, a Tunze Osmolator ATO, and an AquaMax ConS CO-1 protein skimmer, and two Tunze pumps with controller. I purchased a used Knopp Calcium Reactor, but I have not installed it yet. Should I add other filtering to the aquarium?

[sde1500]

Dang you're not messing around. That's a nice equipment list. Though you're a long way from needing that reactor I think. Not experienced with one personally. One thing that may help is a gfo reactor for possible phosphate leaching from the dry rock. Two little fishes makes a good one, I have that with a rio pump.

[CStrickland]

That's a great start. I agree you probs won't need the Ca reactor for a while. I can't think of any other must have gear. Most of our filtration is done by the bacteria that live on the tanks surfaces. Some like to use filter socks or some other way to catch floating crud, but it's def not mandatory and you can add something like that any time you want.

Some people have trouble with the oolite sand blowing around, you may need to position your powerheads carefully but it can be done. Also, as the bacteria grows on the grains, it will weigh the sand down, so after a few weeks some of the cloudiness will subside. You want enough flow in the tank so that poop and stuff isn't settling on the sand bed, as that can encourage algae.