Converting to a 280g reef tank

kylev

Member
Some of you guys could be current with my tank setup because I have had a thread going in the aggressive section for a while. I have a 280L tank with a 100g sump and probably 250-300 pounds of live rock. The basic equipment is (2) vortex MP40's, Pan world 1750 gph external pump, (2) 48" 6x54w ATI powermodule T5HO lights, internal reef octopus skimmer, aqua controller, refugium w/ cheato, live sand, and live rock rubble. All the details can be found in the thread linked below.
https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/forum/thread/374812/280g-fowlr-tank-diary
So far everything has gone great and the current fish are hippo tang, crosshatch trigger pair, starry blenny, true perc pair, and theres a flame angel and lemonpeel angel coming out of hypo as we speak.
I have about 10 mexican turbo snails, 6 emerald crabs, about 70 nessasius snails, 1 cleaner shrimp, 1 blood red shrimp, 5 pepermint shrimp, a lot of mushrooms, multiple zoas, and some other softies in the tank.
I was originally going to add some large angels to the tank but have swayed away from them because I'd like to try to keep my corals safe plus open up some more options. I know the dwarf angels are a gamble but I'm going to see how they work out. I'd like help on suggestions for my potential options. So far I would like to add a purple tang, achilles tang, green mandarin dragonet and possibly some blue reef chromis.
The questions I have are
-Three tangs enough or could I have four?
-What other fish small or large would be good candidates?
-Is my lights/flow enough to add more than softies, and what?
-How much additional lighting would it take to house a rbta?
-Any equipment advice that would widen my options or be worth while to enhance water quality?
Thanks and heres some pics
 

acrylic51

Active Member
Depending what you want to keep you might want to add a little more as far as flow.....but your additions would be the judge of that...On that size system I would think a little more than 2 MP 40's though......
What are you trying to achieve as far as water quality? Are you having issues or trying to just make the water more clear?
 

kylev

Member
As far as additions go I could be content with sticking with the softies for a while but if there's some half way simple/not super expensive equipment additions I could introduce to widen my options I wouldn't be against it.
My water quality and clarity now is completely satisfactory. I typically test PH 8.3 Am 0 Nirtite 0 Nitrate 0 Spec gravity 1.025, Phosphate 0, Calcium 460-480, Alk 9-10. I would just like to be able to keep it close to that after all the fish are added. I'm pondering the idea of curing 100 pounds of additional live rock in my qt after I add my angels in order to give the DT plently of time to balance out before the next fish and to add a lot of additional filtration to the display but mainly sump.
With what's in the tank now the two mp40s seem to do an allright job. What possibilities are you thinking would open up with the additional flow and what else could my lights support? The main addition I'd like is a rbta, but could this been done without adding halides?
Some corals I'd like to house if I could
-duncans
-acans
-brains
-frogspawns
-hammers
Thanks
 
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