How much can I add at once?

kas2247

Member
I have a 55gal that has been set up for about 3 months now. I have 50lbs of base rock & about 10lbs of live rock. I have $75 credit from this site, which means I have to buy $80 worth of fish (plus the $20 handling fees) before I can use my credit. That's going to give me a $175 order, minimum. How much can I add without crashing my tank? I'd like to do mostly inverts, some snails, shrimp (cleaner, peppermint), crabs (sand sifters, emeralds), and then only add 2 clowns and maybe a royal gramma. Will my tank be able to sustain such a large order if I keep my fish order low? I can overfeed the fish a little so that the inverts get enough food while my tank is maturing. I feed Formula 1 & Brine Flake, plus a mixture of frozen foods every few days. I plan to add this stuff in 2 or 3 months, not right away.
And before it's suggested, I don't have anybody that I can split an order with. There aren't too many people into sw here and the closest LFS is over an hour away.
I only have 3 green chromis & 15ish hermits currently. The tank is doing wonderfully... the fish are active and healthy looking and everything eats normally. The chromis have been in there for about a month and the hermits for maybe 2 months.
 

renogaw

Active Member
inverts are basically a negative bioload, so adding them all at once will benefit your tank.
you basically can start calling all your rock live rock now btw :)
2 clowns and a royal gramma aren't a huge addition to the bioload, specially since the clowns will be tiny most likel and you don't have a large bioload to begin with. most of the time though you really should only add one or 2 fish at a time (such a s apair of clowns)
i'd also suggest buying some of their copepods.
 

kas2247

Member
Thanks for the reply!
I know everyone says to only add one or two fish at a time, but that's so hard to do when a minimum order is $80! I understand why they do that, but it still makes it hard to "take it slow". I added all 3 of my chromis at the same time, but they were VERY small. I did get them from the LFS that's over an hour away because I just wanted something cheap and hardy to get my tank started. Now everything is stable and I feel much more confident in its ability to sustain life.
The piece of LR has only been in there for about 2 months... do you really think all of the base is live already?
I actually had the copepods on my list of stuff to order. I have a question about those though... I didn't use live sand, I used play sand. I know it's advised against, but at $3 for a 50lb bag, I figured it was worth a try, knowing full well that I might someday have to switch it out. Like everything else in this hobby, I've heard success stories and horror stories. So far, so good. Nothing terrible is happening. There are small amounts of algea growing in some spots that have less flow, but besides that my tank looks fairly clean. Will the copepods be okay to add to this sand? I don't have much of anything in there to eat them right now, so my thinking is that they will grow and multiply and help make my play sand into live sand. Am I safe to assume that?
 

renogaw

Active Member
nah, live sand is just a term for sand that has bacteria in it. the copepods will add to your biodiversity though. next time near your lfs ask them for just a cup of the sand/sediment at the bottom of their curing tanks. or just get a couple cups of sand from a local reefer.
 
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