New tank fish advice

[bstrawberry]

Hi All,
I have been reading these boards as I have been setting up a 90g SW FOWLR setup in the past month to get ideas and knowledge on what I can keep together and what type of system I want to run. My background in saltwater aquariums is very limited and I have been finding lots of conflicting info on the net so I figured I would write and see if I could get some sound advice.
At first, I wanted aggressive fish like a humahuma and a tusk, but now I am frustrated with worrying about things being able to live together so now I am leaning toward more peaceful/reef safe fish. In addition, I do not really want to deal with the algae clean up if snails and crabs will happily do it for me. After lots of research, I put together two different lists that I was hoping I could get some input on. Either list would make me happy, but I am leaning towards the aggressive list. Also, I found this was a difficult task as different websites recommended different tank sizes, personalities ect for the fish.
Aggressive:
Sunset Wrasse
Black Trigger Fish
Blue Jaw Trigger Fish (male)
Powder Blue Tang
Peaceful:
Copperband Butterfly
Coral Beauty Angelfish
Bluehead Wrasse
Blue Jaw Trigger Fish (male)
Powder Brown Tang
My first thought is that the tank would be busting at the seams in capacity if all of these fish were all full grown. I’m just not 100% and I am willing to experiment a little (e.g. copperband, black trigger with inverts) and don’t mind trading in a large fish for a smaller fish down the road at the lfs.
Anyways, let me know if you see anything outright wrong or if you have any suggestions!
Thanks

 

[deejeff442]

the powder blue and copperband are a tough fish to keep.
hippo tang is a littler more hardy.
i have a foxface have you seen them very hardy slow growers also

 

[rotarymagic]

If you try that aggressive list out, make that sunset wrasse the last fish and make sure he's smaller than the rest of them... they're REALLY aggressive.

 

[bstrawberry]

Thanks for the advice on the sunset. Is a lanare (sp?) more or less aggressive? Again, I want to keep inverts in there, will the sunset eat them?
Yes i have seen a few foxface and they are not really what I am looking for. I had a copperband for about a year a while back till it ended up starving after my aptasia and pods were gone in a previous tank, he was such a pretty fish though...
Is one list bound to be more sucessful than another?

 

[rotarymagic]

Originally Posted by bstrawberry
http:///forum/post/2840069
Thanks for the advice on the sunset. Is a lanare (sp?) more or less aggressive? Again, I want to keep inverts in there, will the sunset eat them?
Yes i have seen a few foxface and they are not really what I am looking for. I had a copperband for about a year a while back till it ended up starving after my aptasia and pods were gone in a previous tank, he was such a pretty fish though...
Is one list bound to be more sucessful than another?
yeah both the sunet and lunar wrasses will eat inverts.

 

[bstrawberry]

great advice! I will cross him off the list and look for somehting else. Any advice?

 

[rotarymagic]

Originally Posted by bstrawberry
http:///forum/post/2840081
great advice! I will cross him off the list and look for somehting else. Any advice?
christmas wrasses look cool and aren't near as bad...
just make sure all the inverts you want are in there before the wrasse and get the wrasse at a small size. there's always a risk though...

 

[bstrawberry]

Thanks rotary! I just looked up a pic and they are very nice looking! TYVM

 

[rotarymagic]

Originally Posted by bstrawberry
http:///forum/post/2840125
Thanks rotary! I just looked up a pic and they are very nice looking! TYVM
yeah they're awesome and not too expensive either! I hate when all the stuff I want turns out to be hundreds of dollars a piece... so frustrating..

 

[bstrawberry]

Yes for sure, i dont even want to think of all the money i have spent on fish in the past! This weekend i got my skimmer running (euroreef RS80) and added a coralife UV serilizer. After testing the water I found my nitrates were too high to get any fish, so it may still be a while on the fish. I did a 15g water change and removed the old filterfloss that the previous owner had used in the sump to try and get the water right. Also I will be attempting to set up a RO/DI system that came with the tank. Is there any good advice on the net on how these things work? If so where? The unit I have is a Kent Maxxima.

 

[rotarymagic]

that's a good skimmer. How much liverock is in the tank? How long has it been running/cycling? What about sandbed? how deep? aragonite based?
You may want to invest in some sort of refugium or algae scrubber (mega nitrate, phosphate, etc. remover thread in reef section) for exporting inorganic nitrates and phosphates from the water. It'll keep keep the tank cleaner in general and neither one is very difficult to employ.
As far as the RO/DI goes, I'm sure there are instructions on kent's site or see if you can google them.

 

[bstrawberry]

There is between 90 and 100 lbs of live rock, another 90-100 lbs of live sand that is mixed a little with crushed coral (about an inch and a half to 2 inches) in the tank. The sump is actaully more like an old school wet/dry that has trays that the water passes through (the trays are empty now)on its way to the bottom, but the skimmer, uv, powerhead all fit in here (im guesing another 15-20 gallons). Everything has been setup and running now for about a month
I think i saw the nitrate/phosphate remover at the store on my last visit, i believe it came as a pad that I could put in one of the trays on my sump... sounds like a plan...
I just checked the water today after yesterdays waterchange and the rates were right around 40 ppm (i believe they were close to 80 ppm yesterday). I would like to see them at 20 ppm before I begin adding life. I am sure that my tap water that I am using for top-offs and salt mixes is not helping this situation right now. I live to far away from the fish store for easily accessible RO.
I did some research on RO units last night and found that since the one I have is so old, the cost of replacing all the parts would be close to purchasing a whole new unit, so I am going to have to think about next steps on that project.

 

[hammerhed7]

Both lists are nice, I would scrap the tang from each of those lists, powder tangs won't do well long term in a 4 foot tank. You could replace it with a tusk they won't bother anything. Careful with the lunare or sunset they are aggressive and need lots of room, the tusk is very active, but will not grow as fast.