Newbie Question - New Tank

[bobk]

I've been reading this board for the past few days and thought I'd ask a question, hopefully it's not to silly...
I have a new 150G tank, that's been setup for about 5 weeks. 170LBS of LR, 160LBS live sand, 11 damsels one clown, wet dry filter, last night we changed out the 2-75 gal wet drys for one custom wet/dry (kept the bio balls from the old filters) Lights are on about 6-7 hours daily. I've attached a photo.
Todays reading are,
Temp 74
Salinity 32
PH 7.8 (I know it's low)
Ammonia 0
Nitrates 20
Nitrites 0
These readings have remained consistant for the past week except for the PH which has moved around slightly 7.8 - 8.0.
I'm having a slight Algae problem (green and brown)
Arriving (from Saltwater Fish) in the next few hours are,
Incredible Keep it clean, Fighting Conch, Brittle Star, and Urchin Combo.
Question is....am I putting to much in the tank at this time? Any suggestions? I guess I should have asked BEFORE the order.
Thanks for comments and suggestions.

 

[wocka]

thats nice

 

[thomas712]

Greetings Bob and welcome to the board

Sounds like its time for a cleanup crew, however I would question the urchin for later on and the small size of the cleanup crew for a 150.
Right now the urchan can most likely mow down anything that grows on your rocks, even what you don't want him to mow down. If later you have good sucess growing coralline algae then he will mow that down too, which can spread spores to grow more if you can keep your water paramiters in line.
Salinity at 32? I personally keep mine at 35 or 1.025 using a refractometer. Snails particularly will do better at full strength salinity =35ppt.
Temp at 74 degrees? I keep mine 80-82 degrees and I think your inverts and fish will like the higher temps better
As to putting to much in the tank right now.
11 Damsels for me is 11 to many, they get mean and nasty and can kill each other as they grow older, but if you like them keep them.
What was there purpose to cycle?
Did you add them all at one time?
Which type of clownfish do you have?
As to the cleanup crew, that isn't to many at all at one time, cleaup crews do not normally add siginficantly to the bio load. You will need to make sure that they are sufficianly fed even after they cleanup the tank. They can be supplimented with pellet food or even sheets of dried seaweed.
Your biggest worry should be adding to many fish at one time, thus the questions about the damsels. If you added them recently then you could be in for a large spike that you don't wan't that could kill much of your livestock.
Having changed the filtration unit I might have waited an additional week or two before adding any livestock but it sounds like its too late now so you'll have to go for it.
Tank is looking real good, what are your plans for it, full reef?
Good luck and ask questions anytime and forgive us when we harp on damsals, lighting for anemones, tangs in to small of a tank and all the little things we like to pick on.
Once again Welcome to the Board

Thomas

 

[bobk]

Thanks for the input, yes the Damsels were added to help cycle the tank, I've been adding a few each week and don't intend to add more, when I start with the reef I'll be donating most of them back to the LFS.... I guess I could raise the Salinity although I'm finding with a 150 it's really difficult to do much quickly... The guy at the LFS seemed more concerned about the PH then the salinity. I agree with you on the urchins but we really liked them.... The ultimate goal is a reef tank with a few fish...
I've been waiting for the guy that built the shelving to prepare a new spot for the wet/dry which is why the timing occured the way it did...he fixed it last night and we changed the filters right away...I'm hoping we don't spike....
This has been a really great board and I appreciate all the helpful advice.