reef tank cycled. buy Fish or Coral first

[mikegray]

i really dont have that much algae.. so ima get like 10 snails and 10 hermits. and maybe 2-3 Shrimp for now.
whats best to do.. buy fish or coral for the tank first?
and does it matter what fish to put in the tank first. i kno im going to get. a Blue hippo Tank, Yellow Tang, 2 perc clownfish, Manderin (when i produce pods) a few reef safe wrasses, not sure what else.. just kno ima have those 2 clowns and 2 percs FOR SURE.. im open to more fish suggestions for my tank.. and corals.
matter what order i introduce to my tank??

 

[fedukeford]

i think itd be better if u add fish first.... what size tank?

 

[mikegray]

125

 

[usinkit]

i would start with a clean up crew first then in a week start to add one fish at a time every other week and in about 6 months start with adding coral. just my opinion!!!

 

[jer4916]

Originally Posted by usinkit
i would start with a clean up crew first then in a week start to add one fish at a time every other week and in about 6 months start with adding coral. just my opinion!!!

DO NOT start with a clean up crew. Why? ...look at there name CLEAN UP CREW..they'll have nothing to clean up after. Feel free to buy it if you want the vast majority of them to die. Make sure your tank is truly cycled...i would suggest 2 cheap CHEAP fish ...couple damsels or something ...i would suggest personally 2 green cromis...let them live in there for a couple weeks while you monitor the tank...temp/chems... then from there buy your corals... after you've bought around 5 or 6 corals OVER time...put fish in... slowly..then from there add as you wish...then after about 5 months add a clean up crew.
Best of luck
remember fish like to feel at home... you put them in a bare tank....its like me putting you in an new apartment in it with nothing... wouldn't you like stuff to look at ...make it feel more home like?... I know your fish would!
~Chris

 

[mikegray]

ummm with no clean up crew..... new tank is gonna have algae... just let it take over my tank... or what??? 6 months with no clean up crew i think my tank will be soo dirty lol..... ima get the chaeto though to help nitrate.. maybe it will minimize the growth... cause 4 MH's and 2 VHOS... is just asking for algae.. ahah

 

[puffer32]

Originally Posted by Jer4916
DO NOT start with a clean up crew. Why? ...look at there name CLEAN UP CREW..they'll have nothing to clean up after. Feel free to buy it if you want the vast majority of them to die. Make sure your tank is truly cycled...i would suggest 2 cheap CHEAP fish ...couple damsels or something ...i would suggest personally 2 green cromis...let them live in there for a couple weeks while you monitor the tank...temp/chems... then from there buy your corals... after you've bought around 5 or 6 corals OVER time...put fish in... slowly..then from there add as you wish...then after about 5 months add a clean up crew.
Best of luck
remember fish like to feel at home... you put them in a bare tank....its like me putting you in an new apartment in it with nothing... wouldn't you like stuff to look at ...make it feel more home like?... I know your fish would!
~Chris
Oh wow, I have to totally disagree with you on just about everything you said (sorry)

First of all, if the poster has LR, then a cleanup crew will have stuff on the rocks to eat, and if not, you can feed your cleanup crew fish food. Besides, the poster can add fish real soon and the crew will have something to eat very soon.
I don;t think anyone should put corals in a newly cycled tank, they should wait about 6 months to do so, fish could care less what the decor is in the tank.
We all have an opinion, and I am just giving mine, don't mean to offend ***)

 

[usinkit]

i would stick with getting a clean up crew first. they will have plenty to eat real soon!!! i always keep my clean up crew heavly stocked in my 40 and it stays algae free except for the bubble algae break which will be taken care of with a couple of emeralds!!!

 

[jer4916]

Everyone starts a tank differently...but you shouldn't need a clean up crew with a new tank...nor should you have blooms of alage ..why?...because if you set your tank up with RO water thats actully filtered correctly your not going to have a bloom...it will have nothing to eat. Secondly corals are easier to take care of then fish...if the tank is cycled there should be nothing to harm the corals. I'd add a few snails first ..about it... idk i run an ecosystem filter which everyone on here for some odd reason tends to hate...but has never used one ..hehe ..I started my tank with live rock...did corals first ..then fish slowly and im just NOW adding a clean up crew on this reef...and my tank doesn't need to be dosed....doesn't have any problems... but to each there own... i know many people who've started there tanks like myself ...and also like myself have no problems...
do what you want...just make sure you read everything first before you start buying stuff.
~Chris

 

[reefnut]

I would add a small cleaner crew first off along with a fish or before the fish. Add the fish slowly with a very weeks in between and wait about 3 months before adding your first coral.
Every new tank I have set up has algae blooms in the beginning. The cycle process itself causes nutrients for algae... not to mention the quite normal diatom blooms from silicates in the sand, phosphates from the cycle, die off of LR etc.
IME it's best to wait the three months before adding corals so you can eliminate these algae blooms. One of the best ways at first to fight algae is to reduce lighting which you cannot do as easily if corals are presnet... don't be shy about doing water changes also.

 

[jer4916]

i didn't have any noticable blooms?...why is that?.. i've had several reefs ...only time i ever had a bloom was my first reef when i used tap water.... but again now i use RO Water and i use a RO unit on my tank as well as a UV.
~Chris

 

[reefnut]

The water you put in is important as we all know (all mine were started with RO/DI water except the first which was started with distilled)... What about the nitrates, phosphates and silicates from the cycle?? Maybe you're just lucky or I'm unlucky but ime algae blooms are very normal for new tanks.

 

[reefnut]

Just to add... reading countless posts here it seems to be normal for a lot of others to have algae blooms in the beginning as well.

 

[mikegray]

i only used rodi water and its not alot. im JUST started to get a lil... not even really noticable yet. but i have 200lbs of LR and i scrubbed but theres stuff the clean up crew will pick at or eat for days. cause i wanted to get the 100+ reef package on this site for it... i guess i can throw in some blood worms and brine shrimp for them to eat if theres nothing for them... but snails on glass will have trouble..
ok so fish first.... does it matter order of fish.. since i kno for a fact im getting blue tang and yellow tang and 2 percs..... so far no sure what else on mind........ is there a way to determin what i should put in first.... is it by aggression or something?

 

[usinkit]

more agressive fish i would add last.

 

[jer4916]

no matter what way you do go, dont freak out and buy a crap load of stuff... you do you'll screw your reef up in the long run...seriously START SLOW..or you will fail...and in the process you'll pay out the butt trying to figure out whats going on and why its crashing constantly.

 

[jer4916]

Originally Posted by ReefNut
The water you put in is important as we all know (all mine were started with RO/DI water except the first which was started with distilled)... What about the nitrates, phosphates and silicates from the cycle?? Maybe you're just lucky or I'm unlucky but ime algae blooms are very normal for new tanks.

when they distill water they use copper..... you sure it was distilled water?....its REALLY bad for reef tanks.
~Chris

 

[puffer32]

I thought distilled was 100% pure, and can be used if RO/Di isn't available? i also used distilled first.

 

[jer4916]

i've been told by several people who work in the biz that they use copper.
and its extremely bad for reef tanks because of the copper.
~Chris

 

[reefnut]

I disagree... IME using distilled is fine to use. So have you tested and found copper in distilled water?? I wouldn't think so...