What's the Best Order?

[d.w.]

The following is my wishlist in the order that I was thinking I'd add them to my 150 gallon reef tank. Let me know if you think the order looks good and if you think I should make any changes.
-10 Turbo Snails
-10 Cerith Snails
-10 Nassarius Snails
-3 Emerald Crabs
-Carpenter's Flasher Wrasse
-Redhead Goby
-Sharknose Goby
-Copperband Butterfly
-Midas Blenny
-1 male Lyretail Anthias
-3 female Lyretail Anthias
-Chocolate Mimic Tang
-Kole Tang
-Mandarin Dragonet
-2 Gold Stripe Maroon Clownfish
-Rusty Angel
-2 Fromia Starfish

 

[coraljunky]

How old is your tank? Tank equipment? Live rock? Anything in the tank now?

 

[d.w.]

There isn't anything in the tank yet. I will have a sump and fuge and I will obviously be using a skimmer. I won't be adding everything all at once, this is just the eventual livestock list. I'm not sure what the actual number of pounds will be LR but it will be 200+. I also have a 33 gallon QT set up aswell so everything will be QT'd.

 

[alix2.0]

wait on the mandarin till your tank is a year old, so everything is stable and your pod population matures.
also, i wouldnt do the fromias, true, they are easier than linkias, but they still need big tanks and are very delicate. is this your first tank? i would, again, wait a while to add these, both so your tank is mature and so you have more experience.

 

[al mc]

DW....I think your order in adding them is a good plan. Concerns/Questions........A 150 may not have enough rock/surface area for 2
stars; you will want excellent water quality/stability
and age (6 months plus) before a fromia can survive
Mandarin should be OK if you have lots of 'pods'...
I might wait on adding him for 8-12months
Do you have a fuge/sump? Total water volume? Good skimmer? Reason:
Your list will be a fairly large biologic load eventually
Good luck...and it is great that you have a plan.

 

[alix2.0]

oh order... i was thinking not order of addition i thought you meant you were going to "order" all this stuff at once (like from this site.)

 

[rcoultas]

wait on the mandarin as stated above
you may end up with issues having two maroon clowns unless they become a mated pair - it will be hit or miss in that size tank - they may just claim different territories.
you will need a much larger clean up crew - go for at least triple the amount of turbos and nassarius and maybe add a few shrimp as well.

 

[d.w.]

Okay...I increased the cleanup crew (but I thought tripling it would be too much personally) I also removed one starfish. How's this?
-20 Turbo Snails
-10 Cerith Snails
-20 Nassarius Snails
-3 Emerald Crabs
-Carpenter's Flasher Wrasse
-Redhead Goby
-Sharknose Goby
-Copperband Butterfly
-Midas Blenny
-1 male Lyretail Anthias
-3 female Lyretail Anthias
-Chocolate Mimic Tang
-Kole Tang
-Mandarin Dragonet
-2 Gold Stripe Maroon Clownfish
-Rusty Angel
-1 Fromia Starfish

 

[d.w.]

For those of you who have asked about equipment, I plan on going with a 40 gallon sump/fuge (I wish it could be bigger but my stand won't allow for it) and I will be using the Tunze 9010 DOC Skimmer.

 

[rcoultas]

the recomended amount of snail pop is, believe or not, 1 per gallon. I think that is a bit much myself. The turbos will spend most of their time cleaning glass, the cerith are excellent grazers, the nassarius are excellent sifters. I still say AT LEAST 30 turbo, 30 nassarius, and 20 cerith will do. Shrimp are great scavengers and will help a lot with the cleanup also. Look at peppermint shrimp and a skunk cleaner.

 

[alix2.0]

yeah, plus peppermints are always a good thing to keep in your tank in case one of your rocks decides to gift you a little aiptasia... just make sure they arent camelbacks.

 

[d.w.]

I'm not a big fan of shrimps. I originally planned to get Peppermint shrimps for the whole aiptasia control reason, but then I read that there is no guarantee that they'll actually eat any aiptasia and that Copperband Butterflies (already on my wishlist) are more likely to eat nuisance anemones and I'd save myself the money of buying something that I don't really want and isn't likely to do what I want it to.