New 72 gallon bowfront with 20 gallon refugium

Hey everyone,

I recently bought a used 72 Gallon Bowfront off Craig's List. It basically came with everything i needed to get in to the hobby. I went and bought 100 pounds of live rock and 80 pound of Fuji Pink sand.

I have been dying to Get fish but i have been holding out till today. Today i bought:

30 Hermit crabs
12 snails
1 Cleaner Shrimp
1 Scooter Blenny
1 Yellow Tang

I already have 3 Damsels that i used to cure the tank with.

I am excited.

I originally had a wet/dry system but upgraded it to a DIY 20 gallon refugium. I'm not sure what kind of Lighting i have but its coralife and has 2 10k 65 Wat and 2 antic lights.

I do have some questions though hopefully someone can help me answer.

In my rufugium i have a red substance growing that spreads quick. Is this good?
I also think the flow through the refugium is to fast, if i was to add a valve to the pump to decrease the flow would i burn up my pump?

I am working on pictures. over the weekend I reset all the live rock and the picture i have below is before. I will repost the most recent here in a couple of hours.

On Friday I am going to place a order with Bluezooaquatics.com for:
1 Blue hippo Tang
1 Fox Face
1 red scooter Blenny
1 yellow watchmen Goby
2 clowns
1 purple anemone
1 long spine sea urchin.

Should i get them all at once or space them out?

 

I would space out your fish purchases. I would wait a few weeks at least since you just added quite a bit. You need time for the bacteria to catch up. It is better to go slow. It sounds like your lights are power compacts. they will do for a lot of softer, low light coral, but depending on what you want to keep, you may want to upgrade in the future. Also your stocking list looks pretty large for your tank, I would spend a lot of time researching the fish you like and narrow your list down accordingly. Just my opinion.

 

opinions and ideas are what i need. thanks

 

how long has your tank been setup? have you cycled it? and definitely space things out. but good luck, and looks like a very nice setup.

guy

 

I cycled my tank for 2 months.

My salinity is 1.022, PH 8.2, amonia 0, Nitrate 0, nitrite 0.

Spacing things out is a great idea giving the bacteria time to catch up. I am removing the Damsles and posible not getting the Fox face. Here is a picture of how the rock is set up now.

 

How long should i wait in between fish?

 

1 or 2 fish at a time then wait about a week for the bacteria to adjust to the new load. I like the new rockwork

 

Thanks. I had to pull my wife into it.

 

What is the rite amount of fish for my tank?

 

The red substance is probably cyano which is very bad, it is a crappy algae. Either there is not enough flow or your phosphates are out of whack, (usually, among other things)

As for the anemone, most people say wait a year before adding them, that can be debated, but one thing is for shore your tank is way to young and your lighting is not nearly enough at the moment for one.