Greetings from Massachusetts!

Hi everyone, new member and getting back into the salt hobby. Currently have two fresh tanks, 75 and 60 but looking to convert the 75 to a reef when my dovii upgrades to a 180 gallon. Been working at my lfs for six months now and our saltwater tanks have me inspired again to set up a reef tank which is what brought me to aquariums in the first place.
My plan is to get a bed of aragonite and a nice stack of live rock in my 75.
Develop a nice mat of purple coralline algae on most surfaces. What are some good tips on getting crazy purple?
Experiment with some soft corals. Start simple and move up. Would blue mushrooms (actinodiscus) and hammers (euphylia ancora) be a good choice?
My swimming residents would be zebrasoma tangs. I'm fascinated with the genus and want to collect the 7 species someday. So the real dilemma is; what are my chances of success if I add a hawaiian yellow tang and a scopas tang into my tank at the same time, roughly the same size?
As they grew I would move everyone up to a 150 gallon to give the tangs more space. Any tips on tang keeping would be greatly appreciated.
Would a tomato clown be a good tank mate for the tangs? I've heard they can be nasty when they age so just wanted to make sure.
Sorry about all the questions at once, just really excited to get started!

 

Welcome!

My experience with fish is they do what they want. Sometimes things work that should not and sometimes they do not. The bigger the tank typically the larger chance you have for success. I have had several tangs over the years in the same tank. I find that your best course of action is to always have a quarantine tank ready, and have a relocation plan before you run into a possible situation.

Anyways welcome!

 

welcome to 3reef! I am not real knowledgeable about tangs but advice is to make sure to give them enough swimming room. As borque says, you want to have a quarantine because they are susceptible to ich - some more than others. On the tomato clown, I'd pass - they are one of the more aggressive clowns and will make adding new additions more difficult over time.

Ime, dripping kalk adds lots of purple for the coralline but you'll want to keep your reef for a while and/or have a good working knowledge of what it does and how to do it. Blue mushrooms and hammers are good choices as beginning corals.

we're glad you're here!

 

Thanks Borque! I like hearing of success in keeping tangs together, gives me hope haha. And thank you oldfishkeeper, I will pass on the tomato after what you said and seeing an old pair of ocellaris that were brought to the store I'm working at. The female is pretty nasty to all the smaller damsels, made me think that if ocellaris can cause that much of a scene, I wonder what a full grown tomato can do?!

 

Welcome to 3reef. You got some good info here. As far as tangs go, keeping two tangs that look similar in s 75 might not fair well. You would need alot of space for that to work out. It's not a good idea to get fish that outgrow a tank with plans to upgrade due to life sometimes getting in the way. I've been there before. Tangs are my favorite fish and I have had quite a few. Take it slow and welcome to a whole new addiction. Lol