fish or inverts first in my new reef tank?

[Terry Stephens]

well im just about to set up my first reef tank.The tank will be a Juwell 240l with a built in biological/mechanical filter.I intend to use live rock and a protein skimmer.The live rock will be purchased already cured...approximately 20 kilos.As this is my first reef type tank i would appreciate any advice from more experienced reefers on my chosen setup.Is it best to add inverts first for example?There seem to be so many different theories around today!!!.My intended stocking will be various soft corals,anenome+clowns,long nose hawkfish,flame angel,gobies,blennies.Well i look forward to any suggestions anyone might care to have.

 

[danmhippo]

I suppose you are adding in the inverts/fish AFTER the tank finished cycling. Right?

I would go with fish first. Getting the water chemistry stablized before you start to stock inverts. Actually, if I had the chance to do another tank, I would get macro algae going first, leaving little excess nutrients for the micro algae. After algae/pod is fully populated, then herbivores and goby/blennies. The inverts will go in last.

HTH

 

[Terry Stephens]

Yes i was going to use a maturing agent to first establish the built in filter.Once all readings of ammonia & nirates reached zero i was then going to add the live rock and again wait for the readings to be satisfactory before stocking began.So u think i should get some calurpa in first?

 

[SPC]

Terry, what do you mean by "maturing agent"?
Steve

 

[Terry Stephens]

Steve,I intend to use a maturing agent to seed the internal filtration system with bacteria before the live rock goes in.

 

[kjb]

Hey Terry,
If you go to the main reefs.org site there is a link taking you to the Aquarium Frontiers Index. There you can find a fantastic ammount of material including Reefkeeping 101, which covers the basics of set-up. You can skip the first chapter, but the rest is great stuff.
I think these pages will really answer some of the basics and get you off on a good start.

All The Best
kjb

 

[Minh Nguyen]

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Terry Stephens:
<strong>well im just about to set up my first reef tank.The tank will be a Juwell 240l with a built in biological/mechanical filter.I intend to use live rock and a protein skimmer.The live rock will be purchased already cured...approximately 20 kilos......various soft corals,anenome+clowns,long nose hawkfish,flame angel,gobies,blennies.Well i look forward to any suggestions anyone might care to have.</strong><hr></blockquote>
I would skip the built in biological/mechanical filter. These will do nothing other than produce lots of unwanted nitrates.
I just use an empty tank with a sump, deep sand bed, live rock and protein skimmer. There are many different ways to skin a cat, but by far the cheapest and very reliable is a sand bed and live rock.
Read about filtering systems before you order your tank. Good luck.

 

[danmhippo]

Steve, I guess in their term, "maturing agent" aka "bottled bacteria"