Any info i should know keeping softies

[shamoo]

Hello all

my tank is currently in its cycle process, once thats all good i plan on keeping softies and fish (150g) i have 40kg of live rock.
while the tank cycles i'm doing more research before i buy anything. I'm more than willing putting in time and effort to make sure the tank/water is in excellent condition, but what i don't want is constant dosing and problems in trying to keep the water in good condition to keep the corals.

A couple of things i need to know, fish first or corals?

secondly

I read an article on this site for stony coral (not softies i know :fun2 but it says about dosing calcium often, and having a 150g tank i wuld need calcium reactor. As a newbie im not keen to go this route yet, so would sofites need the same kind of attention? do you have any info if there is anything different i should be doing in order to keep softies?

i do have list of softies im looking at but not currently with me (at work :lolspin but they are probably the common softies.

thanks

 

[paulsz]

As long as you keep up with weekly or bi weekly water changes, the calcium/alkalinity/magnesium from the new saltwater should be enough to maintain softies. There is likely no need to dose or have a reactor. Just make sure you do your water changes and have decent lighting and flow.

What kind of lighting do you have?

 

[shamoo]

No lighting yet, that is literally my next research phase. I have done no research yet but now everything is ready to go I will start my intensive information search. Any info would be appreciated. It's 5ft by 2ft.

Thanks for your reply anyway

 

[paulsz]

You'll see that when you do research you have a wide variety to options. I won't recommend anything since i don't have any experience with tanks that large.

All i can tell you is that lighting will cost quite a bit

 

[AlSimmons]

Like mentioned above do some research, but after that just get yourself some decent lighting, plenty of circulation and let the good times roll. Your tap water might work, but then again you could muck up that RO/DI. Your parameters might be within limits, but then again chasing numbers could be a downfall. In other words just keep it simple. GL.

 

[shamoo]

thanks people, i have used ro/di water and also quickly came to the conclusion on how expensive lighting is, if i had researched lighting at the begining i would have planned for it, oh well a lesson learned and maybe someone will learn from my mistake..
let the hunt begin