New 185 gallon reef tank questions

[Bulldog1972]

Hello,

I recently upgraded an established 125 gallon tank to a new 185 gallon reef tank (5ftx30x24). I used all the existing sand, most of the water, all the live rock, the bio balls. Of course I added more of all the above for the larger size.

Question - will it cycle?

As for stocking - I moved the fish over and added in two new tangs (I wanted to add all three in at the same time so they wouldn't fight. It worked very well). Question - what is a good stocking level? Here is what I have (all the pump/sump - everything high end, water fill and calcium etc. monitored and autofill, etc.):

1 mimic lemon peel tang
1 yellow belly Regal Blue Tang (new)
1 two spot bristle tooth tang (new)
1 coral beauty angel
2 clownfish
1 fathead sunburst anthias
1 green chromis
1 pseudochromis
1 flame hawkfish
1 blue dot jawfish
1 Kaudern'a cardinalfish

12 total fish. Assuming that I want to allow the tangs room to grow, how many more fish can I put in there - being conservative? The one fish I know I want is the Green Mandarin - after some months and adding in copepods that can establish and breed.

Any ideas on cool fish to add if I do have room?

Greatly appreciate the insight and suggestions.

 

[scooter31707]

First, that Blue Regal Tang, should be in a 8ft tank or bigger, IMO. Will you be adding coral or will it be a FOWLR?

 

[MondoBongo]

you moved over all the old sand? i would be expecting some kind of cycle. there's usually a lot of gross stuff in the sand bed, stirring it up can cause all kinds of issues.

even under the best circumstances with an in place tank move, you will usually see some spike in levels. the amount of the spike and length of time lasts it will be dependent on a number of factors.

 

[d-man]

Hopefully you rinsed your sand well. As stated above, next time use a small handful of old sand to seed new sand. Too much gunk in old sand to reuse unless you rinse it really well.

You will definitely experience a cycle now. If you had used all the same water, but added to it with new, all new sand and cycled live rock, I doubt you'd even test ammonia.

Try Dr.Tims, I've heard great things about it for immediate cycle

 

[Bulldog1972]

ok - I wish I had asked about the sand earlier. And it is a reef tank - all existing corals have been moved over.