"NEW" New Build 120g, Stocking?

abenak89

Member
Soooo I had a thread about a 125 that turned into a 180g well that never happened. After a couple weeks I had a gentlemen basically offer to give his tank away.

It is a 120g complete setup and came at a VERY low price. tank is 48x24x24

So I will be picking it up tomorrow. Going to try and bring as much water back as I can as it is completely setup and running with a coral beauty still in there and maybe 1-2 other small fish (not exactly sure).

Will be bringing garbage cans for the water and live rock. Plan to hold the fish in one can with a lid. Will leave some water in the tank to keep the sand good.

So I don't really plan to get any fish this weekend as I want to focus more on getting the tank situated and current fish feeling at home. BUT I would like to talk about stocking.

I am curious what some reef safe fish would be that would go good with one of the following tangs (not exactly sure yet) Kole, Blue Eye, Two Spot, Tomini or White Tail. The second tang will be a yellow.

Other then that I am not sure what to get, I have a coral beauty. I plan to get a few chromis... What else would you suggest? I like unique personality fish. I wouldn't mind having a puffer fish if that would go well in that tank?

Thanks all!!
 
I think it may be illegal to have a SW tank without a clown or two :clown:

The angel could possibly be aggressive to new additions.

Blennies from the Salarias genus & Astrosalarias genus have comic personalities. My wife loves ours. It is the one fish she will search out & watch.
 
I think it may be illegal to have a SW tank without a clown or two :clown:

The angel could possibly be aggressive to new additions.

Blennies from the Salarias genus & Astrosalarias genus have comic personalities. My wife loves ours. It is the one fish she will search out & watch.

HA true well I want a pair of clowns so I am glad you said that! I WILL!! keep it legal and have a pair :D

I will check those blennies!
 
So he has 3 chromis 2 cardnials and 1 coral beauty.. i may talk with local fish store about taking the coral beauty and maybe getting an instore credit so he doesnt cause problems with new tank mates..
 
DON'T TALK TO LOCAL FISH STORE ABOUT STOCKING. NO. JUST NO. You can search around to see why

Ok lol sooo what about if I keep him in a QT till I get the other fish and introduce them all at same time?

Or... what can i do with him? don't want him to be a pain with new fish.
 
You should ALWAYS QT first, excwpt if you're like me and don't have a QT tank

Right.

Here is what I am thinking for stocking my 120g 4x2x2 (REEF BUILD)
Lavender Tang
Two Spot Bristeltooth Tang
Mertensii Butterflyfish
5 Chromis
2 cardinals
Pair of clowns
Blenny.. not sure on which
Exquisite Fairy Wrasse
Snowflake eel - down the road last add.

Thoughts? I think I may get some mixed views on the Lavender Tang?... just looove that tang. He will be pretty high strung which is why I went with a two spot as 2nd as they are different family and they are little more chill.
 
Rrrriiigghhhtttt. And the snowflake eel is recommended by LFS, Correct? They are master escape artists, you know? They will do anything to get put of your tank.
 
Rrrriiigghhhtttt. And the snowflake eel is recommended by LFS, Correct? They are master escape artists, you know? They will do anything to get put of your tank.

Where are you getting this LFS talk from? Kinda annoying now.. I mentioned taking the coral beauty to the LFS to give to them so I don't have issues adding new fish and you blew it wayyyyyyyy out of proportion..

Yes all eels are escape artists. It's the last thing I might add. Which is months down the road. Please stop being so negative or please stop commenting, thanks.
 
Wow this got aggressive quick. I too am stocking a 120 and I scrolled down to here and...well...next thread. Everyone is so aggressive. I overheard my LFS trying to sell a black tip reef shark to a guy with a 180. It's solid advice he's giving you. It's not annoying. It's the truth.
 
Wow this got aggressive quick. I too am stocking a 120 and I scrolled down to here and...well...next thread. Everyone is so aggressive. I overheard my LFS trying to sell a black tip reef shark to a guy with a 180. It's solid advice he's giving you. It's not annoying. It's the truth.

I never questioned or argued the fact LFS are bad advice. I simply never said anything about LFS besides giving the coral beauty to them. Thats why I got annoyed because he started making comments about me talking to the LFS about stocking and I never said anything about that.



Now that that is over lol. I am also curious if someone can tell me what I should look for in this currently setup 120g that I am about to break down and bring home. Again he has a coral beauty, 3 chromis and 2 cardnials... should I "assume" the tank is healthy? Obviously I will look at the fish closely to ensure they look healthy. Anything else on the live rock or sand that should caution me?

I don't think I am going to QT the current fish as well... they have been in the tank a while now. IF I find reason to I will but assuming it all looks good I see no reason to QT...is that fair to say?
 
Someone else can confirm this = I think if you plan to qt the fish, you'd also have to leave the dt fishless for 8-12 weeks just to be sure.

Not all LFS advice is bad. You just have to find a good one. Mine has advised against a purchase when they thought it was not a good idea with my current livestock.
 
If you are bring in your fish that are in a tank that you know for sure to be healthy, there is no need to QT. imo. I would observe the fish after transfer to see if they may have been physically injured during the transfer.
 
If you are bring in your fish that are in a tank that you know for sure to be healthy, there is no need to QT. imo. I would observe the fish after transfer to see if they may have been physically injured during the transfer.

I just got home with everything! Will observe but they looked really good in the tank while it was setup! Hopefully everything went well with the move and no injuries came about!
 
Sooo I got everything home safely. Ended up not making it back in time to go RO water from LFS. So I filled up the QT tank and got the fish in there to relax. Fish look good and just turned the light off for the night.

Issues. I used tap water to to get my DT filled up and have a canister filter going with a powerhead. My PH seemed low though...by low I am talking 7.8 on the not so accurate test kits.

Going to test in the morning to see if the results change.

ON THAT NOTE. I need to get a alk test kit and might get an actual digital PH monitor. What should I test and look for in this tap water to make sure it is actually decent water?

My RO unit is on the way. Plan is to keep fish in the QT all week and once RO unit arrives to do 20g change towards the end of the week and maybe 40g change over the weekend and continue to monitor the parameters.

ONE more thing. I have high NO3 due to the guy only running canister filter. Tomorrow I will get my return pump and get my sump with skimmer going and ditch the Canister. The canister does have a UV sterilizer on it.. could the canister filter still serve a purpose? If so I would have it run out of the sump as I hate hoses and wire hanging around lol

AND one more thing... lol Sorry yall.. I have Aiptasia on the love rock. Not a ton but.. some for sure. Plan of attack is peppermint shrimp.. question is how many can/should I have in the tank with the above stocking list? Plan to get some tomorrow!

Does anyone have any suggestions on this? Something I am possibly overlooking? I feel the small issues I have are about to be fixed by next weekend given the RO comes in and the sump gets hooked up and runs tomorrow.
 
I have high NO3
AND one more thing... lol Sorry yall.. I have Aiptasia on the love rock. Not a ton but.. some for sure. Plan of attack is peppermint shrimp.. question is how many can/should I have in the tank with the above stocking list? Plan to get some tomorrow!

Peppermint shrimp will not like high nitrates
 
Peppermint shrimp will not like high nitrates

Ok thanks! I am working on getting those down with my skimmer that is finally set up but the skimmer is not producing much foam... got it to were it's supposed to be so going to let it sit overnight and then check in morning. Might have to get new one... idk its an eshopps ask100
 
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