This is a long post but please give me feedback on this general plan for my newly setup tank - hardward, fish, inverts, coral, I'll take any advice! I have a 110 gal tank, 2x250MH w/ 4x54actinic lighting, ~70 gal sump, Octopus Extreme 200 skimmer, with currently minimal flow"¦about 800 gph. I plan to add powerheads (either Koralias with a wavemaker or if I find the $ a vortech) to up the flow to ~2000gph. I also plan to add a 20 gal refugium w/ RDSB & chaetomorpha in the near future. The tank includes cured liverock taken from existing tanks (~150 lbs in DT and sump) and came with 1 ~10" blue tang as its only resident. I haven't added substrate yet, but plan on ~1 inch coarse aragonite because I don't like the bare bottom look.
My overall goal is a lush and diverse ecosystem that is visually attractive and includes lots of interesting invertebrates. I am not so much motivated by keeping specific taxa (ie being difficult or rare doesn't appeal to me) as by overall aesthetics of the tank and how critters fit into my simulated ecosystem. That said, I do want giant clams so it will be a relatively high flow and high light tank. Here are my still rough plans.
Inverts non-coral:
Clean up crew to add in first 2 weeks: Astraea snails (~20), 2 turbo snails, 15 Nerita snails, 14 hermit crabs (8 blue leg, 4 scarlet reef hermit, 2 blue knuckle)
Then I'll add from this list in order about every 1-2 weeks:
2 Brittle stars "“ Ghardaqa brittle star (Fromia ghardaqana) & Red Serpent Star
Cleaner shrimp (1 or 2)
Peppermint shrimp (1 or 2)
1 Pincushion urchin
Fan worms - I really like the look of fan worms, but understand that feather dusters aren't a great choice so please suggest substitutes
Pistol shrimp as goby symbiont (okay with minimal sand?)
1 Crab "“ Arrow crab or Emerald crab (especially if bubble alagae appears)
Maybe 1 Linckia multifora (spotted starfish) or Astropecten
1 interesting mollusk - a chiton (might grow too large?) or abalone
Final addition at 6-12 months if tank is stable: 2 of the smaller Tridacna (T. squamosa and T. crocea)
Please suggest: good tunicates, nudibranchs, sponges, if any. I also need sand shifters for my RDSB and my shallow 1" DT sandbed "“ a small cucumber and brittle stars? How about just a goby and brittlestar for the display tank?
Fish (no more than 44 inches adult size):
Current: 1 adult blue tang (~10 inches). My tank came with this fish, which is gorgeous but I feel a little large for my setup. I'd like to keep it, but could be persuaded to trade to LFS. Overall, I think that I'm proposing a fish load that is a little on the high end, especially because of this tang.
I want to add (probably in the order of this list from top to bottom spacing 1-2 weeks per line):
1 Pseudochromis fridmani (3") and 1 Banggai Cardinalfish (3")
2 Ocellaris clownfish (3.5" each) once potential coral hosts established (frogspawn or torch coral?)
1 "œeyecandy" blenny (bicolor, midas or starry) (6"), OR 2-3 smaller colorful gobies (catalina, yellow clown, etc)
1 Watchman Goby for pistol shrimp (6")
1 algae blenny (5") "“ maybe not if there isn't much microalgae growing
3small, colorful "œschooling" fish that will swim in the open "“carpenter's wrasses (3") or royal gramma "“ any other suggestions besides Chromis, which I don't fancy?
1 large "œeye candy" fish with yellow color and a pointy snout. Hopefully just a bit smaller than the blue tang "“ is there a good butterfly fish compatible with reef inverts such as yellow longnose or copper banded?, or perhaps a yellow tang, or a foxface rabbitfish?
Other fish I like but wouldn't add in without removing from the above list:
6 line wrasse
Mandarin dragonet "¦ so pretty but only if tank matures nicely in a year or so!
Finally, I think that I know that the answer is NO, NO, NO but are there any pufferfish or seahorses that would work in this mixed community setup, my girlfriend really likes them...?
Corals:
I'm least sure what I'm doing here, especially when it comes to how corals interact with one another and I don't yet have enough experience for many of these. But I want to plan my fauna so that I don't add some easier coral early on that conflicts with something I'll covet later. I'm looking for a mix of textures, sizes and colors for nice aquascaping rather than very specific show pieces so my list is arranged by "œstyle" not taxa. I envision a relatively high flow tank with lush growth of corals and I have a calcium reactor that I plan to add to my listed setup.
I definitely want 2 or 3 anemone-like corals with large tentacles that might host clownfish "“ frogspawn, torch like coral (sweeper tentacles too long?), or toadstool mushroom (but allelochemicals and they might get too large)
Many different "œbackground/mound-forming" corals to color rock "“ different patches of mushroom anemones, Favia & zooanthids, Trachyphyllia brain coral
A few patches of "œmoving corals" that will sway in the current or pulse their tentacles: Xenia & starburst polyps
A couple of plate forming corals that will protrude out from a steep rock wall: Turbinaria & Montipora
Branching corals: Pocillopora? Just something with an Acropora-like look to it
