Stocking question

[Grizzle56]

Not sure if this is the right place to post this but...

I am "new" to the hobby and am looking to start adding a few fish, slowly, to my tank and am looking for suggestions on types of fish and quantities of each.
Want to add corals as well but not sure if I should add few fish first or corals first or ??

The tank has been set up for about 10 months but due to health issues I was not able to move forward with it but just managed to do regular maintenance between the many hospital visits. Everything is currently in remission so time to get on with the tank!!

The only fish in it are 2 Ocellaris clownfish and a Royal Gramma. Various snails and crabs. Oh and a TON of copepods.

All the parameters have been very stable for quite some time and I think pretty good....in spite of some unavoidable neglect...

temp 78
PH 8.2
Salinity 1.26
Calcium 450
Alkalinity 10
Magnesium 1300
Phosphates, nitrates, nitrites, Ammonia 0

The tank is a 180 gal 6'X2'X2'
90 gallon sump/refugium
Super Reef Octopus XP3000I skimmer
3 AI Vega color fixtures for lighting
2 Vortech MP 40 wave makers (3200 gph x2)
ReeFlo Super Dart Gold Pump (3600 gph)
2 Jager 300 watt heaters
Neptune Apex controller
3 dosing pumps....(not used yet)
BRS Dual GFO & Carbon Reactor...(not used yet)

Thanks for any input you can give me!

 

[MellowReefer]

Welcome to the site and it sounds like you are off to a great start I might keep the alk a little lower, about 8, but there are many different opinions on that and you'll find what works for you.

You can add as many corals as you want at one time. If you are buying large colonies of sps you may want to watch your calcium and alk closely because they can change those parameters. LPS, mushrooms, polyps, etc. will not change those as drastically. Some people go slowly just to make sure they are doing well with a few before adding more so they don't lose too much money if somethings wrong.

As for fish, most people just add one or two fish at a time, spread 4-6 weeks apart. This allows the tank to adjust to more bioload slowly. Do you have a plan for QT?

For stocking plan, there is a nice thread under the New to the Hobby section called "check out your intended fish purchases here" where an expert tells you if your plan is good. First you need to pick out the fish you want (LiveAquaria.com is a good source to see pictures) and come up with a list so they can advise you on whether they will get along and what order to add them based on aggression. Royal gramma and clowns are a great start

 

[Grizzle56]

Thanks for the input. Yes I have a 20 gallon QT tank already set up ready to go. I used it for the clown fish and royal gramma and had them in it about 3 1/2 weeks.