Turning tank into reef, need advce on how many fish to take out

[wingman200]

Hello everyone,
I currently have a 120gal FOWL tank, 150g volume with refugium, that I am turning back into a SPS or LPS reef. I just got boared of having just fish and want to watch beautiful reef grow again. The delima is, that I only had 4 fish in this tank when it was a reef before, so I am afraid to turn it back into a reef with 10 fish currently (approx. 22 inches of fish). I definately dont want to start to running into nitrate problems and dont wish to upgrade skimmers/equiptment. What should I do?? Thanks!
My current equiptment:
120g ALL-Galss dual Mega-flow 2400gph display, 40g refugium (only filled with 30g), 200 pounds live rock, Emperror 400 filter with Phospate spunge, 40watt Rainbow L.G. UV Steralizer, AquaC240 protein skimmer, 24'' Phosban reactor w/nitrate sponge, 15'' phosban reactor w/carbon, GEO CR612 calcium reactor and 2x 250w 14k + 1x 150w 20k metal hailide.

 

[gofor100]

I wouldn't necessarily say that the "inches per gallon" rule is used anymore. List the fish you currently have, and we could probably narrow it down for you based on what part of the tank each fish occupies and which ones are "waste disposals"...

 

[philipchan]

I dont think 120G with 10 fish will is too much.
As long as u can keep the NO3, and PO4 close to 0 then u will be fine,
fish waste can also be food for corals too.

I have 10 small fish in my 18G with no problems, NO3, PO4=0 corals are happy and grow fast.

 

[wingman200]

Thanks for the help guys, my current list of fish are: 4 Bartlett Anthias, 2 percula clowns, 1 Flame Angel, 1 Blue Hippo, 1 yellow tang and 1 Harlequin Tusk wrass. I do currently have a frogspawn, Dendro, green toadstool and a purple plate coral just hanging out in the tank that no one ever bothers. What do you think?

 

[gofor100]

I think the only ones that you might have to move would be the Harlequin Tusk and/or Blue Hippo... as the Tuskfish get pretty large, although slowly, and the Hippo also gets large (but at a faster rate). The bigger the fish, the more they eat, and the more they poop.

But if you are vigilent on your water changes, then you should be fine.

I would just start treating the tank as if you had SPS (meaning, don't overfeed and be vigilent on your water changes and parameters), and keep testing the water over a couple of weeks to make sure the ammonia/nitrates remain undetectable (or close to it). If they are, and your calcium/alkalinity/mg are at appropriate levels, then add an "easy" SPS like a monitpora or something.

Good luck!

 

[wingman200]

Thanks gogor100!..Yah, my tusk is already 4inches but my favorite..I have some tough decisions to make

 

[mark54321]

As long as you have good skimmer and you are on top of water changes you should be fine,also I would recommend to run GFO and carbon.I have 120gal,mostly SPS with 14 fish in it, everything is doing fine.

 

[allsps40]

You will be fine just keep water quality in check as you should with any reef tank.

 

[rogerwilco357]

fish poop plus corals equals less money spent on reef additives as long as you are feeding the fish highly nutritious meals in with the good out with the good reef food ...

 

[wingman200]

Thanks for all your help again!...I'll definately look into the "GFO" product