Want to add more fish, need advice

[mikemc21]

I am recently new at reef tanks and have pretty much learned a lot along the way. My tank was an established tank of 8 years before purchasing it for a price i couldn't refuse. The tank is a 150 gallon acrylic long tank with a 40 gallon sump. In the sump, i have a large reef dynamic protein skimmer, a GFO/carbon phosphate reactor, and duel doser for alkalinity and Calcium. The lighting is three 250 watt 15K matal halides for 10 hours and 2 LED blue lights for the night. A chiller that keeps the water at 79 degrees F.

Water parameters
salinity 1.024, Ph 8.2, dKa 11, Ca 450, Nitrates 0, nitrites 0, ammonia 0, phos <0.25 (just ordered a new test that will be able accurately read below this level), iodine is 0.09, mag 1350
No water change in a 1.5 months

Fish
2 tank raised clownfish
1 blue hippo tang
1 yellow tank
1 dottieback
1 flame angel
1 Male Lyretail Anthias
1 female lyretail anthias
1 6 line wrasse
1 mandarin goby

Also have a bunch of coral but to lazy to type them all out, combination of hard and soft. but here is a picture of the tank. All the rock you see is live

For the above tank, do you think i could add more fish especially if the water parameters are good. Also, what type of fish would you recommend. I think my xenia coral isn't doing well because there is no nitrate in the water.

thanks for you input
Mike

 

[syrinx]

My ideal reef tank has always been with few fish- like one or two per 30 gallons. Now when I keep fish tanks, I generally overload, due to the fact I can maintain proper chemistry. I think thats the question you should ask yourself. If it were my tank, I would maybe add to the anthius- because again I like more biotype situations. Can you add more fish- of course, just depends on your goal.

 

[ca1ore]

You certainly could have more than 10 fish in a 150. Depending upon how recently this tank was moved, you might want to let it settle in before adding anything new. Also an opportunity for you to get a feel for the tank.

 

[mikemc21]

Thank you for the advice.

I purchased the tank in March 2013 and it has been doing great since i took over. The previous owner just lost interest and let coralline grow all over the acrylic (which wasn't fun scrapping off). When the tank was first moved, My nitrates were really high and had to do two 30 gallon water changes a month for 2 months before i was able to maintain control. when the nitrates where higher, my xenia was huge. Now that then nitrates are low, its probably 1/3 of the the size. The only part that has changed is the nitrates. I love having coral and fish in the tank. To the point where i canceled my cable because i haven't watched tv in 2 months.

anyways, was wondering if there is any type of fish that will school in a small number or really any fish that would be compatible with coral and the other fish. I forgot to mention that there are 2 brittle star fish and 4 banded star fish all and 1 cleaner shrimp.

thanks again, Mike