Right Back On Track Looking For Advise

[mark7616]

ok well basically i had a big family emergancy which prevented me setting up my marine tank but now its all taken care of im back on track.
Ok so i have an aqua medic chromis its 24x24x24 i have
1x200w heater
1xthermometer
1xhydrometer
1xtest kit ph and no2
1xaquamedic ro unit
25gallons of ro water
1xbag of salt
1xbag of sand
and 25kg of cured rock.
The rock was already cured when i bought it but im going to leave it for a week and keep testing the nitrites before doing anything else my salt is reading 1.026 is this ok?
Now this is where i get confused how do i start adding my bits like when do i put my shrimps snails and crabs in and how many and what types would be best.
What about corals when do the go in do you add them all at once? or add them slowly how many can i get how do i plant them also whats the difference between hard and soft coral?
Then the fish what would be best for me my wife said i can only have this tank if we get a nemo probably heard that one before so i have to incorparate that into my stocking.
Well thanks in advance for any advise.

 

[Chac]

1) Your Salt is Fine

2) You can start adding you Clean Up Crew as soon as your NitrItes & Ammonia readings are at NIL
Personally I would add about 15 Turbo Snails & 15 Ceriths (Both excellant Cleaners), Crabs, Hermits can & will attack snails for there shells, but I personally have a mixture of Hermits & Snails in my tank, as well as a couple of Conch's & Snadsifting Stars

3)I would leave off getting corals until you have decided how you want to proceed (Stoney or Softies or a Mix) & have done reasearch o the types that you are looking to keep, If you add all your corals at once you will want to upgrade within a month, patience

4) Most will come attached to Live Rock, if not they can be attached in many ways - Milliput (Reef Cement), Superglue, Needle & thread

5)Hard Corals are corals that have a stoney skeleton made of Calium Carbonate, Most rely on there symbiotic algae (zooxanthellae) living within them to provide there nutrition , the algae in turn receive there energy from light, LPS (Large Polyp Stony) & SPS (Small Polyped Stony) Hard Coral are better kept under Metal Halide Lighting

Soft Corals have no Hard calcified skeleton (Although they do use Calcium Carbonate to hold there shape) & are generally easier & do well under lower output lighting than Stoneys

6) IMO a pair of Clowns would be a good start for you Chromis - Just dont take any rubbish from your LFS about them needing a Anemone to live in - They dont, if they need to host than there are loads of Soft Corlas that are far easier & less dangerous than Nems to keep

I take you are going to be using the Aquamedic BioStar Flotor Skimmer then.

 

[mark7616]

Should i not use it then what would be a good number of fish for me a couple of clowns. There were some gouramis in there we liked and we also liked the purple fire fish and these yellow looking diamond shaped ones with white bits on the tails how many fish could i comfortably hold need to ask as im coming from the malawi overstocking world so not quiet sure with these fish.

 

[Chac]

Should i not use it then what would be a good number of fish for me a couple of clowns. There were some gouramis in there we liked and we also liked the purple fire fish and these yellow looking diamond shaped ones with white bits on the tails how many fish could i comfortably hold need to ask as im coming from the malawi overstocking world so not quiet sure with these fish.

The Biostar is a decent skimmer, the reason I ask is that there are a few minor mods you would be best doing before getting going

Stock levels really depend on the types of fish you add

A pair of Clowns would be a good start then maybe do a bit of reasearch on what you would like to add next

Remember there are other animals other than Fish & Corals that make up a reef

Have a look at the pics on Live Aquria , this will give you an idea on the Fish, Corals & Inverts you like