Overstocking?

[skearse]

Hey guys, just a quick question to throw out at you guys with a little (or a lot) more experience than me:

My original plan was to stock the following in a FOWLR tank (125 gal+30 gal sump, ETSS RD skimmer & ~125 lbs LR)

6 Blue Green Reef Chromis
2 Spotted Cardinals
Royal Gramma/Bicolor Psuedochromis
Fairy Wrasse
2 Ocellaris Clowns
Blue (Pacific) Tang
Flame Angel

The plan being for this to be up for about 1 year before turning it into a reef tank. Right now, I've got

3 BG Chromis
3 YT Blue Damsel
3 YT Black Chromis (GONE as soon as I can catch them):mad2:
Algae Blenny
If I add the above list to the tank (except for the chromis'), and possibly a mandarin, is this too much to put into what will eventually be a reef tank? Corals I would like would be mostly sofites, maybe an acro?

Thanks for your help guys.

[seaham358]

That is a small bio load in a 125 with the set up. I have 3 tangs, manderin, 3 chromis, 4 YTdamsels, 2 GSM, firefish, purple fire fish, rusty angel. All kinds of corals with a 15 gal tall fuge and my nitrates are under 5 with no waer changes for 3 months. I will be doing one soon......
YTdamsels are gone when I can get them. Scott at the fish barn said he had succes with a trap I will give it a try and see.
Keep checking water levels and add a fuge if you can. I have the 15 tall under my stand fits in fine. The fuge is extra food for the manderin w/out it I don't think there would be enough pods for the little guy.

[Tomzpc]

Hey Stacy,

I don't see any problems at all with the fish that you are considering. Like Bob mentioned, I probably wouldn't try a mandarin unless the tank had a visibly large pod population so a refugium would probably be a good idea if you plan to keep one.
Some people seem to have problems with the blue YT damsels being aggresive but others don't so you may want to consider removing those along with the black chromis. You'll have to judge based on how your YT's act. Mine is the wimpiest fish in my tank.
Also, you could easily keep both a pseudochromis and a royal gramma together in that size tank and worry about it being an either/or issue. You may want to consider upgrading the skimmer to a larger model, particularly as you start adding corals.

Tom

[Reelfish]

Hi Stacy
The wish list of fish looks very nice as a large tank with a lot of small fish is a beautiful tank, reef or not. I have a 75g with a RD skimmer with lots of sofites, some hard, purple tang, clown, orchid dottyback, 2 yellow headed gobys, shrimp goby, blackcap basslet and lots of inverts. I think the bio load is low as Bob said. So enjoy. I have had only one flame angle that lasted any time so be careful with your choice there. Good luck
Bob

[seaham358]

I have the same set up you have and the RD is fine on a 125. Don't waste the money for a new skimmer...

[skearse]

Originally posted by seaham358

Keep checking water levels and add a fuge if you can. I have the 15 tall under my stand fits in fine. The fuge is extra food for the manderin w/out it I don't think there would be enough pods for the little guy.

Yeah, I was actually going to put in a fuge this weekend; I've got a 20L tank that I thought would be perfect-too long; wouldn't fit without some serious structual work. Once I find a tank that's easier to place, I'll get that in. Thanks guys for all your input.

[seaham358]

If your sump is in the middle like mine then you will have to get a 15 gal tall to fit under the stand. I used 2x4 to get it high enough to be able to have the discharge go into the sump w/out drilling the sump.