Who Gives A Fish Forums

Just got my new 180l tank up and running with a few inhabitants already - 2 young percula clowns, a fire fish, a coflake beauty and a skunk shrimp. Still letting it mature a bit before adding more but I'm keen to hear suggestions - just a heads up, I'll be getting coflake in the future so it's gotta ...

brazier wrote: ↑Sun May 11, 2025 9:44 pm Thanks for the input, everyone. Leaning toward dry rock with bottled bacteria now. Appreciate the real-world experiences.

Smart move. Just keep testing ammonia and nitrite daily. My cycle stalled at week 6, then boom, overnight it was done. Patience pays off.

I've used dry rock in my 40-gallon and it took forever to cycle, like 8 weeks. But no pests, which was a plus. My Zoanthids finally started spreading after 3 months. Live rock might've sped things up, but I didn't wanna risk hitchhikers.

I've heard good things about Cardinal Tetras. Are they harder to keep than Neons? My tank's at 78°F, pH around 6.8.

Just curious, what are everyone's top 3 fish? Doesn't matter if you have them in your tank or not, or if they're in order of preference. Could be by looks, temperament, anything. Just want to explore some more types and maybe give people some ideas for their tank.

I'll kick things off.

Ocellaris ...

Similar thing happened to me. Had a coral that was pretty beat up, but once it settled in, the eyes became more defined and it started eating like normal.

Favia corals are really nice, they have some amazing colors and I've found them pretty easy to care for.

I've got a 125g reef tank and I'm struggling to get my LPS to grow at the rate I want. They're growing, just not as fast as I'd like. My lighting setup is a Reefbreeders 48" LED, so I'm wondering what's the best approach - more whites or more blues?

My parameters are:
Ph 8.2
Alk 11dkh
Cal 440 ...