Lynaea's 30 Zoa, macro, blenny tank

[Lynaea]

Hi all,

 

I've just started my first saltwater aquarium after at least a decade of keeping freshwater planted tanks and a brief foray into brackish. I've done a lot of reading and searching but I'm finding that there are some things that depend on the specific set-up so I figured I'd start a tank thread and hope for some helpful advice/insights from more experienced reef keepers.

 

So, my set-up so far:

30 gallon long, 36" x 12" x 16"

40 pounds of Bimini pink live sand with some small shells thrown in for added interest

About 27.5 pounds of live rock from my LFS

Current USA orbit marine LED 24-36" lighting

Neo-therm heater

AC 110 modded to a refugium in the works

Can add a power head or Koralia if more flow is needed

 

I have ordered some Miracle mud for the refugium and the refugium pack with live sand and macros from GulfCoast Ecosystems, both will be here this week.

 

 

 

 

The tank is in the pass-through from my kitchen so its viewable from three sides, I'll get more picks after I've got the AC 110 set-up and filled it completely.

 

I added live rock and sand Saturday (6/7) and I think I've settled on the final scape. I may get another rock to make the small island a little bigger and may add more small barnacle shells if I can find them (is that what those are?)

 

Proposed stocking (at present ):

 

3 peppermint shrimp

Some sexy shrimp??

Dwarf Cerith snails

Small nerite snails

1-2 dwarf hermit crabs??

 

Bicolor blenny

Firefish (will 2 work?)

Yellow headed jawfish

Red scooter blenny (eventually)

I also like the yellow/orange striped cardinal fish, chalk bass and citron goby

 

Zoanthids

Paly's

Macro algae (getting a selection soon, will add others from there)

Gorgonian or two

Mushrooms (maybe)

Maybe some easy, small SPS much later

 

Okay, so my current questions are mostly about compatibility and stocking order, and not just of the fish. The start up info I've found gets pretty vague after the CUC is added.

 

So I guess first of all, is what I've chosen essentially compatible and likely to co-exist fairly well, will anything eat, kill or overgrow something else? (Fish, corals and macros)

 

Which (and how many) of the fish I'm interested in will do best together in this size system?

 

What order should I add things? Some macros will be here this week and I know I add the CUC after diatoms and nuisance algae appear but after that do I need to add most of the corals I want before adding fish? Should I let the macros get established first or is it best to add some of each (fish, corals, macros) a bit at a time?

 

I know I've got some time still to think about these things and figure out what exactly I want in the tank as it needs time to cycle and stabilize, I'll update as things evolve.

 

Thanks in advance for any advice!