Awesome guys thanks. My new picaso trigger seems to be settling in nicely. I noticed a spot of ich on one of his fins but the cleaner shrimp has been on him since he got in the tank so I'm assuming he should be fine by tomorrow. The polyps on one of the sps are almost all out already; everything is lookin great.

One last question: Out of all the inhabitants that i listed which would tell me there are problems first if there was a decline in water quality? (i left out a red/green brain from the list).

thanks again guys

As sensitive as SPS are chalked up too be, if anything is amiss from the usual state, the plusing xenia for me is one of the first corals to show any changes - hence why I Keep it around.

It tends to pulse less vigorously or not at all when something is out of the ordinary.

"simply not acceptable Ryan" i hope this isn't intended to be as authoritative as it sounds to be.

The "fighting each other" is what happens when you add two different types of fish who have both decided they would like to inhabit the whole tank rather than just a specific territory of it. If their "fighting" and "stress" was due to poor water quality; there would also be stress noticed in the corals. Gold banded maroon clowns are known to be quite aggressive if not given enough space or they decide that no one else should be in the tank. Also, noticing a spot of ich on a newly introduced fish is not very unusual (I tend to get a soar throat and cough when my environment changes from summer to winter but hey what the heck ;).

This has potential to go down a path completely useless to everyone so thanks for everyones comments and suggestions.

#1 Carbon is in.
#2 Retested and it seems my initial test was a bit off but still nitrates are close to 5ppm.
#3 Water is being prepared for the water change tomorrow.
#4 Going to continue enjoying my 3-4 month old nicely stocked tank keeping a close eye on everything making sure to ask at least a hundred more questions before the 1 year anniversary!

Thanks guys :)

ps: Leduc reef* Shannon mentioned you fired that skimmer up and it was working fine?!?! unbelievable! It sounded like i had a tank rolling through my sump when it was on. Anyway, using the hang on in my sump now and it seems to be working great.

Wow, a picaso trigger with cleaner shrimp? I would make sure that picasso trigger is well fed if you value your ornamental shrimp, as they do enjoy snacking on inverts like shrimp and hermit crabs. Even then.. you may find that once he has settled in he may go for the shrimp anyway (well fed or not).

ya i dont think you will have them shrimp to long with that trigger mine even eats my crabs it its a niger trigger thay say thay are one off the better triggers but a trigger is a trigger :lol:

HA yea i know i was pre-warned :). The two shrimps for some reason have been picking at my zoos and polyps so i willing to let nature run its course i guess.

i have a few mor q for ya man
how big is you main tank ? yo say 70 gal total going to be to small for 2 triggers the niger is going to get to be about 18 to 20 inches long
i think you are moving a lil to fast also what kind of lighting do you have for those sps
i just dont want to see your tank crash man