My first question is:
Do you have a skimmer?
Sand Bed?
Sump w/ refugium?
Good return flow?
Proper water movement (Powerheads etc?)
Between the fantastic live rock I had, a good skimmer + sump set up I was at 0/0/0 (phos/ites/ates) by week 3. Week 4 I added the Prodibio start-up kit just to be sure that I had enough stable bacteria in the tank, and added my first clean up crew (started small-5 hermits, 5 snails). I lost 2 Turbos within 3 days (arguably more to a lack of proper acclimation than anything else). But since then I have not lost a single creature in my tank. I'm on week 7 now with:
2 small clowns
1 juvenile Melenarus wrasse
13 narcissus snails
4 dwarf hermits
1 monster hermit (King Crab)
6 Turbos
The addage "Go Slow" is good advice--but--only in the context of what is safe and appropriate for your tank. You really have to get a feel for your tank. If you've put in the proper biological and mechanical filters in place, and your parameters are within their safe areas for adding fish--there is no reason (other than old-reefer mentality) that you cannot add a small, hardy fish and a small CUC to your tank.
The Number 1 motto you should live by as a reefer is
--BE RESPONSIBLE--
Those are not just colorful art-pieces your adding to your tank. They are living, breathing, feeling creatures capable of feeling pain and stress.
You wouldn't throw a cute malamute puppy in a toxic environment--there's no reason why you should throw a fish into one either.
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