First Saltwater Tank: Can I Add Clean Up Crew Before Fish?

[fantaman]

Hi all!

This is the first time I am setting up a home aquarium!

Here are some details:
- 5 gallon pico (ecoxotic)
- Substrate is crushed coral (aragonite)
- 3 lbs of live rock from my LFS (2 lbs of it was in a tank with fish!)

I have had the filter and heater (at 78 deg) running for 2 weeks now. There are a few sponges, a green mushroom and a few other small things on the live rock, so I have been giving them 6 hrs of light.

I will be checking to see if my cycle is complete today, but I have a question.
Is it safe to first add the clean up crew and then a fish after a few days?
Could this cause my tank to cycle again?
Or is it advisable to put in clean up crew and the fish at the same time?

I plan to get ONE small clown and have it in there for about a year, until he grows older and needs a larger tank.

Thanks!

 

[techen]

I highly suggest you do not use sponges in a marine. They make nitrates which in high amounts can be deadly for marine life, Mostly corals. You want below 10 nitrate in a marine tank and really zero overall.
 
It's unlikely the coral will make it via a cycle but it's worth a go I guess.
 
You can add a clean up crew now yes, So long as your stats are stable. As for fish, you can't put any fish really in a pico.
 
Do not put a clown fish in a 5 gallon tank. They need around 20-30 gallons of water.

 

[Donya]

You are setting yourself up for problems. The fish needs a bigger tank than you've set up from the very start. You're also assuming that you'll be able to upgrade later; it would be a lot better to just wait on fish until that bigger tank arrives. There are too many cases of people putting a fish in something too small thinking "I'll have a bigger tank in X time" only to have something come up and be stuck with the same size tank.
 

You can add a clean up crew now yes, So long as your stats are stable. As for fish, you can't put any fish really in a pico.

 
+1 to this. 
 
 
But...
 

I highly suggest you do not use sponges in a marine. They make nitrates

 
The nitrate factory thing is a myth that stems from not tracing what's actually causing the problem (gunk and uneaten food accumulation). You only get as much nitrate as you have other waste going in, so if the sponges are trapping debris that the CUC can't get access to, then the tank is being essentially being overfed and then you get nitrate problems. It's a matter of hooking up the filters in a sensible way to avoid gunk building up in the media and regularly cleaning any bits that are doing mechanical filtration. 
 
And sponges of the living variety are excellent water filters (what I presumed the OP was referring to on the rock). 

 

[fantaman]

Thanks for your responses. 
 
I will take your advice and probably not keep a clown in it.
 
Is there any other small hardy saltwater fish that I can keep in it for a while? My plan is not to buy a larger tank, just to keep the fish for about a year and then donate (either back to LFS or to someone with a bigger tank).

 

[techen]

If you want fish I'd upgrade tank size to 100+ litres.