Coral Tips Please!!!

[mindfluid]

I just added my first 2 corals to a 20 gal reef I started a few months back with live rock and a few bottom dwellers. I added a
Hammer Head and Plate Coral. Before purchasing I asked about any additional elements I would need to keep the Corals healthy and the guy @ LFS said everything should be ok as long as I kept up with my water changes since the tank is so small and these are my only Corals. He also mentioned feeding it micro-plankton. Id like anyones opinion on this since I read online tonight that the addition of strontium and calcium were needed to keep these and most corals happy. I change about 5 gallons every week. Are the elements from my "Red Sea" salt mixture enough??? Thanks for any and all feedback.

Mind

[a_free_bird73]

It is hard to generalise because it depends on the size of the coral, your lighting levels, setup amongest a number of other factors.

All what I can suggest at this stage is to search the internet and read as much as you can about setup and the specific requirements for what you have. It is a mine field and it would probably take serveral pages to explain what you should and could do... but whatever you do, make sure you have enough light for them to survive while you work out all the other requirements

[mogurnda]

Are you testing Ca and alkalinity? For stonies to grow, you'll need Ca above 400 (preferably closer to 450) and alk above 3.0.

[BrianH]

I would suggest buying "Aquarium Corals" by Eric Borneman. This book gives a short description, including aquarium requirements, for almost all corals available in the hobby. I would also suggest not adding stronium. This is one of the so called trace elements the LFS tries to force down our throats. Just try to keep your water parameters stable, mainly pH, Specific gravity(around 1.025), calcium, alkalinity and Temp. Try to keep your calcium betweeen 400 - 500.

Brian

[mogurnda]

I would suggest buying "Aquarium Corals" by Eric Borneman. I totally agree! You can get it online for the price of a coral, and it is jam-packed with useful information.

[mindfluid]

Big thanx to all for your great responces. To answer a few of the questions im using power compact lighting with well over 5 watts per gallon plus its a 20 gal long giving less water to penetrate. The 2 corals are medium sized with the plate coral being about an inch bigger (3" in diameter.) Live sand, about 17 pounds of live rock. Pr of skunk clowns, Bi Color Blenny, 1 Cleaner Shrimp, 3 Anemones and some assorted hermits. Im not testing for Calcium because im trying to do some research before spending a good chunk on test kits and several bottles of additives. Dont get me wrong, I dont mind spending the cash if I know its a necessity but one has to wonder what the sales guy is up to at times since most LFS are Mom & Pop style operations and somtimes try shoving things we dont need down our throats like Brian said above. Anyways, the corals are looking great so far, One thing I bought for now is an addtive by "Kent Marine" called "Coralvite". It basically has trace elements along with Ca, Iodine & Stronium. The LFS suggested one teaspoon a week is all I need. Im sure there will be opinions on this but thats why im glad this forum is here. Look foward to some more responces and Yes, Im looking foward to digging into that book you guys suggested. Does anyone have a good site that carries it at a fair price.

Cheers

Mind

[BrianH]

Since calcium is the main element needed for skeletal growth in hard corals(lps & sps) I would suggest you buy a decent calcium test kit now. Don't cheap out on this kit since they can be very difficult to read. I use salifert. Many reefers add only calcium(along with alkalinity) to their reef tanks.

Brian

[mogurnda]

Amazon has Borneman's book for less than $30. It will help a lot for you to filter through the info out there. There is a lot of snake oil, and you are wise to be wary of it. One thing that is well-established, though, is the requirement of stony corals for Ca and alk. The skeleton is made of CaCO3, so there needs to be sufficient, and roughly equal, concentrations of each for corals to grow.

Second, in my opinion, this article (http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/nov2002/chem.htm) is by far the clearest explanation of how to establish and maintain the right balance of Ca and alkalinity.

Third, and this is really important, you will have to test for both Ca and alk to know how to dose. Your corals are consuming the material at an unknown rate, so you have to establish what your dosing regimen should be. I agree with Brian that Salifert is excellent for Ca. I prefer the Seachem kit, because it has a much sharper cutoff, but costs a little more.

[mindfluid]

Big thanks to all once again. I picked up a copy of Borneman's book and it was worth every penny. With all the opinions out there its great to have a solid reference for specific coral needs and husbandry. I just picked up a leather finger coral after reading about them and didnt have to wonder if the sales guy was putting me on to a difficult coral.

Cheers
Mind

[Joey D]

keep it simple with corals, youll know when theyre not happy. The last thing you want to do is over dose your aquarium. In my experience, and i've been told, they are easier to keep than anemones. Major and minor trace elements, including calcium. To have a reef tank, you must invest in a test kit, thats my belief, even though i rarely use mine anymore, it helps you start out by seeing what happens at certain levels of chemical additives. What you dont want to do is have the guy at the store talk you into buying 20 different bottles of additives and crap. A good all in one supplement would work, but they usually dont contain calcium, so should get a calcium supplement, which helps live rock, clams, scallops, etc... What ive been hearing from alot of retailers is that they dont use any trace elements at all, the sea salt provides that. The only thing they use is a GOOD phytoplankton food(micro-vert) and clacium. But , if you had a full reef tank, not just a few corals, trace elements and calcium should be added and maintained. I've also noticed that i never see corals and anemones in the same tanks at the LFS's. This led me to believe that they have somewhat different needs, even though they come froom the same places. It's baffling. Anemones and corals can sting and kill one another so be careful, maybe that's why their never together. Also, make sure you find out which corals are compatible with one another, usually ones that come from the same parts of the world. Trial and error, different things work for different people, different strokes for different folks. Good luck. Do not ever use copper ick treatment in your main tank, it will stick to live rock and continuously kill corals and anemones. (of course i've only heard this and never experianced it)

[Guy W]

about the coralvite you mentioned. I've been told not to use it because it contains a lot of sugars that will cause nothing more than an algea boom. who knows if that is true but I'm not really interested in risking it.

Guy

[mogurnda]

I think one reason that corals and anemones aren't often mixed is that anemones can move around and kill things before they settle down. I could probably fit a BTA into the tank, but only if it stayed exactly where I want it.

As far as additives, I have just been using B-Ionic for the past year and have had excellent growth of stonies and soft corals. My belief is that you get plenty of traces with regular water changes and feeding.

[g. mcclean]

I strongly recommend (as others have done) the addition of a calcium/alkalinity supplement. They must be done in conjunction with each other. The B-Ionic 2 part supplement is easy to use and works well. Of course, ( as also was recommended ) you must test whenever using supplements. If calcium is not maintained at 400-450 ppm and alkalinity at 3.5 you will definitely have problems with the hammer. I speak from experience. We are in the process of losing ours amd I only hope I can get the calcium up before the entire piece is lost.

[mindfluid]

Just to give everyone a little update I bought the seachem calcium test kit and C-Balance (2 part) calcium by "2 little Fishies" about 2 weeks ago. My alk is at like 14 and calcium is 400. I havn't been adding the alk bottle since I dont need it yet but everything looks fine so far except for one of my finger corals looking small. My other leather is doing great. I know the Ca should be a little higher and the alk a little lower but things are progressing in the right direction and hopefully i'll achieve a balance soon. The only part that confuses me is the relationship between alk and ph. Sometimes my ph is a little low and my alk is always high so by adding Ph buffer am I forcing the Alk to stay high or does it not affect the Alk??? It does seem to... Well thanks to everyone for all the great feedback and happy reefing!!!

Mind

[BrianH]

I"m not sure what pH buffer your using but yes, most pH buffers actually increase alk. This is because alk keeps your pH stable. What is your pH currently? Perhaps you do not need to raise it and if you do, try doing some water changes. This will normally raise your pH at a nice slow pace.

Brian

[mindfluid]

im using "Kent" ph buffer. sometimes my ph is around 7.8 and i'll add a teaspoon to a glass of fresh water and it will be fine for a few days but then my alk is like 16. It doesnt seem to come down from there. I was told not to worry unless alk goes below 7.

[BrianH]

I would suggest you stop using the pH buffer since I believe alk in the range you might get to can be harmful to your fish. Just continue to perform water changes and calcium additions. Also make sure you test your pH, alk & calcium regularly since you don't want these parameters to go too far the other way.

Brian

[Guy W]

If found that over time my Alk drops while I dose the tank with Kalkwasser... Or perhaps it's from the amount of time between water changes, but I think it's the Kalk.

So if Alk is too high (mine generally goes from around 11dkh to 8dkh over the course of a month) you could try this.

I'm sure someone else can verify if the Kalkwasser is what is actually dropping my Alkalinity though.

Guy