Colt Coral

[JoshsReef]

I was not ready for this but I had no choice. Today knowing that I had been debating on when to add corals to my tank my sister decided to bring me a home a colt coral for a christmas gift. The first thing I did after temperature acclimating my first coral to my tank to go straight Live Aquaria and find out about this guy.

http://liveaquaria.com/product/prod_...cfm?pCatId=640

I had no idea she was going to be bringing me a coral today however now that I have one I have to do my best to take care of it. Currently my water parameters are good except for my nitrates are a little high and my phosphates are 1.0. From what I have read so far I hope this will not be too much of a problem till I get the nitrates under control. I was going to do a water change of 20 gallons today but now since I just added the new coral I am a little afraid to do a water change till he settles in. She also brought me a bottle of Iodine and a bottle of Strontium. I guess the lfs told her that she needed them to take care of the coral. Do I need to get some filter feeding type food ? Any advice will be appreciated

PS - I told her to never do this to me again, lol , gift certificates are much better since I am still relatively new to maintaining a saltwater aquarium

[cccapt]

You should still do the water change. Just be sure to match SG and temp. You need to get those nitrates down...if they are still at 50 like your other post says. Phosphate is very high too. What phosphate removal media are you using and how? The coral will suffer with both those being as high as they are.
Forget about the iodine and strontium...unless you have test kits for them. Don't dose anything you don't test for.

[JoshsReef]

I know this is why I did not want the coral yet, but I really do not have a choice now. Also currently I am using phos-Zorb and it is in my cannister filter. I am going to switch to Phosban soon, withing the next week or too and that will replace the phos-zorb in my cannister filter. Do i need to purchase a product such as marine snow to feed the coral. and I will go ahead and do the water change, I just did not know if it was a good idea to stress the coral so soon. Thanks for your help

Also I have read not to dose anything that I am not testing but according to liveaquaria it is necessary for the survival of the coral. is this not true ? I was contemplating dosing some but only half or less of what the bottles called for, should I still skip it ?

[melosu58]

As stated above you can still do the PWC. You`ll be OK. You should not have to dose anything because your PWC`s will be plenty for what you need.

[usmcmarc]

I am relatively new as well, but speaking from experience...do not dose with those additives!!! Like cccapt said, unless you test for it..and even then it's a touchy thing.
I tested for iodine and found it low, added iodine supplement at the amount the bottle recommended and wound up losing some coral and livestock.

If you test and find it low, add 1/2 what the bottle recommends and re-test. IMEO

[JoshsReef]

what about filter feeding food such as marine snow ?

[usmcmarc]

Originally Posted by JoshsReef

what about filter feeding food such as marine snow ?

Not necessary as long as you have adequate lighting.

Again...If you do, use about 1/2 of what the bottle recommends. Too much will foul your tank. You will get nuisance algae and increased Nitrates.

[cmor1701d]

Return the chemicals to the lfs for store credit. PWC's will take care of replenishing the trace minerals.

Supplemental feeding should not be necessary, you just need adequate lighting.