New Reef Tank and an unexpected Rescue Op

[MacDracor]

After years of freshwater tanks, I am finally starting a reef tank. I've wanted to do this since I was a child!
I'm starting with a 29 gallon tank. Tank has been cycled and I have my first fish, a Firefish Goby. I also have two coral Frags, 1 Dragon Eye Zooanthid, and one Red Blasto (not sure of species just yet, it's tiny).
Today, at my LFS, I saw a Galaxea that was 50% off because the normal fish lady had been off for a while and the fill in had almost completely killed it. I estimate no more than 25% of the little stony skeletons still have polyps. She actually gave it to me for free!
I also picked up a Torch Coral that has one empty skeleton. They had a problem with Nitrates and water flow while she was gone. I also picked up a pieace of well cured live rock that had a tiny bright red mushroom coral on it. All of this for under $50 before tax!
What's it likely to take to rescue what is still alive on the Galaxea?

 

[austinsdad]

Keep your water in good shape and your fingers crossed is about the most I could recommend. Good luck with that much damage already.

 

[MacDracor]

Thanks. Kinda what I was figuring. Keeping Nitrates super low and water flow going strong, but indirectly over it, since those were the things that did so much damage. I hope I can save the poor thing, but I figure worst case scenario, I get a very pretty piece of rock, and it got to die in a more peaceful environment. (I'm such a sap sometimes. lol)

 

[joy13]

Galaxea is a very aggressive coral just be aware of that when you place it. Usually water quality, light and flow will bring around most corals without a problem.

 

[MacDracor]

I have the Galaxea several inches away (laterally and vertically) from any other coral. But I think it'll be some time before he has any long sweepers out. But he is doing better! Little brown spots have become big brown spots with tiny green tentacles, so that's progress!

 

[MacDracor]

So, another sweet score today at the LFS!
Picked up my Ocellaris clown, but noticed a few mushroom corals loose in another tank. They'd gotten knocked off their rocks and were just chilling. Fish guy said he'd give them to me for $5. One red, one striped, one blue. They may be small and singly placed, but they add a punch of color to the live rock!

 

[crister13]

WHERE ARE YOU GETTING THESE!!!!! lol. My hammer has about 0.5 of its skeleton showing because I forgot to ease over to more powerful lights. Hes doing better now, and I hope your galaxia does the same!!!!! GL!!!!!

 

[MacDracor]

I am blessed to have a Petco (of all places!!!) managed by a serious, long term aquarium hobbyist. The tanks are all pristine, the animals healthy, and the staff super knowledgable. You'd never know it was a Petco!
I picked up a small Duncan frag today for $13 bucks, and I couldn't resist... I got a small BTA.
A few other purchases were a snail, an emerald crab (have a half dozen bubble algae I'd like to get ahead of before they go crazy), and the biocube protein skimmer. Not the best skimmer out there, but better than nothing.
back to the original post, the Galaxea is doing better! Some fingers that I didn't think had any polyp at all are showing some brown flesh, and those that started out with just a brown spot now are showing tiny green tentacles! In fact, there are almost a dozen individual polyps that are now wider than the tooth they are growing on! In other words, he looks worlds better than he did!

 

[MacDracor]

So, little update. Got rid of the Emerald crab because he was far more interested in my corals than in my algae.
That Galaxea is looking SO much better. About a dozen of the polyps are beginning to grow down along the outside of their respective fingers of skeleton, to cover the sides again.
I also picked up a bubble coral, a purple tree coral a duncan frag (one head), and a candy coral frag (3 heads).
I now have 3 of my 4 fish, the Firefish Goby, Ocellaris Clown, and Six Line Wrasse. I think I'm done adding anything for a while. I noticed my nitrates rising ever so slightly, to almost 10 ppm now, so I think I need to focus on that for a while.

 

[Sniperhank]

That sounds great to me! I wish I had a LFS like yours. I like my LFS...but still that turned out to be a great deal with everything coming back like that.

 

[MacDracor]

Yeah, Josh (manager at the LFS) is pretty awesome. My Duncan frag has been very slow to to open, but it's finally getting used to the fact that fish are going to swim by it. It even ate a bit today!

 

[ebondaruk]

awesome! any pictures?

 

[MacDracor]

*scratches head* Well... yes. As a matter of fact, I've taken several dozen pictures. And haven't been able to find my camera since. The camera lens on my phone is scratched up, so that's no good. Really need to find my camera...

 

[MacDracor]

Ok, so here's a couple pics... Out of 67, these were the least blurry and grainy. I need a new phone... and to find my camera!

This one shows one of the next to free mushrooms I got...

And here you can see most of the corals, including the frags, the Galaxea rescue, etc. The white blob in the back is my BTA.

 

[Josh1158]

You need more rock.

 

[MacDracor]

Yes, I know. I have about 26 lbs, and I need at least 5 lbs more. My aim is 35 lbs total. But without a local source for dry rock, I can either buy it in bulk online, or buy live rock a piece at a time.

 

[MacDracor]

Picked up a few more lbs of rock, bringing my total weight up to 29-30 lbs. And... got a small rock covered with zooanthids and some gorgeous pink/purple coraline. Was priced as a frag because the vendor messed up, so super cheap.

 

[MacDracor]

Little update. Upgraded to a 45 long, and everything is doing really well. Here's how the Galaxea is looking today. Wish I had a Before pic of equal quality. The difference is quite astounding.

And of course, Bertha the Ocellaris photobombed me.