Nearly ready for corals.

[gozetec02]

Ok so I bought a protein skimmer and have a 130 Watt PC with moonlight coming next week. What additives do i need for my aquarium to keep soft corals like mushrooms and polyps. What testing do I need to do before i add these creatures.

Please make a list.

 

[lando]

In general, you need good water parameters. now amonia, no nitrite, very low nitrate, 8.2 Ph, 1.025 SG, Alk should be between 3-4.5meq/L, CA 300-400ppm. As far as the addition of reef additives or trace elements...If you do regular and frequent water changes (10-15% every two weeks) youo should not need to doose additives. The trace elements should be kept high enough from the salt. The corals you mentioned are very easy to keep in a stable tank. Goodluck and have fun! Lando

 

[malkore]

Lando, I made 2 minor edits to your post. You missed the 'A' in nitrate, and didn't have measurements for Alk and Ca.
That's the only improvement I could make to your sound advice

 

[gozetec02]

Since i have a 20 gallon tank i was thinking about doing monthly water changes of 4 Gallons. I will premix water in a 5 gallon bucket and siphon out water from the tank to another bucket and dispose of that water. Now when i premix am i supposed to put a PH in this bucket or will it be fine. And how much time in advanced do i need to mix this water?

 

[lando]

thanks for having my back, man

 

[Nels22]

I would suggest a PH in the bucket you are using to mix your salt water, otherwise, how are you planning on mixing the salt and the water?? You will need to have the salt water mixing for alteast 24 hours in advance before adding it to your tank, especially when there are fish in it, for newly mixed saltwater will probably not be the same temp, and it will burn the fishy's gills.

 

[malkore]

I think monthly water changes are not frequent enough in the beginning. every other week would be better, for the first 6 months. then you could try going longer. Salt tanks really do take a while to mature.