Coral for beginners? Include water parameters plz

[bigfuzzymonster777]

My tank is fully cycled! I have two adorable clowns, a royal gramma, and two gobies. The parameters now are: ammonia: 0 Nitrite: 0 nitrate: 20 salinity: 1.024 ph: around 8.0 temp: 77.9 kh: 300. Here's a pic of my lights box:



There's also a white light (I'll post the name once I c
Know it lol)

 

[Trueerfan]

Vividaquariums.com or live aquaria both sites are good for finding beginner coral. You might want to try some zoas or mushrooms. You ph is a little low but it might be from not having enough air movement in your house, this happens during the summer months

 

[egrape]

yay! I want a royal gramma for my ten gallon. it's two months old. I would recommend zoas and mushrooms definitely to start out. things are like weeds. once you see them start to do well try some LPS, like candy cane coral or Duncan's. Duncan's are great, super easy. most LPS require additional feeding though so just be prepared to feed them meaty foods. live aquaria has a beginner coral section where you can read about them online. super helpful.

also you want to start monitoring calcium before doing LPS. get yourself a test kit and a calcium supplement because chances are your salt mix just doesn't have enough calcium in it right now. new tanks eat up calcium like crazy, and it's really important for crustaceans and stony corals and some soft corals to have enough calcium in the water to support their calcium carbonate skeleton.

 

[bigfuzzymonster777]

Just did water change. Could I put corals in with 10 nitrate (probably now ten)?

 

[egrape]

ideally you would have none, but just acclimate slowly and I would try a zoa colony because they like dirtier water. but really watch the calcium.

 

[bigfuzzymonster777]

Thanks!

 

[bigfuzzymonster777]

Actually, it'll probably be twenty... How long does it take for water changes to reduce nitrates?

 

[Bectan01]

Try and work out why you have high nitrates, too much feeding? Too much stock perhaps? Just keep up regular 20% changes if you can until they come down. You could also try a large (50% or more) change

 

[dmolavi]

If you have a HOB (or any filter, really), you can run Purigen in it for a while. It helps reduce the amount of dissolved organics and other waste that can lead to higher nitrates.

 

[egrape]

I would just do another ten or twenty percent water change today or tomorrow and see what happens. don't go crazy, since it's just a cycled tank you just have to try to make that go down.

 

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My tank is fully cycled! I have two adorable clowns, a royal gramma, and two gobies. The parameters now are: ammonia: 0 Nitrite: 0 nitrate: 20 salinity: 1.024 ph: around 8.0 temp: 77.9 kh: 300. Here's a pic of my lights box:

There's also a white light (I'll post the name once I c
Know it lol)

How big is this tank?

 

[bigfuzzymonster777]

Forty gallons

 

[bigfuzzymonster777]

AHHHHH! Nitrates went UP! They are now thirty! WHY?!

 

[dmolavi]

Fish poop and uneaten food.

 

[egrape]

AHHHHH! Nitrates went UP! They are now thirty! WHY?!

HAHAHAHA shhh it'll be okay. well make it through I promise! you will do more harm than good by doing something drastic. trust me I know what a fish tank freak out feels like but you gotta take it slow. you could have induced a mini cycle when you added those fish. how new are they? their bioload could have just been too much too fast. just do a twenty percent water change if you haven't already. If you did, then do another ten percent tomorrow.

 

[bigfuzzymonster777]

Ok. Thankyouthankyou without that I would hav done a freaking 50 percent water change.