First Coral - How does he look?

[Chizzle007]

I just picked up my first coral for my tank. Tank is fully cycled and water paeans are on point.

Put him in last night and picture is from this morning.

My only concern is he doesn't look as full as he did in the store. I will dose some calcium and trace later this week. Anything else I need to watch out for?

 

[Flreefer]

Nice torch. Congrats!!
If you are doing enough water changes, you shouldn't need to dose anything, unless your tank is completely full of coral. Also, you should never dose anything, that you aren't testing for.

 

[Mrc8858]

If this is your first and only coral then there is no need to dose anything your salt mix should provide plenty. Are you testing things such as calcium, alkalinity, magnesium, or phosphate levels

 

[Chizzle007]

I tested last night


Ph: 8.1
Ammonia: 0 ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate : 0pm

My calcium I think was 9dkh buy I don't like the tester that I have so I ordered a new one.

I haven't done another tests, should I be?

 

[Mrc8858]

Calcium alkalinity and magnesium all effect one another so with out knowing all the levels you can't properly dose and can actually overdose resulting in a loss in corals

 

[Flreefer]

9 dKh is an Alkalinity reading, 9 is good.
Just keep up with your water changes, and you will be fine.

 

[Chizzle007]

So he looks healthy?

 

[Mrc8858]

And do you mean 9 dkh for alkalinity? Calcium is commonly read in ppm (parts per million)

 

[Chizzle007]

Yes sorry alkalinity.

 

[Mrc8858]

I would say yes looks great right now but be careful not to upset the balance of your tank from improper dosing..it'll all become second nature to you over time trust me.. it was a little overwhelming for me when I took the plunge lol

 

[Flreefer]

Yeah, looks good! Different lighting and flow, from what it was used to in the store, will make it open up more or less in your tank.

 

[Chizzle007]

Why are the optimum levels for a reef? I've sen so many different articles with different levels?

 

[Flreefer]

I keep my tank at 9 Alk, 420ppm Ca.

 

[Mrc8858]

It all kinda depends on what your keeping really. A sps dominant tank will need different requirements then a softy tank but a good range imo is 480 ppm calcium 11dkh alkalinity (some may consider high) and close to 1400 ppm magnesium

 

[Chizzle007]

I might hold off on the dosing the tank then. I purchased Salifert All in One after reading good reviews. I will purchase a reef test kit today and test the other elements before doing anything else.

From here my plan is just to get some muchrooms, a xenia, and maybe a polyp. I have placed the torch away from where I plan on putting the other corals when I get them.

I have heard these corals are good for beginners, anyother suggestions?

I have a JBJ 38 gallon Intermediate hood and added a trulumen 12 inch Actinic strip to it.

BTW, I appreciate all the advice you guys are giving.

Thanks

 

[Flreefer]

It all kinda depends on what your keeping really. A sps dominant tank will need different requirements then a softy tank but a good range imo is 480 ppm calcium 11dkh alkalinity (some may consider high) and close to 1400 ppm magnesium

What benefit do you feel you are getting from running your Alk and Ca at higher levels than natural sea-water? Just curious.

 

[Mrc8858]

For a softy tank like your planning the levels could be lower since the do not build skeletons and yes these would all be consider "beginner" level corals. All in all id say your on the right track and keep up the good work. Any more questions feel free to ask that's what were here for

 

[Mrc8858]

I run them high because I don't run reactors so it would either be dose twice a week to keep at good levels or raise slightly higher to go weekly dosing..I'm pretty heavily stocked on corals and will go from 480-500 ppm to 350ish range in a week. Pretty much just saying I really really need a reactor haha

Edit* and slightly higher alk will increase the calcium intake. I know of some hard core reefers running close to 14dkh while testing heavily but get AMAZING growth

 

[Chizzle007]

Any suggestions on test kits for those elements?

 

[Mrc8858]

I use the red sea test kit and pretty happy with results but I haven't tried them all.. if you could get Carey or Doug to chime in they have much much more experience and could provide a better reasoning as to why