fowlr to reef

[muddybigbludodge]

So we are interested in converting over to house coral in our tank. What new equipment is necessary to make the switch.my lighting is 4 t5ho 2 12k and 2 act.

 

[rdnelson99]

Just a begginer myself but from what I have learned so far, the lighting you have will allow you to some of the lower light requiring corals but some of the others will not do well because of not enough light. The other big factor is the type of fish you have in the tank. Are they reef safe? Many fish will eat the corals. Lastly, you would need to test for calcium levels and try to maintain it at the proper levels. Magnesium is also something to keep an eye on because it helps to keep the calcium in a form that the corals can use. Hope someone with more experience chimes in here and corrects me if I have misstated anything.

 

[muddybigbludodge]

Yea I have a halide fixture waiting to be installed and I do dose with cal and mag for coraline growth. a buddy of mine also has on his setup a carbon and phosphate reactor didn't know if these were a necessary to get I do test for phos cal carb hardness and all the other basics and all are in great shape the tank has been up and running for about 2 yrs now and all fish were bought with keeping in mind of converting over so I think im on the right track with everything but always open to advice.

 

[carey]

Do you have a skimmer? That will most likely become necessary. Youwould only need a phosphate reactor if youre running high phosphates.

The other test kit you should pick up is magnesium, especially if youre dosing for it. once you have a large coral population it's a fine line to balance the calcium, alkalinity and the magnesium.

 

[muddybigbludodge]

Yea already have skimmer its a modded seaclone 150 and ill look into the test kits but I think I have that already in one of the unopened master kits. And I don't have any real problems with phosphates anymore since I came from my 75g to the 120 and got my own to/di system

 

[carey]

Nice. That was the other issue I would've addressed, ro/di water but youve got it covered.

usually mag doesnt come in a multi test kit. I personally use salifert for phosphate, magnesium, alkalinity and calcium. Much more accurate than the API versions and those are very important once you've got a tankful of corals.

The seaclone I've never heard a good thing about, suppoosed to be very difficult to adjust and get "just right" but maybe modded it will help. You can start running that whenever, it might need time to break in, my skimmers have taken about 2 weeks each to break in fully.

 

[muddybigbludodge]

Yea Ive been running it for 2yrs now in the fowlr im trying to convert over it is tricky to tune but so far its good the mods made a huge difference.

 

[carey]

Good to know. i;m not much for modding stuff, not very handy lol

Sounds like your good to go as long as your fish are reef safe you can start adding some corals.

 

[rdnelson99]

Ok, so now I feel like an idiot. Just over two months into this and I am trying to give advice to someone who has a better handle on it than I do. LOL Sounds to me like muddy is well on the way to a gorgeous tank.

 

[muddybigbludodge]

Lol its cool never know how much knowledge and research one has done before they get in the hobby. We all have to start somewhere