suggestions on growing corals

[gucci2]

I am setting up a tank mainly for growing corals (hard and soft). The tank is a 40 gallon and has a Icecap 660 w/440 watt of VHO and a 175 metal halide, I also have a constant drip of kalkwizer going into the sump. Any reccomendations on other chemicals or anything else I should use to have nice healthy corals?

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[fishfreek]

Rule of thumb. Never dose anything unless you also have a test kit for it. This way you know if you need to dose and if your over dosing.

How long is the 40 gal? Does the MH provide even light or is it over the center and you have shaded areas on the sides?

different corals need different requirements. Some like high water current others like low water current. some like high light others like shaded light or more indrect than direct light.

 

[gucci2]

the 40 is 36" long also the MH is in the center but I also have the vho's on the tank to try to even the light out a little. I know certain corals like direct light from MH and also clams need the strong direct light from MH's. I do test PH and Alc that is usually affected by the kalk also I try to keep my calcium level above 450 ppm. Does this all sound about acurate to you or should I adjust anything?

 

[loganj]

That sounds good so far. You have a LOT of light on this tank. Different corals have different preferences so I think it will be a case of researching each coral that you want to grow and trying to cater to their individual needs. Some corals can share space while others need lots of room. I have found that frags from the same parent colony (soft corals) tend to get along well with each other. Frags from different parents, even though they are the same species, may not do well in close quarters. I would recommend "Aquarium Corals" by Eric Borneman and the "Book of Coral Propagation" by Anthony Calfo. Both of these are full of info about raising corals and have individual info on each species.