Just got some coral...now what?

[simi142]

We have had our 22 gallon tank going for about 4 months and have 4 fish, 8 hermit crabs, 4 snails, and a shrimp. A friend of mine just gave us some coral:
a tiny frag of Ponape Bridsnest
Green Trumpet
Green Polyped Sarcophyton
A tiny frag for Bonsai Acropora
Frogspawn
Green Branching Pavona

I have read up on all of them but would now like to get some opinion on water supplements and flow.

Right now we just have our built in pump pushing water back in from the sump. Do I need to get another powerhead asap to push water in the opposite direction? My tank is pretty small.

Also I have been using a ph buffer but is there some sort of all-in-one stuff I need for the tank for the coral?

Thanks for the advice!

 

[RYANLAWRENCE]

I don't have corals, but from being on this forum pretty regularly, I can tell you that most would recommend that you don't add additives, just keep up on PWC's. What 4 fish do you have? That kinda seems like a lot in a 22 gallon tank

 

[simi142]

We have
1 Ocellaris Clown
1 six line wrasse
1 lemon peel
1 pajama cardinal

 

[jsmith]

I use coral fenzy.. and also feed photo/zoo plankton

 

[jsmith]

U add it to you water collum.. easy does it.. and i spot feed the plankton.. alot of your other coral like the frogspawn get their nutrients from the water collum that where the coral fenzy comes into play... poeple are usally 50/50 on the forum about feeding them.. i do to stimulate growth...i picked another frogspawn myself and in less the 2 months its split heads twice..good job by the way posting your fish alot of poeple would have asked.. all look good for being reef safe however i don't know what a lemon peel is.. im sure some else does and will chime in if needed.

 

[jsmith]

And Ryan for fyi not that your wrong.. coral has no bio load like fish.. about the lemon peel wife says if its an angel they are not reef safe and will pick at it all and finally adding a ph buffer is about the only tbi g i would add. Just do it at night when ur corals are asleep ..

 

[0o.Kelsey.o0]

Most corals don't need any supplimental feeding and get all they need from the lighting. I would not feed the corals with any powder or liquid, at least not regularly. It will pollute your water quickly in a tank that size and usually leads to an algae outbreak.

What kind of lighting do you have? The acropora are pretty hard to care for, they like high light and high flow. I don't think an extra powerhead would be needed but try to place the acropora high up and close to where the water comes out.

The lemon peel might be safe, the odd one is. It will most likely start picking at corals sometime though, it might need to be removed.

 

[jsmith]

Lol o yea lighting .. what's that? .... don't take that guys advice.
* points at self *

 

[simi142]

I have metal halides 160w. I'll put the acropora closer to the top. We found out after buying the fish that the lemon peel dwarf anglefish may not be coral safe. We really like it so we are going to try to keep it but if not I guess we'll have to find a home for it.
Thanks for the advice everyone!

 

[Jimbo7]

Acclimate the acro slowly to the light. You want to match the placement in your tank to about the light level they had it under in the store. Every week or two you can move it up a bit to where you want it. Everything else should be fine wherever. I wouldn't feed or supplement anything besides regular water changes.

I had a lemon that never bothered my coral, so you might be safe. Post some pics!

 

[Fishtale]

I feed my corals twice a week oyster eggs and reef roids.
There are some corals that don't live on light alone ya ?