Colorful And Hardy Corals For Beginners

[svirid]

Good day,

after getting my first invertebrates I wanted to get some colorful and easy to keep corals,
can u guys give me an advice please? I have 28 gal LR system.
My lights are apx 75-daylight and 75-actinic.

Looking forward to hear from you.

Thank you.

 

[hubbard_shark]

best things to start off with are polyps (button, star, daisy), mushrooms, and zoo's. Both you can get a wide variety of color. See how those go in your tank, and then try to some softies like leathers or colts.

also remember now that ur gonna be doing corals, nutrients like iodide and calcium can come into play. so keep up to date on ur water changes, and maybe think of getting some Lugol's solution. has good minerals/nutrients in it (including iodide) and only requires dosage once a week.

good luck

 

[Musho3210]

dont dose unless you have a coral reproduction garden, weekly water changes provide the nessicary nutrients. Dosing weekly is A. a waste of money and B. so easy to crash a tank.

 

[hubbard_shark]

i totally agree with u musho, just sayin since most ppl who start adding corals are not doin water changes weekly, probably monthly, and for a reef tank, that will not cut it.

 

[piranha_trader]

What percentage water weekly should you be exchanging in the tank?


Also guys what is base "rock" composed of and where can I find it? Can this be the normal lava rock that I find on the beaches here (Hawaii)? What about the rocks I find the in the ocean over here....I know its probably illegal to take it but I know there are permits here available so Im just curious.

Thanks

 

[svirid]

Hi,

I do have already one Leather Tree Coral (not sure if its the right name) Looks like tree

I am doing biweekly 10% water change. Using only RO/DI water. I have no fish yet.
I was using Ocean Salt mix now I am moving to Christal's mix that are more reacher with the Iodine and Calcium, as I was told.
Also the guy who sold me coral advised me to use Iodide made by Seachem. I am going to get some test kits for Calcium and Iodide too.
What else is important that I have to check?

 

[Musho3210]

iodine tests are terrible inaccurate and i would not trust those one bit, theres a reason why most people dont sell those tests. 10% water changes, one coral, no fish, additives are just a recipe for disaster.

 

[Dorkhedeos]

iodine tests are terrible inaccurate and i would not trust those one bit, theres a reason why most people dont sell those tests. 10% water changes, one coral, no fish, additives are just a recipe for disaster.

True that, especially when you are just starting out. I dont really think calcium is that important for softies anyways

 

[svirid]

Thanks guys,

but what is your advice? What should I do.
I understand do not add any additives, right?
Is that the only thing that will bring to a disaster? what should I do now?

I should not add any additives before the fish comes right? but how do I
know that there is enough Iodide and Ca?

Thanks a lot for your help.

 

[svirid]

Sorry I am just worried to do something wrong here.
If you are saying that all test kits are not useful.
What is the way to detect that I have enough Iodide and Calcium?

Thank you

 

[Dorkhedeos]

Im not saying test kits arent useful, im just saying that you shouldnt need to test it if you get those hardy coral, but you can if you want. If you take a look at the thread with my pico "tank" you will see that it is all healthy and its even starting to grow more heads. I dont have any test kits, i dont even have anything to test my sg(i dont recommend this though, im just running it off of my instincts which is a pretty bad practice).

The most important thing for you right now is either a refractometer(if you plan on staying in sw for long) or a hydrometer(cheap, but it sucks) Do like a 10-20% water change every week, and you will be fine. No need to add anything because the waterchange will replenish the necessary substances. Just keep it simple and itll be hard to make errors

 

[fishheaded]

Not trying to highjack but with keeping sps corals in a 10g, would weekly water changes be enough to replenish calc/mg/alk? Or would I have to dose?

 

[Musho3210]

depends fishhead

Anyway, tests either give false hope or paranoia. Your eyes are much better than your test kits IMO and IME. If you are using a synthetic sea salt mix at the proper salinity, all your levels are fine now, near perfect more specifically. I used to be the crazy tester and doser, until it crashed and killed 100$ worth of stuff, now i never test and never dose and its been going great for me, i use my eyes, i do weekly 15% water changes, i got all sorts of corals, leathers, lps, sps, zoas, palys, shrooms, no dosing has been great for me.

 

[svirid]

Thank you very much Mucho, I am not going to use any Iodide, I did 10% water change yesterday,
and will try to do it every week since now. Will start using another salt mix that is reacher with Cal and Iodide (this is a mix for reefs). Hopefully its all will work for me.

Also another quick question.

I have a little problem with the space so I have to mix my water in a 10L canisters. I shake them from time to time but some pieces of salt still there. How harmfull it could be to a fish if couple of salt pieces will go to the tank water?
I have manage to heat up a little amount of water in microwave, disolve salt in there and then mix it with the cold water that left in a canister. Salt looks like disappears, but anyway, it takes more time to prepare it.

Thanks again.

 

[fishheaded]

depends fishhead

Anyway, tests either give false hope or paranoia. Your eyes are much better than your test kits IMO and IME. If you are using a synthetic sea salt mix at the proper salinity, all your levels are fine now, near perfect more specifically. I used to be the crazy tester and doser, until it crashed and killed 100$ worth of stuff, now i never test and never dose and its been going great for me, i use my eyes, i do weekly 15% water changes, i got all sorts of corals, leathers, lps, sps, zoas, palys, shrooms, no dosing has been great for me.

How big is your tank? Pics please or do you have a thread we can view?