Coral/lr Supplements And Parameters

[Ahoy89]

I'm working on an 18 gallon nano in my room which I will be having LR, coral , CUC and once I am happy with how it looks - a couple of reef safe fish. At the moment I have 9kg of live rock which is full of life and approx 10g of ocean rock (which some will be replaced with live rock soon, the remaining rock will be left to be inhabited by the LR).
I have a powerhead on the live rock now plus an airstone around the back which I hope will be doing the LR some good, plus a heater and good LED lighting. I will be getting another 10kg of LR or so in a couple of days. Hopefully this is a sufficient amount in a tank of this size, if not I can always add smaller 1kg pieces until I have enough.

Anyway, at the moment my water is basically drinking water from the tap that has been dechlorinated and mixed with instant ocean marine salt but I will soon be getting salted OS water from my new lfs which I have just discovered for future water changes. Is this ok just for while I have live rock in? It isn't going to harm it in any way I hope or restrict it's growth.

The questions I would like answering are what water parameters should I be looking out for with just LR in the water and should I be using any supplements such as calcium at this stage or does the marine salt contain that already?
Also once I have my LR sorted out and arranged nicely, how long would you suggest I wait before adding corals? I will be getting some easy ones to start off with which I already have my eye on but I really want to decorate up the tank before I even consider getting fish. I'd just like a little info on anything I need to look out for or any type of buffer I should be adding for LR and coral. Also I've heard of a supplement called marine snow, can anyone recommend this? I want to do everything I can to encourage the growth of a reef before I start on the fish side of it.

Hope that wasn't too confusing for you all!
All advice is greatly appreciated

 

[seffieuk]

I'm working on an 18 gallon nano in my room which I will be having LR, coral , CUC and once I am happy with how it looks - a couple of reef safe fish. At the moment I have 9kg of live rock which is full of life and approx 10g of ocean rock (which some will be replaced with live rock soon, the remaining rock will be left to be inhabited by the LR).

glad you decided to get a bit more lr

I have a powerhead on the live rock now plus an airstone around the back which I hope will be doing the LR some good, plus a heater and good LED lighting. I will be getting another 10kg of LR or so in a couple of days. Hopefully this is a sufficient amount in a tank of this size, if not I can always add smaller 1kg pieces until I have enough.

I'm a bit lost now, do you mean you will be taking out some of the base rock to replace it with th LR ? If you don't then I would have thought this was too large an amount of LR for the size of the tank - remember, when you start buying corals there will probably be lr as well

Anyway, at the moment my water is basically drinking water from the tap that has been dechlorinated and mixed with instant ocean marine salt but I will soon be getting salted OS water from my new lfs which I have just discovered for future water changes. Is this ok just for while I have live rock in? It isn't going to harm it in any way I hope or restrict it's growth.

You need RO water as you are intending to keep corals

The questions I would like answering are what water parameters should I be looking out for with just LR in the water and should I be using any supplements such as calcium at this stage or does the marine salt contain that already?

No supplements, yes the marine salt contains everything you need at the moment

Also once I have my LR sorted out and arranged nicely, how long would you suggest I wait before adding corals? I will be getting some easy ones to start off with which I already have my eye on but I really want to decorate up the tank before I even consider getting fish. I'd just like a little info on anything I need to look out for or any type of buffer I should be adding for LR and coral.

Have you got test kits? First you will get an ammonia spike, then a nitrite spike and then a Nitrate spike - you will do a large water change and test again after a day or so - if your nitrates are below 10 but hopefully 0 you can then add your cuc

Also I've heard of a supplement called marine snow, can anyone recommend this? I want to do everything I can to encourage the growth of a reef before I start on the fish side of it.

Marine snow isn't a supplement it's a food - most people on here wouldn't touch it, they use phytofeast or similar. Anyway, you don't need it yet

Hope that wasn't too confusing for you all!
All advice is greatly appreciated

Use the time you now have to plan and read threads, journels and the pinned topics - make notes and enjoy

Seffie x

 

[bagu]

seffie

you damn good!

 

[Ahoy89]

Thanks a lot Steffie, that was really useful information!

To clear some things up, I will be replacing some of the ocean rock to ensure there is enough room for the fish to actually swim! (I'll get photos up once I have my LR situation sorted! Maybe start one of these journals I've seen on here) I'll most likely end up arranging the rocks around dozens of times to ensure i'm happy to add coral to it.

I will get the OS water once my cycles are complete to prepare to add corals. I will probably only get two or three to begin with.

Yep I have my basic (nitrate, nitrite, ammonia, pH) salifert kits at the ready for cycling.

Again, many thanks for your words of wisdom!

 

[seffieuk]

Just change the name of this thread and keep going from here people like to see the progress and is also good for newbies to be able to read right from the start

Seffie X