Dead Corals

[StingrayKid]

Well, I've been keeping a 10gallon nano-reef for a while and as of recently, have seen the corals I had are... well.. pretty dead. I found out recently from a better source (a LFS, opposed to a big pet store, who mislead me) that the problem was that I had hard corals that needed cetain trace elements which I did not have, and I didnt have the lighting. Now, I do have a great lighting system and am starting to get the trace elements such as calcium. Next weekend I will have a good stock of these chemicals along with DT's phytoplankton.
Anyway, today I went to my LFS and bought a great little soft coral and was given some alkilinity raising chemicals for free. When I acclimated the new coral and put it in, I noticed my dead corals. And I got to thinking, should they be in there? Is there any reason why I should keep them in the tank? Or, should I just remove them? Thanks for any help.

 

[Navarre]

Sorry to hear about the loss of your corals )

Dont be so fast to follow your LFS suggestions however as you might meet other pitfalls. I assume you are attempting to keep hard corals/ (No easy task in a small tank that is for sure!) This means excellant quality water and high flow rates (20x volume at least) I agree wholeheartedly on the lighting but can you tell me what type of lighting you are going to use and should they be halides, what precautions will you take for the heat problems you will face?

As for trace elements... I would not rush into adding more chemicals to the system when it might not need it. I advise you to buy a set of good quality test kits and test for such things as calcium, magnesium etc before you add them to your tank. In a tnak of your size i would imagine that all the trace elements would simply be replaced when you do a regualr water change as long as you use a good quality salt.

 

[Opcn]

DT's goes fast, I've been rationing mine for the past few weeks.

 

[StingrayKid]

Thanks for the replies. As for the lighting, (dont think its a halide, its compact flourecent with moonlighting and dimmerlighting) it has built in coolant systems to cool down the unit. Also, the temperature in the tank stays stable because I live in a cold climate, and its winter here, so, our house is heated. And, in the summer, I have air conditioning in the room that the tank is in, plus, I'll be running fans on the tanks glass surfaces. I may be getting a cooling unit later on.
I dont think I'll be getting any more hard corals for a while, at least until I sort everything out. I prefer softies anyway now that I've looked into them. But anyway, should I remove these dead corals?

 

[steelhealr]

I would remove them. I agree with Navarre. There is absolutely NO reason to dose your tank with trace elements, especially in a nano reef. Calcium is the only one to be concerned with and even THIS is not that important in the beginning except for buffering. Stay with regular weekly water changes and use a good salt. SH

 

[Navarre]

If you do not intend to keep hard corals or the tank is setup to be predominantly soft then dont dose the tank.
Calcium is not as importaqnt for soft corals as it is for hard corals as these will use it for constructing and building. If anything i would keep iodine handy as this is always beneficial for a system but i do recomend that you only rely on the salt for keeping trace levels constant.

 

[StingrayKid]

Okay, so I'll keep doing my weekly water changes with the good salt. I buy water pre-mixed from the LFS and they tell me its good stuff. Not sure on the brand. I'm going to remove the dead corals. Thanks for the help.