My Marine Journal

[black molly3]

i have just read this on a site. is this true
Adding corals will cause your water parameters to change. Check your water parameters frequently with a test kit. Once water parameters have stabilized, you can start adding fish. Adding fish last reduces the possibility of disease resulting from fluctuating water parameters that occur when other livestock is added to the aquarium. After your fish have been in the aquarium for a few days, you may also wish to add invertebrates to control the amount of decaying material in your aquarium. These may include sea stars and sea cucumbers. Remember, when adding fish, add the small, peaceful fish first, and the more territorial, aggressive fish last.

 

[rabbut]

Half right....

A good shop selling good stock will have no bearing on the waterquality in the tank. If the stock is poor or does not travel well, corals shedding excess slime and/or dieing can caurse issues with water quality. Some slime is normal, and a skimmer will quickly clear it up, but excessive slime may overwhelm the skimmer....

In short, with a good supplier, you will not have any issues ading corals after fish

Stony corals will increase demand on Alk, Calc and Mg though, so I would test more regularly after increasing the number of stony corals in the system...

All the best
Rabbut

 

[black molly3]

just got back from my lfs with my cCUC i got 5 turbos and 1 hermit i asked for 4 turbos she gave me 5 and i got this for 13 pound is that good. i will be paying anoyther visit. can anyone tell me what nitus snails are as they had them there

 

[black molly3]

next week if water parameters are ok after water change i will get my first fish on the friday. would it be ok to add a leather at that time.

 

[rabbut]

Should be fine. Acclimate slowly (unless anything looks particularly sickly, in which case I'd rush it in) and place the leather in a high-flow area once acclimated and all should be well

 

[black molly3]

ok thanks. will a ricordia be more appropriate than a leather or does it not matter as they are both asy to care for. my team of tubos have cleaned my rock dry of diatoms haha in the smace of less than 24 hours haha and my little red legged hermit has been munching away at a few diatoms on the gravel. amonia still 0 and nitrite 0 i am beggining to feel things are going right for me this time as last time i just rushed straight into it with my little 6 gal. i dont mind waiting now as i know it will look great in the end. would a kenya tree be ok after about 2 weeks. i am just having 1 maroon clownfish in there now with maybee a clown gobie and a cleaner shrimp. my experience with a coownfish and a shrimp in my 12 gal was fine so i am going to give it a go.

ordered some aiptesia x which should be here either tomorrow or monday. my xenia on my LR is huge now and little ones are popping up all over the rock its incradable the amount of growth in the tank and the amount of life in thre even with no fish. i find myself just staring into the tank watching nothing haha. i am going to keep the live rock with xenia on in the same place as it is now until the xenia grow a few inches tall then i will just turn the rock around so they catch the flows better.

any ideas for corals under my 2 t5 18 watt lighting please let me know

 

[Truck]

i would add a leather before a ric. one maroon clown will definitely be too active for a tank of this size. stick with percs or occelaris, clowns. the clown goby may nip at some softies and LPS corals (they will nip SPS too, but i doubt youll have sps in this tank. look at the green clown goby

personally i would stick with one fish not two, but if you have to have two add the clown goby first then the clownfish (damsel, not goby)

a few coral suggestions.

leathers
rics
xenia
polyp colonies
you could try a euyphillia but it will grow big and sting neighbouring corals, and would need to be near the top of the tank.
sun corals... very nice addition i would put it about half way up the tank and would turn of powerheads, or put a sheild around it and target feed every 2 days with BBS, mysis etc

 

[black molly3]

ok thanks for that i like the idea of the sun coral however i may wait about a month until i add that just to make sure everything is ok in my tank and i will be more experienced then. also one thing i like and is in most marine tanks is the effect of coraline algea up the back of the tank. how will i achieve this effect faster or is it a slow process

 

[Truck]

ive heard of purple up but i dont know if it works, im guessing it will just help nuisance algae take hold

 

[black molly3]

do turbos eat hair algea. i have spotted some at the back only very small. what should i do should i scrub it off or leave it to them. i am leaving my lights on the majority of the day from when i wake up at about 8 until about 10 at night then my blue leds go on for the rest of the night. is this too much to

 

[Truck]

im sure the crabs will have it. reduce the lighting so they come on at 10 and go off at 10

 

[black molly3]

ok the crabs will not be able to reach it it is on the back wall haha. anything what can get to it?

 

[Truck]

the turbos may if its short, but pull it out if not.

 

[kj23502]

I don't even have my lights on my tank right now. Just going through a cycle anyway.

 

[black molly3]

o yes forgot to say i got some sunburst coral donated to me from the lfs which is a good thing. he is all out now if you would like a pic