corals

[Nakie31]

Hello everyone please tell me what you think, I am new to the hobby (41/2 months) I have a 72 gl. bow front and I have lost about 7 fish so far in my tank so far (moving to fast). Now I have 2 clowns and 2 cleaner shrimp, and a good size clean up crew. I was thinking I should slow down on my fish population for a few months. I want to begin to add and build up my coral population. Please tell me what you think I should I concentrate on just adding coral in my tank for a while and in maybe 4-5 months start back adding a new fish?

 

[Caurimare]

I would say that is a great idea, just keep up with water changes , keep your parameters in order, start with easy corals like torches, mushrooms , zoas ,etc. and then in a couple of months start adding fish slowly.

 

[Nakie31]

Thanks for your reply let me ask this should I add the calcium liquid my LFS gave me when I got my first two zoas? cause they died

 

[Bogue Chitto]

You only need to add calcium as it gets depleted by corals, etc digesting it, or if your calcium level is low from the start. Your calcium should be fine from your water changes. Just test and see

 

[davehead86]

Common rule of thumb around here i thought was to wait at least 6 months to introduce corals. With the trouble youve been having with fish Id wait on the corals since they require more time / effort / more stable system.

Do you know why the fish died (specifically)? What are your parameters? Lights? Sump?

 

[Sk8r]

Light type? Strength?
You can start a tank with corals, as long as you can satisfy their light requirement, as long as you DIP them to remove parasites (observe softies for a few extra days because predator eggs may hatch) and as long as you can satisfy their water requirement. My sig line has 'pretty good' parameters for a stony reef and it won't be bad for softies either.
Softies are lower light. With stony, try for 10000 k to 13000 k, either T5, metal halide, or LED.

 

[e048]

What kind of fish did you have that died?

 

[stingeragent]

Curious also. How did you lose 7 fish. Ich, or what? You can add corals no problem, but I'd figure out whats killing the fish also.

 

[Nakie31]

I had 2 blue green chromis , 2 cardinals, 1 fire fish, 2 orange clownfish, 2 orange face black and white clowns. Now I only have 1 orange clown and 1 orange face clown. I think I may have introduced something in my tank when I added the 2 orange clown fish, but there was no signs of ick or anything on the dead fish. It weird because some of the fish I still haven't found. The two remaining fish are doing fine.

MY salinity is 1.025
Ph is 8.8
Ammonia is 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0

 

[Caurimare]

I don't know if you ever had the 4 clowns at the same time but as a rule of thumb you don't want to have more than a pair per tank.
Start testing for calcium, magnesium and alkalinity before adding corals just to be safe.
Something must be off or are you already adding any additives..... That ph is pretty high!

 

[e048]

You have a cuc? Your missing fish were probably eaten when they died

Did you qt? How'd u acclimate them

 

[Dkuhlmann]

Yes that PH is pretty high at 8.8. Are you sure that was correct? Did you do it again to double check your first results?

 

[Nakie31]

Corals

Corals

Should I dose with this calcium carbonator before or after I add my coral?

 

[Dkuhlmann]

Not unless your corals are depleting it from your salt mix. Don't ever dose anything unless it's being consumed by your tank inhabitants. This is why the test kits are available so you know what your water needs. If you only do softies, zoas and a few LPS then your water changes will replenish what they used.

 

[Sk8r]

DO this. At your lfs or online from one of our nice sponsors, get:
1. Salifert alkalinity test, magnesium test, calcium test.
2. Kent DKH Alkalinity Buffer, Kent Tech-M magnesium supplement; Kent Turbo calcium.
I name these in the interests of telling you something easy to find that I know is easy to read and use. They match each other. If alk is low, dose buffer by instructions, wait at least 12 hours, test again. Mark your parameters match mine.
Be sure your lights are at least T5 reef lighting.
Start a new coral on the bottom. Superglue it to a piece of limestone rubble (your lfs will have this for sale) and move it up gradually until it looks happy and spreads out.
Run tests every week and write down the results in a little book you keep.
If something starts to drop, like alk, eg, dose a little to correct it, and re-test in 12 hours and see if it fixed it. If everything is screwy, dose mg first, until it's right, then dose alk until it's right, then dose calcium until it's right. I don't know what they sold you, but take it back and get the test kits. They'll last you at least a year.

Also get some nitrile exam gloves (pharmacy) to use when messing with corals. You and they will both be happier.

There's a little post over in Reef Discussion in the stickies called Dirt-simple Chemistry---read that. It'll explain more.