Few questions on DSB, coralline, and first frag/coral

[leilani]

Hello just a few things

• There are many small bubbles and built up diatoms that I can see in the sand against the glass of my tank... can I disturb the sand to the loosen the bubbles or should I just leave it alone? It's a 4" sand bed, tank is about 5 weeks old.
My nassarius snails and conch have only been in the tank a day so I haven't had a chance to see just how much they'll mix up the sand.

• My params are great and I've had 2 clowns living healthily and happily for a week. When would be a good time to try out my first frag/coral?
I'd really like to get the clowns some frogspawn. Also I haven't noticed any growth in coralline... idk if that makes a difference.

Thanks guys, your help is much appreciated

ps. just to add really quickly:
20gallon H (w/ a biocube skimmer, no sump/fuge)
ph 8.2
sg 1.024
temp 77.5 - 81 depending on time of day
calc 440
alk 11
amm nitrite nitrate: 0
phosphates undetectable

 

[spw4949]

I would not disturb the sand bed just yet, wait & see what the nassarius & conch do. If they don't do enough you can add a few more. What type of clowns do you have? Only reason I ask is because they may not take to the frogspawn. A frogspawn would be IMO a great 1st coral, very hardy & tolerable. Your params look great, the only thing I may worry about would be the temp variation. Hopefully someone else will weigh in on that, I would add a small heater & try to keep the tank at a somewhat constant temp but that's just me, like I said hopefully someone else will weigh in on that. As far as coraline goes I'm not surprised that your not seeing any just yet, it will come in time. When it does keep a close eye on your calcium level as coraline will deplete it depending on how much is in the tank. Sounds like everything is going well good luck with the frogspawn.

 

[leilani]

Hi Steve,

thanks for the help :]

I bought them of an RC friend who says they are tank-bred true percs... does that makes them a. ocellaris (?)

 

[MileHighFish]

What lights are you running? A old school rule of thumb is to not add corals till you see coraline on your walls, IMO the rule still is good. It takes 2-3 months normally to get coraline.

 

[leilani]

I have a Tek 4x24 T5 fixture (http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_ViewI...y~FILTFIT54U~category~24in_Units~vendor~.html) which sits on DIY mounts about 5 inches above the water surface.

I just remembered that a friend of mine suggested I wait until I see at least a dime-sized section of new coralline growth on the glass. Soo I guess I will wait :]

 

[spw4949]

IDK about that theory honestly, I added corals before I saw coraline....could just be me. Anyone else?

 

[token]

Well, if coralline can form, you can know that Calcium is present and available for your corals.

I prefer to wait for the "Green Algae on Glass" Phase to pass before I add any stony corals, LPS or SPS. In this waiting method, one is allowing the surge of nitrates from the dying "red algae phase" to pass. When the green algae struggles to find nutrients, I begin to test for nitrate and add corals when I get low enough. This can take a while, and is often much longer than the point at which I see coralline forming.

FWIW, I can grow coralline on every surface -but- rock...

 

[THE ROOK]

9 months & no coraline. Recently added a frogspawn & bta. Both are doing excellent.

 

[spw4949]

You can test for calcium though, that's how you know it's present. When the coraline comes you have to watch it closer because that coraline is now competing with your corals for said calcium....

 

[token]

I didn't mean to imply that one can avoid testing for calcium. That's critical but the presence of coralline, to me, indicates that the system is ready to be tested, if that makes sense. Until coralline is actively growing, I consider it somewhat a waste of my time and money to test for it if the tank is new and still going through the various cycles associated with a new system.

Some people, for whatever reasons and despite obvious success, never seem to be accumulators of coralline. Coralline is only one benchmark, imo, to use. It's not the only one but it's a good one.

 

[token]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14317862#post14317862 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by leilani
Hi Steve,

thanks for the help :]

I bought them of an RC friend who says they are tank-bred true percs... does that makes them a. ocellaris (?)

A. percula and A. ocellaris are different species that look very similar. When someone says "true perc" I would think they mean they are -not- ocellaris, which are often referred to as "perc's" due to the similarities between the two.

 

[MileHighFish]

Like I said in my post its an old school rule of thumb, the idea is to give the tank time and not to rush in. People new to the hobby tend to go the LFS each and every pay day (I know I use to) and pick up a thing or two, and within two months have fully stocked tank. Then they are posting on here they have a nitrate issue etc and cant figure out why?? Only bad things happen fast in this hobby, you will have a much more stable system by taking your time.

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

ocellaris are also usually referred to as false percula. The best way to tell them apart is the black strip between the white and orange. True purcs have a thicker black strip and another way is counting their spines on the dorsal fin. True percs have 10 and false have 11.

disclaimer: But this isn't all inclusive. Some false percs have thicker black stripes and some true percs have thinner ones. And true percs can have only 9 spines and false can also have 10.