FOWLR about to start building a mixed Reef

[rkmcdon]

Hello all. My apologies if this is the wrong forum. It seemed the most appropriate. Mods, if i've chosen poorly, could you please move me to the proper location?

I have a 55 gallon FOWLR that has been up for 2 years. I made the huge mistake of having it maintained, so I've only been in the hobby myself for about 3 months.

My tank specifics are:
55gallon (48"x12"x20") tank with 1-2" live sand bed
2x AI SOL blue
approx 70 pounds of live Rock
HOB overflow
Sump with protein skimmer
3 gallon hang on Refugium with chaeto, DSB, LR
Jaeboa RW8 wavemaker

My parameters have been rock solid for 1-2 months with my most recent readings yesterday being:

pH 8
SpG 1.024
Ca 440
Alk 10
Mg 1500
Nitrite/Nitrate/Ammonia 0
P04 0.009

I do a 10% water change weekly at present which I believe is more than is strictly necessary from my reading but I couldn't seem to find any evidence that it was harmful and it just kind of worked itself into part of my routine.

Right now I have my CUC, a pair of black and white oscellaris, a yellow tang, lawnmower blenny, 2 scarlet skunks, a fire shrimp and a peppermint shrimp. I'll be adding a royal gramma and clown goby in the near future.

Over the next 2 months I plan on adding a maxima, rose bubble and my first coral which will be a Zoa. I've been reading like mad in preparation and at times it seems like all the info is bouncing around inside my brain and getting mixed up, so I thought I'd start this thread as a way to sort out my own thoughts, ask some questions and get whatever feedback I can. I've made a spread sheet of the corals I plan to use including water flow and lighting requirements, depth zone I'd like to put them in and which are more aggressive and need additional space.

Below are the types of corals (and the above mentioned inverts) I'd like to add, one at a time, with numbers representing the tiers or rough order I plan to add them (based on my level of want and difficulty to keep). I will trim back or add variety as I get a better feel for my available space.

1st Tier
red bulb anemone
Maxima
Palythoa
Zoa
Acan
Blasto

2nd Tier
Frogspawn
Hammer
Lobophylia
Pulsing Xenia

3rd Tier
Sympodium
Rhodactis
Birdsnest

4th Tier
Montepora
Acropora
Elegance Coral

My feeding plan for the tank is flake and pellet 50/50 mix each morning, nori for grazing, rod's original broadcast in the evening, coral frenzy to target feed those needed and I have reef bugs just to try out intermittently. I'm also trying to propogate copepods in my refugium for my blenny and the clown goby I plant to get later

I've been reading on settings on my SOL blues and they seem to be all over the place because of the all the differences in tanks and reefs. I've settled on the following:

10a-12 White ramps up to 50%
12-2p Blues ramp up to 65%
2-6p 50%w/65%b/65%rb
6-8p white ramps down to off
8-10p blues ramp down to off
Refugium light is on from 10p-10a

So my first question is, does this seem a reasonable starting point for my lights? I know that's a tough question and I'll likely have to adjust, but I'm trying to determine If I'm in the right ballpark. Unfortunately, I don't really understand how to know when adjustments are needed for coral health. My take so far has been if I notice bleaching to turn the lights down, if they look like they need more light, increase the lights, but I have no idea how to tell if they look like they need more light.

I know I have a few that are aggressive and will have to be given their space, but does anyone see any other obvious conflicts with the corals I'm considering?

When first introducing them I will temp acclimate, drip acclimate, dip and then set them on the sand with the lights off for the first night. After that I know to gradually move them towards the desired location, but again, the things I've read say to leave them in an area until they have adjusted then inch them towards the desired location.

As someone new to the hobby, how do I tell if they are ready to be moved to the next location?

Is there a set time I need to spend at each location?

If I consider my tank to have bottom, middle and top zones, each time the coral looks ready to be moved (assuming I can tell) can I go up one zone until they are at the desired location or do I need to move them slower?

Ok, I actually have other questions, but looking at the length of this, I should probably stop here for now. Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
Rodney

 

[ShesEasy]

Sounds like an awesome plan

One thing I'd say is avoid nems

One thing I've lernt in my short while is thwre not worth the hassle... Infact my mom almost lost her entire tank cause one clombed into her jet and blended itself and killed almost every fish and coral

 

[thegrun]

Here would be my suggestions:
Move the anemone and the clam into the last tier. Anemones require very stable water parameters and both the clam and anemone require a high amount of light. Get used to keeping your water parameters stable and in the correct range before adding either. Anemoies and corals are often a bad mix, as when the anemone goes on a walk about they kill most corals in their path, you can have both, but expect coral losses.The clam will also use a lot of alkalinity and calcium, so you will want to be proficient at testing and dosing before you add them.
You could combine tier one and two without any issues. Be careful with the xenia, it can spread quickly and overrun a tank. If you decide you want it either keep it on a rock island surrounded by sand or at least high up on the rocks as it tends to grow up towards the light. It is beautiful but you need to stay on top of it or it will spread.
I suspect you will end up needing to increase the intensity of the lights to close to 100% when you add the more light demanding corals, but your listed starting point will work with the lower light demanding corals.
Here is a good website listing the light and water flow requirements of most of the corals commonly found in the trade, it may help you with coral placement:
https://sites.google.com/a/asira.org/www2/caresheets

What do you plan on using for calcium and alkalinity replacement, kalkwasser, two part or a calcium reactor? With a mixed reef I highly recommend you run a carbon reactor and most likely you will end up needing a GFO reactor as well.
Best of luck!
-Mike

 

[rkmcdon]

Thanks for the input guys. I can put the clam and anemone off for a bit. I have the brs two part for calcium and alk. How important is it to run carbon, and is the decision to run gfo mainly of I start to have trouble keeping phosphates in check? my sump doesn't have a lot of space so a reactor would be a tight fit at best

 

[joshky]

GFO and carbon are a personal choice, there are plenty of us who do not use either and have successful tanks.

 

[rkmcdon]

Thanks Joshky

Anyone have any thoughts on the coral acclimation? I've read plenty of guides, but they all seem to use rather vague wording that doesn't seem to help much for someone who will be doing this the first time.

Are my lights low enough that I can just pick a spot that seems to have the light and flow requirements for that particular coral or should I always start on the sandbed? If I should start on the sandbed, pointers on how slowly I should move them and what I should look for to know when its time to move them would be greatly appreciated.

I thought I would be doing the clam and anemone first and had a month or so for the first coral, but it looks like I will be pushing those back which means I can add my first as soon as I can get a few things figured out.

Another source of vagueness i need to sort out, is on some of the semi-aggressive and aggressive species i see statements about giving them "plenty of room", but i have not once seen anything to help me figure out what "plenty of room" is for a given coral.

Sorry to have so many stupid questions, but as I said, this will be my first coral to try to keep.

Also, here's a pic of my sump to give a better idea of the limited space i'm working with. A pic of my tank as well just because

 

[rkmcdon]

Here is a good website listing the light and water flow requirements of most of the corals commonly found in the trade, it may help you with coral placement:
https://sites.google.com/a/asira.org/www2/caresheets

Btw, the first time I read your reply was on my phone and I missed this link. Just took a look at it tonight and wanted to say Thanks! I believe it will prove very useful. I've been using the info on liveaquaria, but having a second source with more detail will be nice.

 

[dieselkeeper]

I have a carpet anemone in a 40 br with clowns. I have the nem in a mug. Hasn't moved any at all. So I can put it just about any where I want it. I just piled the rock around the cup to hide it. Might consider this when stacking your rock. Keep a place open for the nem.

 

[rkmcdon]

Like a mug mug? I'm picturing an anemone in my morning coffee mug but that seems to deep. Am I just misunderstanding?

 

[rkmcdon]

I have a carpet anemone in a 40 br with clowns. I have the nem in a mug. Hasn't moved any at all. So I can put it just about any where I want it. I just piled the rock around the cup to hide it. Might consider this when stacking your rock. Keep a place open for the nem.

If you look at the pic of my tank, about 3-4 inches below the tang is a slightly hollowed out ledge that gets good water flow and light. That is where I'd like to put a bubbletip

 

[dieselkeeper]

Like a mug mug? I'm picturing an anemone in my morning coffee mug but that seems to deep. Am I just misunderstanding?

I had to treat it with ciprofloxacin when I got. That is how I handled it to clean the tank when I was treating it. I tried taking it out but was always moving around. Ended up stuck to a power head. Luckily it didn't get chopped up. So I decided to put it back in a, how you put it, a mug mug. Never moves, stays put. I'm a little worried about the foot being so deep in the mug with no circulation.