How to prep tank for soft corals

[Karthalin]

I would like to start putting soft corals into my tank and I would like some advice at what I can do to start prepping my tank for them.

This is my first tank (see signature for details on build) and I so far things are going pretty good. The tank is a 92 gallon corner tank with jackarta pre-cured rock and 1 400w metal halide light in an enclosure. Temperature goes from 76 to 78 degrees F (I might raise it to 79-81 though). Everything has been up and running for about 4 weeks now. 1 week ago I added 2 clown fish and an anemone. I have come to find out that getting an anemone so soon is frowned upon around here, but hes doing pretty good so far (and I have learned not to do it again).

I am monitoring tank parameters daily and so far nothing has changed for the worse other then alkalinity (it has gone down since last week, currently at 2 mEq/L, was 3.5 mEq/L). Currently pH is 8.2 and steady, no detectable phosphates, ammonia, nitrite or nitrate. I do not have a calcium tester currently because at the moment I do not think I have anything eating so much calcium that I need to monitor it. I figure if I do a 10% water change once every 3-4 weeks the new salt will add enough calcium (pleaes correct me here if I am wrong)

Only residents in the tank so far are 2 clown fish, an anemone and 15 snails. I plan on putting in a filefish, a blue tank-bred mandarin and a tank bred dottyback (I forget the species name). After that I am going to let the tank sit for roughly two weeks to let things settle and then I want to start adding soft corals and eventually some easy to keep SPS.

I do want to add some bigger fish eventually (a Blue Tang, maybe a trigger if I can find a not-too-agressive one) but that is many months down the road.

Which leads me to this thread. Is there anything I can start doing to help prepare the tank for soft corals? From reading it sounds like a lot of these things are like weeds, they are going to grow whether I want them to or not. Things I am thinkig of are gettting a calcium tester and start raising my calcium content and subsequently making sure my alkalinity doesnt go out of wahck. I am planning on a product called "One" to do this if I need to. Is this a good plan to start so early with keeping my calcium levels up or do I even need to worry about this now? Anything else I can do to help prep my tank for soft corals and eventually SPS (hardy SPS for a beginner like me)?

 

[Catastrophi]

Looks like you have everything set. Some softy's can get out of hand, such as xenia and mushrooms, but you can isolate them on their own rock if need be.

With a 92 corner tank, I'm not sure you have the length to keep tangs, besides maybe a yellow or scopas. Tangs generally like rooom to swim length wise.

 

[Karthalin]

Judging from the lack of responses seems soft corals are going to be relatively easy to keep.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Once your tank water prams are stable and you have the correct lighting in place, then you can start adding softies.

 

[silverking]

once you get alk and cal right. i recommend dripping kalk for all your top off water. if this done you should not have to add anything to keep your paramaters in line. softies are just like other corals. keep things steady and you will get good growth. i have also found that nice random flow is best, nothing to strong.

 

[Karthalin]

Yea I have been contemplating adding a second, 550gph poer head to the left side of the tank, near the bottom shooting at the front bow to disperse the flow. Need to experiment a bit with that idea.

 

[lgtentacle]

I have a few recommendations for you. I'd keep the temp of the tank at the current level rather than bumping it up. Corals can die very quickly at high temps (just about anything over 86 degrees unless you super saturate your water with oxygen), I'm not sure where you live, but most of the U.S. can get toasty right about now. The lower temps you listed give a better safety range and the corals are fine with that temp. I'd hold off on getting any fish (like the mandarin) that will eat the pods (amphipods/copepods) in your tank. Let your tank get a healthy colony of the bugs before you get the bug eating fish. You'll still need to dose your tank with additives because a 10% water change isn't going to cut it once the corals start growing, especially if you want to do sps at some point. Start with polyps and mushrooms since they are the easiest corals (and the most forgiving if your water parameters start getting messed up), then progress with the easier soft corals, LPS corals, and SPS corals. Don't be in a hurry and ask lots of questions before you make additions. This will save a lot of animals lives and save you alot of money. The reef hobby is expensive if you make a lot of mistakes and the consequences of making mistakes is why alot of people leave the hobby.

 

[NanoReefNoob]

Ok so yal said that you have to have the right lighting for softies. I have a 14G Biocube all stock with skimmer. Are the stock lights of the Biocube good enough or would I have to upgrade. I do not plan on moving up to SPS any time soon at all. Just softies, a clown and a orange spoted goby and perhaps one more peacefull fish.

Thanks for the thread and the help