RenRuthless
New member
Hi guys,
New to this group and semi-new to reef keeping. I actually manage a lfs in my area and get hands on experience daily with my fish. However, my "specialty" is freshwater; but have recently joined the darkside after an opportunity arose to break down a customer's tank. Anyways, the owner of this shop is extremely knowledgeable with saltwater and I get a LOT of valuable information from him, but he's a busy man and makes it difficult to ask minor questions from him...so I'm here to speak with you wonderful people!
I get paid to ramble on about fish all day, so forgive me if this is a little winded. I'll leave my introduction for another time so I can try to keep this short and sweet.
I've started slow adding in my coral and have 2 types of hammer, 2 zoa frags, 1 fuzzy mushroom, and 1 feather duster (though I realize this doesn't count as a coral) and I've got an assorted cleanup crew and 2 fish. So here are my coral questions:
#1. First I'd like to know if there is anything I can improve upon with my coral care. My hammers have been growing fairly fast, but they seem to be somewhat "see through" majority of the time, the tentacles also don't seem to be super fat (though they don't seem unhealthy)
My zoas have been tricky. My boss insists that they're healthy and that I stare too closely (lol) but while the colors are great on my eagle eyes, some polyps occasionally look bummed out and have hardly opened back up. I think they may have gotten nipped at before I removed a peppermint shrimp. (it only stayed in my tank a week or two until it gave my feather duster a haircut and I swiftly brought it back to work) The other zoa frag I have is jenky. I brought it home because I loved the polyp pattern, but the large colony at work quite frankly looks like they grew in chaos and under the influence of some sort of alcoholic substance.
#2. Should/Can I dose with anything to improve the health of my coral? I was looking into Iodine, but my boss said not to. Told me I should just make sure my parameters stay perfect and good ol' water changes will be sufficient. I use RO-DI premixed water from work, we use Red Sea salt. We keep the salinity at a steady 1.024 but I try to keep my salinity between 24 and 26. My filtration is built in the back of the cube, which I have filled only with rubble and a pump. I use no chemicals, no purigen/chemi, no anything currently. I do dose the refrigerated DT's live marine phytoplankton occasionally to help keep up with the growth of my critters (I also feed Hikari Coral Gumbo) and I do have some chaeto, but I've kept simple and uncomplicated.
I do believe I should replace my bulbs soon because I'm unsure the age of them, but I can't tell if I have need more light or if I need to choose something less strong to make these guys happy.
Now for the photos: (sorry theyre huge, I have no clue how to resize them)
Eagle Eye Zoas when I first brought them home
Today
same lighting, though less cloudy so my phone lowered iso.
Hammer, when first brought home and had settled
today
Green hammer, this one is silly and the first day was drooping its tentacles flat and all over the place. its pretty, but it's still a little wild.
Today:
Fuzzy mushroom
today, seems happy enough, kind of see through at times unless under super dark blue light. was cupping the other day, but I believe it was due to too much light.
I'm not even going to share the green zoa I have. It just looks strange all the time and sometimes looks good, sometimes looks god awful. Right now it's mostly closed up and acting like it has the pox.
New to this group and semi-new to reef keeping. I actually manage a lfs in my area and get hands on experience daily with my fish. However, my "specialty" is freshwater; but have recently joined the darkside after an opportunity arose to break down a customer's tank. Anyways, the owner of this shop is extremely knowledgeable with saltwater and I get a LOT of valuable information from him, but he's a busy man and makes it difficult to ask minor questions from him...so I'm here to speak with you wonderful people!
I get paid to ramble on about fish all day, so forgive me if this is a little winded. I'll leave my introduction for another time so I can try to keep this short and sweet.
I've started slow adding in my coral and have 2 types of hammer, 2 zoa frags, 1 fuzzy mushroom, and 1 feather duster (though I realize this doesn't count as a coral) and I've got an assorted cleanup crew and 2 fish. So here are my coral questions:
#1. First I'd like to know if there is anything I can improve upon with my coral care. My hammers have been growing fairly fast, but they seem to be somewhat "see through" majority of the time, the tentacles also don't seem to be super fat (though they don't seem unhealthy)
My zoas have been tricky. My boss insists that they're healthy and that I stare too closely (lol) but while the colors are great on my eagle eyes, some polyps occasionally look bummed out and have hardly opened back up. I think they may have gotten nipped at before I removed a peppermint shrimp. (it only stayed in my tank a week or two until it gave my feather duster a haircut and I swiftly brought it back to work) The other zoa frag I have is jenky. I brought it home because I loved the polyp pattern, but the large colony at work quite frankly looks like they grew in chaos and under the influence of some sort of alcoholic substance.
#2. Should/Can I dose with anything to improve the health of my coral? I was looking into Iodine, but my boss said not to. Told me I should just make sure my parameters stay perfect and good ol' water changes will be sufficient. I use RO-DI premixed water from work, we use Red Sea salt. We keep the salinity at a steady 1.024 but I try to keep my salinity between 24 and 26. My filtration is built in the back of the cube, which I have filled only with rubble and a pump. I use no chemicals, no purigen/chemi, no anything currently. I do dose the refrigerated DT's live marine phytoplankton occasionally to help keep up with the growth of my critters (I also feed Hikari Coral Gumbo) and I do have some chaeto, but I've kept simple and uncomplicated.
I do believe I should replace my bulbs soon because I'm unsure the age of them, but I can't tell if I have need more light or if I need to choose something less strong to make these guys happy.
Now for the photos: (sorry theyre huge, I have no clue how to resize them)
Eagle Eye Zoas when I first brought them home
Today
same lighting, though less cloudy so my phone lowered iso.
Hammer, when first brought home and had settled
today
Green hammer, this one is silly and the first day was drooping its tentacles flat and all over the place. its pretty, but it's still a little wild.
Today:
Fuzzy mushroom
today, seems happy enough, kind of see through at times unless under super dark blue light. was cupping the other day, but I believe it was due to too much light.
I'm not even going to share the green zoa I have. It just looks strange all the time and sometimes looks good, sometimes looks god awful. Right now it's mostly closed up and acting like it has the pox.
