Reef advice/opinions
- Thread starter Makled24
- Start date
nursedude
Member
Personally, one of the greater PITB I had with prior reefs was top off water. I live in the very dry SW, and I lose 1/2-3/4 gallon a day on 66 gallon more on the larger tanks I owed. My best investment an auto top off (ATO) with a 10 gallon storage container. This is expensive and may seem like a luxury but for me is a now a necessity. I like my Tunze unit with the redundancy built in you may find one less expensive. Plus the ATO will keep you salinity rock solid.
As far as corals, it may be decision time do you want a mixed reef or a softy tank (more research to ensue based on what you choose). Soft corals could include easy leathers, mushrooms, polyps. Green star polyps are a crowd favorite. I would get a piece of rubble and sequester it on that, they can be invasive once growing . Hardy LPS corals would be an option as well, frogspawn, bubble coral, brain coral. These of course require stable Mg, Alk, and Ca with low organic nutrients. The more you add the more nutrients you create so go slow.
Not sure if you have fish stores near by, but if you decide to add more rock go big, find a beautiful piece of live rock with tons of life. I did this with a prior aquarium added rock slowly and had found some amazing pieces. Some may already have coral as well. Wish you much success.
As far as corals, it may be decision time do you want a mixed reef or a softy tank (more research to ensue based on what you choose). Soft corals could include easy leathers, mushrooms, polyps. Green star polyps are a crowd favorite. I would get a piece of rubble and sequester it on that, they can be invasive once growing . Hardy LPS corals would be an option as well, frogspawn, bubble coral, brain coral. These of course require stable Mg, Alk, and Ca with low organic nutrients. The more you add the more nutrients you create so go slow.
Not sure if you have fish stores near by, but if you decide to add more rock go big, find a beautiful piece of live rock with tons of life. I did this with a prior aquarium added rock slowly and had found some amazing pieces. Some may already have coral as well. Wish you much success.
Miles_Glasser
New member
mcgyvr
New member
It most certainly can given the right conditions.. I've had "waiving hand anthelia" go from a 1" square to over 10 square feet in just a few months..
To the OP.. Just checking but you do know that "top off water" should be fresh water and not saltwater right? (salt doesn't evaporate)..
And you add corals when you are sure you can keep your parameters in a good range and most importantly stable..
Reef Update
Reef Update
Hello everyone! My first year of reefing was full of ups and downs (mainly do to me neglecting the tank.) As I am getting back into it I wanted to give an update of my reef and also ask for some advice on a few things. For starters here is the tank as it stands today:
I was interested in upgrading the tank and my debate is between upgrading the lights (LEDs), adding a protein skimmer (Eshopps PSK-100H), or upgrading the power heads (MP10.) How would you guys prioritize these 3 things?
Lastly I was having some coral trouble even though my water tested with no issues at my LFS. What are your thoughts on this frogspawn? It was fine for 8 months but the last 4 months it has been sitting just like this:
Other coral that is struggling:
Your advice is greatly appreciated, thank you all!
Reef Update
Hello everyone! My first year of reefing was full of ups and downs (mainly do to me neglecting the tank.) As I am getting back into it I wanted to give an update of my reef and also ask for some advice on a few things. For starters here is the tank as it stands today:
I was interested in upgrading the tank and my debate is between upgrading the lights (LEDs), adding a protein skimmer (Eshopps PSK-100H), or upgrading the power heads (MP10.) How would you guys prioritize these 3 things?
Lastly I was having some coral trouble even though my water tested with no issues at my LFS. What are your thoughts on this frogspawn? It was fine for 8 months but the last 4 months it has been sitting just like this:
Other coral that is struggling:
Your advice is greatly appreciated, thank you all!
mcgyvr
New member
Depending on what lights you have now and if you intend to keep pursuing corals then lights is #1 priority.. A skimmer is totally optional and no one needs a fancy wavemaker either..
Neglect is never good and IMO neither is starting with a frogspawn.. Hammers/frogs/torch corals while typically lumped into medium/beginner corals often times suffer the fate of being totally fine month then just one day go south and never recover..
And that is what a favia coral they IMO aren't the best beginner corals either and can be picky about light,etc..
Looks like you have the wonderful cyanobacteria too there..
I'd start by doing some extensive water changes to siphon out as much of the cyano as you can and see if you can kick that...
That will also help "reset" your water parameters as best as possible (we would rather you post actual numbers vs "no issue" as far as parameters go too..)
Neglect is never good and IMO neither is starting with a frogspawn.. Hammers/frogs/torch corals while typically lumped into medium/beginner corals often times suffer the fate of being totally fine month then just one day go south and never recover..
And that is what a favia coral they IMO aren't the best beginner corals either and can be picky about light,etc..
Looks like you have the wonderful cyanobacteria too there..
I'd start by doing some extensive water changes to siphon out as much of the cyano as you can and see if you can kick that...
That will also help "reset" your water parameters as best as possible (we would rather you post actual numbers vs "no issue" as far as parameters go too..)
Yeah I had a major cyano takeover which is when I tested my water. I forgot to record the specific numbers but will include those in future posts. I’ve steadily been doing water changes and cleaning up what remains of the cyano.
As for the frogspawn should I just leave it in there hoping one day it recovers? Or is it probably done for? Thanks for the input
Sorry I forgot to mention the lighting situation. I currently am running an aquatic life T5 setup. It has one ATI blue plus and one ATI coral plus. What type of upgrade would you recommend? The tank is 36 inches so it makes LEDs tricky as I would need two.
Drewbe147
New member
Euphyllias definitely can be tricky but as long as there is some life there is a chance of it recovering. Idk if or how recent you did the lighting change or whatnot but acclimating them to the new light is also key. Moderate light moderate flow has worked for me. Theres tons of videos on youtube about proper flows/light acclimation/ and overall Euphyllia care as well as specifically frogspawn care that can help you learn alot about it. Check your nutrients make sure nothing is crazy thats causing the reaction. Check your lighting intensity for the frogspawn and check the flow. If the flow is too hard the polyps can hurt themselves on their skeleton and retract as well. Euphyllias as well as other corals have zooxanthellae inside them that grows and has a symbiotic relationship which light intensity or changes can change the amount needed and the coral has to adjust. You can try moving the coral lower or shade it see if it bounces back then slowly move it back to its destination desired if proper flow is there. I absolutely love Euphyllias so I understand the desire to have them but they can be very picky and I agree they aren’t a easy coral per say either. Best of luck
