Water change
- Thread starter PitViper
- Start date
Well after reading what you wrote about the tank and sizing of it and fish. And the bioload. It all completely makes sense. SO WITH THAT SAID... I am going to take the advice. The over loading of a tank is what I am very worried because I stressed myself out with my wife’s old 36 gallon tank because there were more fish in it then what was needed. So I over loaded the system. Well I let her over the system. And I’m not willing to do that again. So I agree with starting out with a few corals I was thinking along the lines of Zoas. Unless there is a better idea for beginners. Trust me I’m all ears.
As far as research goes. Believe me I have done a lot of research... BUT with all the research in the world. It doesn’t prepare you for first hand... hands on experience. Like the diotoms. I wasn’t expecting that. Now I have seen how to help take care of it. But again nothing prepares for the real thing when it’s in front of you. So I am very excited to have my first tank. And on top of that I am very very to have people here who are willing to help me out. And other beginners.
The post above yours about KH reflecting the PH. My PH is a solid 8.0. For corals is it supposed to be a bit higher? Or no? Is that a good number for my PH?
As far as research goes. Believe me I have done a lot of research... BUT with all the research in the world. It doesn’t prepare you for first hand... hands on experience. Like the diotoms. I wasn’t expecting that. Now I have seen how to help take care of it. But again nothing prepares for the real thing when it’s in front of you. So I am very excited to have my first tank. And on top of that I am very very to have people here who are willing to help me out. And other beginners.
The post above yours about KH reflecting the PH. My PH is a solid 8.0. For corals is it supposed to be a bit higher? Or no? Is that a good number for my PH?
Reef salt vs regular ocean salt mix.
Reef salt vs regular ocean salt mix.
Yes I have the canister. BUT the big thing is that it is really the same stuff as what came with it. Just a larger scale and more surface area. Not bioballs that was a miswording on my part. It's the biofilter media. My local LFS uses this stuff in their sumps. And there is a ton of them. In his sumps. And these things are Pristine.
Reef salt vs regular ocean salt mix.
Yes I have the canister. BUT the big thing is that it is really the same stuff as what came with it. Just a larger scale and more surface area. Not bioballs that was a miswording on my part. It's the biofilter media. My local LFS uses this stuff in their sumps. And there is a ton of them. In his sumps. And these things are Pristine.
Some people have a lot of success with zoas and others have trouble keeping them. Personally, I've had tanks where they've thrived and tanks where they withered and died. There are some other softies that are bulletproof though.
I wouldn't worry about your pH. Most people don't monitor it very closely like they do in the freshwater world. I'm sure some people do, but it doesn't seem common to IME. I personally never check my pH. I might if my coral or fish started to look bad and all other parameters were good (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, phosphates, alk). Keeping nitrates and phosphate at reasonable levels (subjective and depends on the corals) and keeping alk stable (and calcium/mag up if you keep LPS or SPS) is what you're going to find most people put an emphasis on.
If you're going to keep softies and a small tank, keeping the salinity stable (keep the tank topped off, I recommend buying an ATO) and doing weekly 10% water changes will be the best thing you can do IME. This is assuming you have adequate lighting and filtration. Speaking of which, if you have a decent amount of live rock (or dead "reef" rock), that will be plenty for a biological filter. No need for other bio media. Your LFS probably does it because there's a very high bioload in the tanks with very little rock (it's hard to catch a fish when a tank's full of rock).
Dsekula
Member
When I first started I went to the lfs and got an assortment of frags. These were mostly soft coral and considered 'easy to keep'. One thing I found out is that sometimes you just can't keep something no matter how "easy" it is. You'll find that some things will also grow well in your tank for an unknown reason. For example, to this day pulsing xenia doesn't like my tank(s) but regular Xenia does. I could probally put forth tons of effort to make it grow and maybe be successful but why unless I just had to have it. My suggestion is to find a lfs or friend to get some frags off and see what the natural charcter of your tank is going to be once everything is stable. Get a relatively inexpensive mix of frags, get mostly things that are considered easy but if something's considered a little more challenging look into why and consider it and your situation. The light water and flow will dictate what thrives. Once you get a handle on what naturally grows well you can broaden the spectrum finding coral that like similar parameters and adjusting the tank slightly to meet other requirements.
Some that worked well for me from the beginning we're; mushrooms, zoas and palys, xenia, Monti caps, torch coral, bubble coral, acans, rock/flower anemone.
Items that died almost immediately included: green star polups, pulsing xenia, leathers (I still can't seen to keep one alive), favites (brain coral), gonipora..
As you can see these arnt all necessarily on the easy or hard list
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Some that worked well for me from the beginning we're; mushrooms, zoas and palys, xenia, Monti caps, torch coral, bubble coral, acans, rock/flower anemone.
Items that died almost immediately included: green star polups, pulsing xenia, leathers (I still can't seen to keep one alive), favites (brain coral), gonipora..
As you can see these arnt all necessarily on the easy or hard list
Sent from my E6810 using Tapatalk
