20 gallon

[ArowanaLover1902]

There’s an equipment thread here, you could go there to get a better understanding

 

[Corey Shelk]

Thank you! I'll try and get some vids sometime this week and in the meantime I'll check out the equipment thread

 

[Corey Shelk]

My coral shipment from Aquarium Depot just got here! I got my corals around 3:50 pm EST. They were well insulated with two ice packs that were still cool (it's hot down here in Florida) separated by some styrofoam and and then all in a styrofoam box that was in a card box box. Each coral was individually bagged, wrapped, and labeled. I got another green star polyps frag, 1 spotted rhodactis mushroom, and 2 zoas (candy Apple and rad dragon.) The corals are all closed, I also got 3 cerith snails wrapped in their own bag. After acclimating them And giving them some time I'll take pics (I'll probably have pics posted later tonight or tomorrow) Fingers crossed

 

[Corey Shelk]

Jk here is a picture of the mushroom. It looks pretty damaged, any advice?

 

[JBKReef]

After acclimating and settling in I'm sure it will be fine, Mushrooms are hardy and while it looks a bit beat up I'm sure it will be just fine.

 

[Corey Shelk]

After acclimating and settling in I'm sure it will be fine, Mushrooms are hardy and while it looks a bit beat up I'm sure it will be just fine.

Thank you. I should have them in by tonight.
Anyone know what I can use to cut down the frags they are on?

 

[JBKReef]

I use just a pair of pliers and gently pull the rubble off the plug. Usually its just a piece of rock glued to the plug. Easy to pop off and transplant onto a new plug or piece of rubble.

If the coral itself is encrusted or glued down use a pair of "bone cutters" more professional name but amazon will have what you're looking for.

I would always recommend a coral/invert QT tank and dip (corals) in either Bayer or some other coral dip to get rid of any unwanted pests.

Best of luck!

 

[ArowanaLover1902]

Definitely dip and quarantine, my last order from aquarium depot was very bad, most of it died within the week and brought zoa fungus with it. That was about a year ago and since then I actually spoke on the phone with the owner, who assured me he was changing the quality of the livestock. Still, I'm not 100% and their business has been one of the sketchiest in the hobby for a while (used to be Reefs2go). This was the order that made me start dipping my corals. They may have really turned around though, I'm eager to see how your corals from them turn out.

I encourage you to try to attain corals from nearby reefers and club meets, check craigslist. I'd also personally recommend many of the dealers on here.

Oftentimes, you can simply slide a pocketknife blade inbetween the rubble and the frag and it pops right off, its what I usually do.

 

[Corey Shelk]

Thank you both for the info! I've been running around since they arrived so I temp acclimated them and slowly started adding water from my tank to their bags after 2 hours. I didn't dip them in anything although now I'm wishing I did and I hope it won't bite me in the butt. I have the frags in the tank now and I'll see how they do after a day or two and then take them off of that plug they are on with pliers (I don't think any are encrusted onto it.) I just got long gloves from Amazon today and turns out I am super clumsy with them. I just shoved the bottom of the plugs into the sand for the two zoas and for the GSP and mushroom I put them both in between rocks with the coral sticking out. I could barely manipulate anything with the gloves on. Can anyone give me more info about the toxins? Like how do I know if they are released and when it's safe to put my bare hands in the water. Do they only release toxins when being fragged? Or is it something that is always there, etc. Also I have to keep an eye out for Langston constantly so that he doesn't pop up on me and hit me . Pics will come tomorrow because the lights are off right now
Also I really hope they have increased their quality since you ordered from them. I checked their reviews on these corals I got and they were all 4-5 stars. Plus I couldn't resist because the zoas were on sale for $2 each

 

[Corey Shelk]

Here are some pics of the frags. The first two pics are the zoas that are already starting to open up. In the second you can see Langston saying hi The 3rd are the green star polyps which are still all closed. The 4th is the mushroom.

 

[ArowanaLover1902]

Don’t worry about palytoxin, it’s there and it is a problem, but it’s really more common in Palythoas, the bigger cousin of zoanthids. I never use gloves and I think I have a *couple* (couple = minor addition) more zoas than you, plus palythoas. It’s a problem when you cut them and absorb it in your skin, just wear gloves and eye protection when you cut them and NEVER boil them or the rocks they’re on, that can aerosolize it. Also, move your gsp to a nice rock where it can grow separately, otherwise you’re going to have a big problem with it over growing later. Make sure they all have good flow and don’t put them on the sand bed unless you have a killer lighting system.

 

[ArowanaLover1902]

Nice haul, radioactives, one I don’t know, and the same mushroom I have (I got it from them too). I can’t see Langston in the picture, got any more pics of him?

 

[ArowanaLover1902]

Looking at those frags I’m sure a knife/file poked under them will pop them right off.

 

[Corey Shelk]

Here is a FTS and and shot from the side, I think I like the side view the best (layout wise.) You'll notice I added a black background and you'll also notice the huge amount of diatoms on the glass and the base rock that use to be stark white. I wiped down some of the back glass but didn't want to get too close to the substrate because I couldn't see Langston at the time and didn't want to scare him. I know correlation isn't causation but the diatoms sprang up immediately after using the coralline algae in a bottle :/ I had none and then after using the bottle I did only blue LEDs for the specific amount of time it said on the bottle and I turned the filter off for two hours (like the instructions said.) The next day I turn the lights back on and I start to see a little bit of diatoms on the white rocks but didn't think anything of it and then BAM, seemingly the next day they are everywhere. Has anyone had an experience with this? I honestly don't mind the diatoms on the rock because it gives it color, but the amount that was on the glass was ridiculous (you can see even in the side photo on where I scrubbed it off vs where I didn't)
I'm going to have to go buy some more macro algae and maybe another astrea snail. They have been eating the diatoms like real troopers.

 

[ArowanaLover1902]

Yep that’s diatoms in a nutshell. Just wait it out, they’ll leave. Personally I never scrub the back wall of the tank, it’s nice to have a place for snail algae to grow/microfauna to chill. Also those are palythoas in the left corner

 

[Corey Shelk]

Don’t worry about palytoxin, it’s there and it is a problem, but it’s really more common in Palythoas, the bigger cousin of zoanthids. I never use gloves and I think I have a *couple* (couple = minor addition) more zoas than you, plus palythoas. It’s a problem when you cut them and absorb it in your skin, just wear gloves and eye protection when you cut them and NEVER boil them or the rocks they’re on, that can aerosolize it. Also, move your gsp to a nice rock where it can grow separately, otherwise you’re going to have a big problem with it over growing later. Make sure they all have good flow and don’t put them on the sand bed unless you have a killer lighting system.

I have a palythoas too but I don't plan on fragging it anytime soon so I guess I'll be good. He is right in the shadow of the rock in the 2nd pic, you can just make out his eyes and general shape if you look closely, I'll try and get a better picture once he's back out. Also I'll remove them from the plugs once I get the glue to glue them down to the live rock where I want them, thank you! And I wanted the GSP to grow along that rock that comes up the middle and the back wall because I think it would look cool. But there are so many horror stories about it taking over the whole tank I might end up moving it to the front right corner and more the Xenia and those rubble rocks somewhere else

 

[Corey Shelk]

Yep that’s diatoms in a nutshell. Just wait it out, they’ll leave. Personally I never scrub the back wall of the tank, it’s nice to have a place for snail algae to grow/microfauna to chill. Also those are palythoas in the left corner

I honestly think I might sell the palythoas back to the LFS

 

[ArowanaLover1902]

Personally I’d say don’t worry about gluing them, zoanthids will attach themselves to the rock before long. I have a patch of trash palys that I hate, it’s broken off into a few baby colonies by now too. They’re ok, just not very pretty. That thing with the GSP does sound really cool, GSP just doesn’t usually do what you want it to.

 

[ArowanaLover1902]

I think I’m on your build thread more than my own by now

 

[Corey Shelk]

Yeah I'm really hoping they'll spread the way I want them to but I know the chances aren't the best. Yeah the palys only look good to be when it's just the blues. I'm glad the zoas will attach themselves. Now I just have to find where I want to put them. Do you know if the mushroom with attach itself?