Finally added fish and coral after 7 months- Parameter checking and coral identification

[hbubley]

Hey all!!

I'm new here, very excited to be in the hobby! I have been cycling my 75 gallon tank for the past 7 months, slowly adding in just some clean up crew. Last weekend I finally added my first pair of clownfish and a goby. Yesterday I added my first coral!
I would love some feedback on some of the parameters I checked this morning and possibly help identifying my new first coral (I honestly can't remember if it's a goni or a duncan).
I should also add that I added a protein skimmer 2 days ago (that all seems to be going great so far!)
I just tested my water parameters again this morning. Everything looks good so far, tiny spike in ammonia which I would assume is related to adding the clown fish and corals. No nitrite, pH has remained stable around 8ish. Alkalinity is a little high I think? 10.9dkh. And nitrate was way too high, like 20ppm (do you recommend a water change today? Or would that be stressful for the new coral?)
Also do we think this coral is a goni or duncan?

Thank in advance for the help guys!

 

[blaxsun]

It's a duncan (you can tell by the tendrils or polyps; duncans are more "plant-like"). Happy goby!

 

[Rick's Reviews]

I cycled my aquriam for around same amount of time to build up pod population (8 months empty) As I wanted mandarin

So now this is the best part in your aquarium life as you can start adding life

I think a little early to add a cuc as really not much for them to eat however you can provide food for them, algae wafers or crab cuisine.
What cuc did you add?

In regards to parameters, I would assume it's fully cycled so anything that's seems out of balance, a 25% water change or less would not hurt anything and will help you stay in control.

It looks great so I'm following

 

[hbubley]

Thank you for the replies and information!
Right now I have hermit crabs and snails. Blue legged hermits mainly. About 5 hermits and 4 snails. They’ve been in there for more than a few months now, when the fish weren’t present I was feeding them formula one pellets, not to many but wanted to help stimulate the cycling.

 

[hbubley]

Also feeding the new coral “reef roids”. Can I over feed?

 

[Rick's Reviews]

Yes you can easily overfeed. If your coral is photosynthetic it will grow with just lighting alone without the need for food, reef roids is also what I use to feed my coral and I have had no problems so far, I use it around once a month

I'll check out formula one pellets for my hermits

 

[hbubley]

Thanks for the information!! I’ll Make sure not to overfeed. Gonna have to study up more!
Your hermits are beautiful!!