Hydrolithon gardineri

[Philipgonzales3]

Any tips on how to raise my odds for success?

Tank is a 24"x24"x20" 50 gallon PNP SC Aquarium with stock sump. Has been set up for 1 month 27 days. I have the 50 pounds of live rock. 40 pounds of sand (about 1.5" or so). I run an SCA 301 skimmer and filter socks.


I have not purchased a light yet. I'm still undecided but will need to get one ASAP.

I have

1 x valentini puffer
2 x Picasso clown
1 x Melanarus Wrasse
1 x Kupang Damsel
1 x diamond Goby

Temp: 77F
Salinity: 1.023
Ph: 8.10
DKH: 9
Calcium: ~300 last time I tested. I will retest to confirm what it is at now.
Nitrate: 3-5 the last couple of weeks.

I have a nyos nitrate kit. I ordered an API reef master kit when I first got the tank. Will the API kit have enough resolution for now or do I need to buy the red sea or salifert kit now?

Here is what I bought (not a wysiwyg).

This is the first frag I have bought, and was likely too soon. I really just wanted to seed some coralline since my rocks are so white.


Pic of my tank.

 

[Hemmdog]

Raise your salinity to 1.025. Get your calcium to 420, mag up to 1350( you need to test for that too). You also need flow now and a light. For flow you are looking at a maxspect or icecap gyre. Maxspect is a little better made and the controller has more options. If you have money to burn get 2 ecotech mp10’s . Flow is very important if you want your coral to survive. That’s an sps essentially so now the prime isn’t enough light. That would of worked good for lps and softies, get the hydra 26, or a kessil 360we or X. Kessil you need a controller for the requests that you’ve made it your other thread. Hydra just uses your phone assuming you have a smart phone lol.

Here to help anytime man.

Any tips on how to raise my odds for success?

Tank is a 24"x24"x20" 50 gallon PNP SC Aquarium with stock sump. Has been set up for 1 month 27 days. I have the 50 pounds of live rock. 40 pounds of sand (about 1.5" or so). I run an SCA 301 skimmer and filter socks.


I have not purchased a light yet. I'm still undecided but will need to get one ASAP.

I have

1 x valentini puffer
2 x Picasso clown
1 x Melanarus Wrasse
1 x Kupang Damsel
1 x diamond Goby

Temp: 77F
Salinity: 1.023
Ph: 8.10
DKH: 9
Calcium: ~300 last time I tested. I will retest to confirm what it is at now.
Nitrate: 3-5 the last couple of weeks.

I have a nyos nitrate kit. I ordered an API reef master kit when I first got the tank. Will the API kit have enough resolution for now or do I need to buy the red sea or salifert kit now?

Here is what I bought (not a wysiwyg).

This is the first frag I have bought, and was likely too soon. I really just wanted to seed some coralline since my rocks are so white.


Pic of my tank.

 

[cristata.reef]

Agreed with above, except this is a branching coralline algae, not an SPS

 

[Philipgonzales3]

Yep.

http://www.algaebase.org/search/genus/detail/?genus_id=32966

"Type designated in Mason, L.R. (1953). The crustaceous coralline algae of the Pacific coast of the United States, Canada and Alaska. University of California Publications in Botany 26: 313-389, Plates 27-46."

 

[cristata.reef]

Just FYI, you coralline algae is probably not H. gardineri despite what it was sold as since those are coldwater. probably another species in the same genus (not sure if you care lol)

 

[Philipgonzales3]

Just FYI, you coralline algae is probably not H. gardineri despite what it was sold as since those are coldwater. probably another species in the same genus (not sure if you care lol)

Oh I care alright! Going to send them a nasty email that it's an imposter H. Garineri! But on a serious note it would be cool to know exactly what it is so I could find some noob cheat sheet on it but seems unlikely we will know for sure. Maybe H. Garineri can be acclimated to warm water? So many questions and so little answers in reefing. Or maybe too many answers also...hmmm

 

[Philipgonzales3]

Raise your salinity to 1.025. Get your calcium to 420, mag up to 1350( you need to test for that too). You also need flow now and a light. For flow you are looking at a maxspect or icecap gyre. Maxspect is a little better made and the controller has more options. If you have money to burn get 2 ecotech mp10’s . Flow is very important if you want your coral to survive. That’s an sps essentially so now the prime isn’t enough light. That would of worked good for lps and softies, get the hydra 26, or a kessil 360we or X. Kessil you need a controller for the requests that you’ve made it your other thread. Hydra just uses your phone assuming you have a smart phone lol.

Here to help anytime man.

Man I really didn't want to be dosing. At least not yet. Maybe I can just switch to reef crystals and continue my weekly water changes. Will it die withoiut dosing. I know it likely won't thrive without dosing but I'd be OK with little to no growth at this point lol. As long as it doesn't die or get eaten then it will be a success! Gotta start somewhere lol.

Can I start with 1 MP10. Then get another later? Gotta start budgeting or I'm going to be broke and homeless. But I also like nice things. Story of my life haha.

 

[Philipgonzales3]

Man I really didn't want to be dosing. At least not yet. Maybe I can just switch to reef crystals and continue my weekly water changes. Will it die withoiut dosing. I know it likely won't thrive without dosing but I'd be OK with little to no growth at this point lol. As long as it doesn't die or get eaten then it will be a success! Gotta start somewhere lol.

Can I start with 1 MP10. Then get another later? Gotta start budgeting or I'm going to be broke and homeless. But I also like nice things. Story of my life haha.

And sorry not trying to be difficult just trying not to ramp up the complexity to 10 just yet. Dosing is a big turn off to me, so I should definetly avoid SPS or SPS like frags. Maybe if I had the space for dosing pumps... Maybe a little later on is what I'd prefer. Honestly I'm scared I'm going to be changing too much at once, spending more time doing maintenance, chasing numbers, etc.

 

[Hemmdog]

And sorry not trying to be difficult just trying not to ramp up the complexity to 10 just yet. Dosing is a big turn off to me, so I should definetly avoid SPS or SPS like frags. Maybe if I had the space for dosing pumps... Maybe a little later on is what I'd prefer. Honestly I'm scared I'm going to be changing too much at once, spending more time doing maintenance, chasing numbers, etc.

You don’t need to worry about dosing. But mag is just another important part of reefing, all corals and inverts need it I think. My biocube 32 I have just manual dosed since I’ve had it, it grows coral like weeds. It really isn’t to difficult and you are pretty determined to be successful I feel. One mp10 will be fine for non sps, but personally I like a powerhead on each side so detritus doesent all go to one side of the tank. That’s why I did 2 gyres on my big tank instead of 2 mp’s. The price would of been so much more if I would of done the mp’s.

Easiest dosing is 2 part. You don’t need a doser it comes with measuring cups. The directions on the bottle guide you to how much to use when you are lacking on a certain element. You have 1 for alk, 1 for cal, and 1 for mag. You only need a doser if you are traveling or working all day(once your tank demands dosing multiple times a day)and can’t manually dose. You’ve said before your a home body like I am, so it’s super easy to add a few ml of liquid for people like us.

Personally I use esv b-ionic line of products. I’ve had good success with it. The bottles also will last you forever until your tank starts to get overgrown and awesome looking with coral. Then you use more lol. Think of it as corals drinking it for energy to build more structure, like Gatorade & protein shakes to athletes.

 

[Philipgonzales3]

You don’t need to worry about dosing. But mag is just another important part of reefing, all corals and inverts need it I think. My biocube 32 I have just manual dosed since I’ve had it, it grows coral like weeds. It really isn’t to difficult and you are pretty determined to be successful I feel. One mp10 will be fine for non sps, but personally I like a powerhead on each side so detritus doesent all go to one side of the tank. That’s why I did 2 gyres on my big tank instead of 2 mp’s. The price would of been so much more if I would of done the mp’s.

Easiest dosing is 2 part. You don’t need a doser it comes with measuring cups. The directions on the bottle guide you to how much to use when you are lacking on a certain element. You have 1 for alk, 1 for cal, and 1 for mag. You only need a doser if you are traveling or working all day(once your tank demands dosing multiple times a day)and can’t manually dose. You’ve said before your a home body like I am, so it’s super easy to add a few ml of liquid for people like us.

Personally I use esv b-ionic line of products. I’ve had good success with it. The bottles also will last you forever until your tank starts to get overgrown and awesome looking with coral. Then you use more lol. Think of it as corals drinking it for energy to build more structure, like Gatorade & protein shakes to athletes.

Hmm OK. So I can start with just Reef Crystals and work my way to dosing? You'll help me figure out what I need to get for it? I saw a BRS video on their 2 part dosing. Seems like a lot of time figuring out consumption and dosing. Could be fun i guess lol.

 

[Hemmdog]

Hmm OK. So I can start with just Reef Crystals and work my way to dosing? You'll help me figure out what I need to get for it? I saw a BRS video on their 2 part dosing. Seems like a lot of time figuring out consumption and dosing. Could be fun i guess lol.

Reef crystals is just a salt. You don’t need to lock down your consumption like these sps guys who drop $250 on a frag. You only need the chemicals, nothing else. You just pour it in, super easy. Test your levels twice a week or whenever you usually do. And if something is lacking, just add a little bit. If it doesent need any, you don’t add any.

 

[Hemmdog]

Hmm OK. So I can start with just Reef Crystals and work my way to dosing? You'll help me figure out what I need to get for it? I saw a BRS video on their 2 part dosing. Seems like a lot of time figuring out consumption and dosing. Could be fun i guess lol.

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/esv-b-ionic-calcium-buffer-system.html

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/esv-b-ionic-magnesium.html

I’d just get the small size of each for your current needs. After a year you may want the next size up lol.

 

[Why-Me]

Hmm OK. So I can start with just Reef Crystals and work my way to dosing? You'll help me figure out what I need to get for it? I saw a BRS video on their 2 part dosing. Seems like a lot of time figuring out consumption and dosing. Could be fun i guess lol.

These are calculators online that you enter your current parameters and it will give you the exact amount to dose each element.

http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chemcalc.html

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/reef-calculator/

https://www.hamzasreef.com/Contents/Calculators/TwoPartImbalance.php

https://www.marinedepot.com/md_educationcenter_calculators_reef_chemistry_calculator.html

 

[Philipgonzales3]

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/esv-b-ionic-calcium-buffer-system.html

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/esv-b-ionic-magnesium.html

I’d just get the small size of each for your current needs. After a year you may want the next size up lol.

Ok, so I ordered these two items. From what I understand is one is calcium/alk and one is magesium. I believe magnesium drops slower than calcium right?

So do you recommend I stay with IO since I have 100 gallons of salt still and just dose to 420 calcium and 1350 magnesium or switch to reef salt and then dose. Not sure if RC has any minor trace elements that may be needed or if calk/mag/alk will be good enough along with IO.

So once I start dosing, it sounds like I may not need to dose daily? Maybe dose twice a week?

I also have been doing 10% weekly water changes. Should I continue or discontinue this. If I continue will I just dose the freshly made saltwater to the thank parameters?

My frag gets here Friday and my chemicals get here Monday. The frag will be OK for a few days with lower calcium/magnesium?
According to IO "400 mg/L calcium ion and 1320 mg/L magnesium ion at 1.026 salinity"

Mine tank will be 1.025 eventually (adding salt slowly with tip up water) so will be slightly less. Of course I will confirm with testing.

Those numbers seem pretty close to the target so looks like I won't need to dose much to get to 420/1350. Does calcium and magnesium get consumed by anything other than corals? Like do they drop by themselves throughout the week or say 1 month theoretically.

Thank you so much @Hemmdog and @Why-Me for the extra assistance. I had seen the calculators before, I will start getting familiar with them more.

You guys might make a reefer out of me yet!

 

[Why-Me]

Stick with the salt.

There are many many many many many many many successful reefers here on R2R using just the "plain old IO salt". I see the "which salt is best" here daily....Others will swear by IO and others swear by another brand but any salt will work. As for the best it's pretty debatable. All that being said IO is proven to work just fine, no worries to switch in a hurry.

Dosing...you can daily dose by hand, but that's achieved easier and more sustainable through dosing pumps. Otherwise as you suggested you can a few times a week, by just watching parameters.

Water changes, I would keep up with. And you dose the entire body of water not the new water unless you're dosing kalkwasser.? <-----I could be wrong on this.

As for cal/mag levels I'm not sure on what all consumes those (besides corals) in the aquarium. Or how they deplete. <----Good questions for R2R Chemistry Forum

Also you mentioned worrying about chasing parameters...what you will do is watch your corals with current parameters and then try to keep those params stable when and where they look healthy, may be different for each tank. One reefers exact parameters may not work for your certain corals/tank/lighting/flow etc.

 

[Hemmdog]

Ok, so I ordered these two items. From what I understand is one is calcium/alk and one is magesium. I believe magnesium drops slower than calcium right?

So do you recommend I stay with IO since I have 100 gallons of salt still and just dose to 420 calcium and 1350 magnesium or switch to reef salt and then dose. Not sure if RC has any minor trace elements that may be needed or if calk/mag/alk will be good enough along with IO.

So once I start dosing, it sounds like I may not need to dose daily? Maybe dose twice a week?

I also have been doing 10% weekly water changes. Should I continue or discontinue this. If I continue will I just dose the freshly made saltwater to the thank parameters?

My frag gets here Friday and my chemicals get here Monday. The frag will be OK for a few days with lower calcium/magnesium?
According to IO "400 mg/L calcium ion and 1320 mg/L magnesium ion at 1.026 salinity"

Mine tank will be 1.025 eventually (adding salt slowly with tip up water) so will be slightly less. Of course I will confirm with testing.

Those numbers seem pretty close to the target so looks like I won't need to dose much to get to 420/1350. Does calcium and magnesium get consumed by anything other than corals? Like do they drop by themselves throughout the week or say 1 month theoretically.

Thank you so much @Hemmdog and @Why-Me for the extra assistance. I had seen the calculators before, I will start getting familiar with them more.

You guys might make a reefer out of me yet!

@Why-Me ,said it well. That frag should be ok due to nothing using those elements yet that’s in your water. Good call on ordering the chemicals though, yes the first link is alk & cal, 2nd link is mag. “Usually” on new tanks alk is consumed the fastest, then cal, then mag. In a few months alk and cal will usually be consumed the same speed but slower than mag, after a year mag gets consumed very fast as well. This is typical of a stocked reef tank imo.
Consumption, your inverts will use a small amount of calcium for their shells.
Alk + cal are both consumed once you begin to have coraline(the normal kind lol). It’s more like purple rock that grows compared to a plant. Corals consume alk+cal+mag
Continue to do your water changes, if weekly becomes to much you can switch it to every other week, but just keep on it once you switch.
I’m excited for you man! This is going to be awesome! You will love it(reef tank w/ coral)

 

[Philipgonzales3]

Oh another question. What do I do when I get the frag? Should I dip it? Besides to dip or not to dip where do I place it. On the rocks? Not in the sand right? Do I need to glue it or will it stay put by itslef?

 

[Hemmdog]

Oh another question. What do I do when I get the frag? Should I dip it? Besides to dip or not to dip where do I place it. On the rocks? Not in the sand right? Do I need to glue it or will it stay put by itslef?

I’d dip it. I use Revive for my dip. Until your new light comes, put it mid to high on your rocks in the middle, kinda in the path that your return pumps flow is flowing. I glue mine inplace but it’s not required, just easier if you have fish that bump them and knock them off. For the Revive dip on that coral I’d recommend about 8 minutes.

When you first get it, it will likely be pretty cold, so get it up to temperature, dip in revive and let sit 8min, dip in cup of tank water and let sit 15mins, put in tank.

 

[Why-Me]

@Philipgonzales3 Your LFS should have coral dip, and most likely will have that revive that @Hemmdog uses. It's popular, widely used and effective.

 

[Philipgonzales3]

I’d dip it. I use Revive for my dip. Until your new light comes, put it mid to high on your rocks in the middle, kinda in the path that your return pumps flow is flowing. I glue mine inplace but it’s not required, just easier if you have fish that bump them and knock them off. For the Revive dip on that coral I’d recommend about 8 minutes.

When you first get it, it will likely be pretty cold, so get it up to temperature, dip in revive and let sit 8min, dip in cup of tank water and let sit 15mins, put in tank.

I got seachem coral dip. Hopefully this will be OK? I don't think I will have time to make it to any stores in the next week or so. Been super busy so just ordered something off of Amazon that would be here in time. I think it was the only choice from what I saw was available for 2 day prime. Ordered it real quick at work so didn't have time to look much.