I did a complete numb nut newb thing and bought corals. I don't know what they are.

[Devisissy]

I would Personally just go to aquatic warehouse or kung fu corals, also sometimes the sales at aqua SD are Good

Do they still have that mom and pop in Carlsbad? That would be worth the drive. I can not remember their name. When we were kids we used to go in there and just stare at all the fish and the owners were so kind giving us suckers and popcorn and crap. Let us feed them and just kid stuff.

 

[FernFish]

I think it’s called like reef Cove or something of the sort I think it’s still there

 

[jkcoral]

Make sure you feed the corals (I like benereef). Zoas, Xenia, and toadstool are little pigs and will grow well with good nutrients available. And watch your hammer for a couple of days/weeks, making sure that you find a “just right” spot where it likes the light and flow.

Maybe in a few months (probably closer to a year) you can get a bubble tip or some other hosting anemone for the clowns.

I personally dislike fake decor in reef tanks because I feel like it detracts from the beauty (along with concerns about leaching). But everyone can do it their own way. If you’re concerned about the clowns having a place, don’t worry, they’ll always find one. Mine live in a colony of Zoas, and I know people who’s clowns host powerheads haha

 

[Ballyhoo]

so I ordered the Red Sea coral superfood or whatever they call it. It's the main label for red Sea coral food. but I am on the fence about whether I need to buy the red sea test kit for corals or other test kit or which one. Mainly I use red sea salt, I have a large bucket and that already has magnesium and I think they put the main minerals that are supposed to be in there already for coral. The red seat test kit tests magnesium, I believe phosphate and alkalinity. But I don't need to test alkalinity if I already have an API PH test kit right? I mean isn't allalinity test just a test of what the pH is? I need to test for phosphate? Do I need to test for calcium and magnesium if that's already in my salt mix? Thanks all! are these things I need to test for right away? PH is easy to test for, I just can't imagine that having a red sea salt mix magnesium or calcium would be low. I could see where phosphates could get high. IDK

 

[Justdrew]

The worst thing I have seen n this thread is that they sold you Ammo Lock as a coral dip. Who knows if that will kill the corals or not. Beyond that , you need to do a lot of reading in these forums and learn the basic chemistry of reef tanks. pH and alkalinity, etc. Otherwise have fun. If you want plastic plants you do you!

 

[Ballyhoo]

The worst thing I have seen n this thread is that they sold you Ammo Lock as a coral dip. Who knows if that will kill the corals or not. Beyond that , you need to do a lot of reading in these forums and learn the basic chemistry of reef tanks. pH and alkalinity, etc. Otherwise have fun. If you want plastic plants you do you!

The plastic plants are obviously just something temporary. It was more something to get my younger daughter Excited about the tank something other than just a big rock and it turns out the clowns appear to be very happy in it. If the ammolock makes no sense then why are there instructions on the bottle regarding a procedure to dip new species? is ammorock ripping people off? Is it an incorrect theory that there could be hitchhikers on newly purchased coral? OMG, there are as many opinions on these boards as there are members

 

[exnisstech]

but if that were true about Alock doing nothing for hitchhikers, why does it (bottle) have instructions about dipping your new species in the solution?, I already tossed like most of the decor. I just left the red one for the clowns. The are already a little displaced, but they'll get reacclimated. As far as lighting, I'm thankful that the red sea has specific programs that can be used so I don't even have to think I just choose Program. The only choice I had was 15 or 20 K with the blue' and white light. honestly did decrease a little bit intensity over the course of the day so I think around 2 PM. It starts to taper off. I don't have a full blast all day. I hope that's not a problem. The iPhone makes it look bluer than it is because both of the blue and white light are I think at 15 K right now.

I quit reading this thread when it went south. Seems to happen a lot but I see both sides. That said when I saw this image I just had to comment. Not bashing, it's your tank you do what pleases you. But this image immediately made me think, Is there a plant vase inside that tank lol.

EDIT: I just read the plant was to get your daughter excited about the tank. Good for you. My kids are all grown but I've been known to do things to please the grandkids that I normally would never do. When you do remove it maybe use some of the info in this thread to explain to her why it may not be a good thing?

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

is ammorock ripping people off?

Just to put this out there to help both you and others - I don't know about Ammo Lock specifically, but there are a ton of products in reefing (and elsewhere) that either:

1 - Don't do what they say they do (Prime, SeaLab 28, etc.)

2 - Aren't what they claim to be and may have unintended consequences as a result (Vibrant, for an easy example)

Or

3 - Are ridiculously overpriced (the so-called "Reef Tax")

Anything in any of those categories could be considered a ripoff, but a lot people still believe in and use these products no matter how bad they or the information around them may be.

With that in mind, a piece of advice for both reef-keeping and life: take what anyone selling anything says with a massive grain of salt - especially when they're talking about their product.

 

[Rp8]

Bless y’all’s hearts…

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

But I don't need to test alkalinity if I already have an API PH test kit right? I mean isn't allalinity test just a test of what the pH is? I need to test for phosphate? Do I need to test for calcium and magnesium if that's already in my salt mix?

Alkalinity is the number one most important thing of all for corals, you want to keep that stable and not fluctuating. Calcium is also very important since it is also consumed by coral, but I test alk much more frequently than calcium. These are the big 2 IMO

Phosphate will become important to you once you start getting algae, which is soon, then you will want to test and control the phosphate.

I've never tested for magnesium, and according to the forum chemist, test kits are not very reliable and not very important to test for reasons stated in the article.

Just say NO to magnesium testing: RMM is born

OK, this thread has been many years in the making, and I'm posting it here since folks in the chem forum are probably already tired of all the threads relating to problematic magnesium testing. I'm going to propose a method, let's call it the Randy Magnesium Method, or RMM for short. All good...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Cthulukelele]

For the corals you have testing is almost completely unnecessary as long as you're doing a water change every once in awhile unless you have like a watermelon sized hammer coral colony IMO. None of the other corals you have consume calcium and alkalinity. Also be aware based on how new the tank is several of those corals probably won't make it. It's part of the learning process. They're easy corals, but they're still living organisms, and they actually mostly prefer dirtier water which will be hard for you to achieve at this point.

 

[Ballyhoo]

thanks all i've learned a great deal from this thread. Still not sure though, isn't testing alkalinity the same as testing ph? and what is the skinny on phosphates? i may have missed a response on that, sorry if so. Don't worry the fakes are only temporary i didn't get an expensive reef tank for plastic plants.

 

[SpyC]

thanks all i've learned a great deal from this thread. Still not sure though, isn't testing alkalinity the same as testing ph? and what is the skinny on phosphates? i may have missed a response on that, sorry if so. Don't worry the fakes are only temporary i didn't get an expensive reef tank for plastic plants.

Testing ph is not the same as alkalinity. They are two different things. What do you want to know about phosphates?

 

[Readywriter]

thanks all i've learned a great deal from this thread. Still not sure though, isn't testing alkalinity the same as testing ph?

They are connected but different. If ph is how much fuel is in a car, alkalinity would be the octane rating. Not exactly but kinda like that.

 

[Ballyhoo]

well, I made a total mistake in the beginning of my thread and ongoing. what LFS sold me yesterday as a pre-solution for the corals is called Melafix. So I never used the Ammolock. I just happen to have a bottle of ALock and I miss referenced the label when I posted in the OP. But I followed the instructions of Melafix. LFS told me the effect is what could prevent hitchhikers. They just never told me the brand name they handed me the bottle.

 

[Nick Steele]

Wow!!!! Sorry this thread went a little wonky!

Anyways on to some of your questions and concerns. All your corals have been ID and you have a great starting point for some research. I suggest getting some test kits for pH, Alk, Calc, phos and nitrate you can do some research and see which are best but here’s what I have.

Alk and phos I have Hannah checkers for easy reading as others I find can be a pain.

Calc and ph I have salifert I like these cause that what I started with and seem to be good.

For nitrates I use a nyos kit. Only one I’ve ever really got a reading with a known water sample.


For now you might be okay just testing during water change day to make sure it is close to matching your parameters. Run test on both tank and new water for water change.

 

[NanoNana]

well, I made a total mistake in the beginning of my thread and ongoing. what LFS sold me yesterday as a pre-solution for the corals is called Melafix. So I never used the Ammolock. I just happen to have a bottle of ALock and I miss referenced the label when I posted in the OP. But I followed the instructions of Melafix. LFS told me the effect is what could prevent hitchhikers. They just never told me the brand name they handed me the bottle.

That explains a lot. It’s honestly great you’re so excited. I did macro algae and a purple ribbon gorgonian to keep my family excited about the tank. My mom has some dementia and she was over the moon about that gorgonian like it was some super high end treasure vault coral. Lol. I can’t wait until she sees nice corals in it. I hope yours works out nicely.

 

[Ballyhoo]

wow now that the LED program switched to evening and moon, the toadstool turned into a mushroom again with no tendricles ( a word i made up) . i use one of the Red Sea app LED programs at 15,000 Kelvin for white and blue,but I edited the program so that it actually gets less strong over the course of the eight hours and there's also little clouds in the program. I don't know if I need it blasted at 15K all day. maybe i do.

 

[KrazyWhiteRich]

I got so excited that my reef tank parameters showed a cycle and my LFS gave me a green light to buy corals. I picked out species really nice in LFS coral racks and now forgot the names of the species I purchased. I wanted to get really large ones, but LFS told me I wasn't ready. I denied a receipt when leaving knowing I'm in LFS database. they also sold me a bottle of Ammo Lock which I followed the instructions and soaked before I put them in tank. Darn I forget the names of what I brought home. Can you help me identify what I have? I know it's complete numb nut thing but I think I was overly excited to be getting some corals finally that I took less notice of the actual or remembering to remember the actual species names. The one that kinda looks like a mushroom i'm not sure looks as nice in my aquarium as it did at LFS.
my two Nemo have been doing great for the last week. So I also bought a firefish and a Gobi. Quite interesting fish but they're not like my clowns and they make themselves quite scarce.

Zoanthid, goniporra or xenia, ???, branching hammer euphyllia,

 

[TehBrainz]

wow now that the LED program switched to evening and moon, the toadstool turned into a mushroom again with no tendricles ( a word i made up) . i use one of the Red Sea app LED programs at 15,000 Kelvin for white and blue,but I edited the program so that it actually gets less strong over the course of the eight hours and there's also little clouds in the program. I don't know if I need it blasted at 15K all day. maybe i do.

Just like terrestrial plants (although corals aren't plants!) They will open and close with the light cycles.

Really fun watching the tank wake up between the fish and corals.

Enjoy!