I have MANY questions

[Freenow54]

FWIW I never used Par meter, corals will generally tell you if there is too much light, they go white.

For the light going by post 24, select intensity 4 and pick mix mode. Run the light for 10 hours.
Follow post 28 for light placement.
Once you observe corals for month or so you can increase or decrease the intensity.

As for wavemakter, it should run all the time. Once you fill the tank set it on random or constant flow and make sure water is moving, later on you can play with patterns etc…


Once all set up (salt water, light, flow, temperature ) you can move the inhabitants to the new tank. Since you have live rock there is no need for cycling.
I set up my Red Sea reefer 250 this way. I put salt water in, some new rocks and moved my inhabitants and established rock from 10 gal to the new tank. All was good no need to be worried about cycling.

BeanAnimal is correct, there is lot of good advice, but that can be confusing.

Good luck,

I don't know what a Duncan coral is. I have read that Anemones will go to your power head and get sucked in. You should research your starfish. I did there is many choices some not very good are excellent predators. If you go to a store that sells you whatever you want. Find another one. I go to one where he tells me if I am going in the wrong direction. That is what you need.

 

[Pod_01]

Suggest to do the ammonia Nitrate and Nitrite readings at the very least. Again that is just your experience. I suggested Bulk Reef Supply videos not have her accept one persons opinion. Mine included

Sure BSR is there to sell, and everything they show you need to buy. That is the most biased place to get information from, sorry.

Ammonia is not that toxic to marine critters, actually I dose ammonia on my 10gal tank that has no fish. That tank I just set up 4 months ago, again I put in salt water, added one rock from my large system and corals. Good to go.

No need to measure, ammonia, nitrite and once the tank is going for some time perhaps one needs to check nitrate. I have not check any in the last 6 months.

The corals and live rock OP has will consume ammonia.
Also OP has skimmer. There is no need to get additional filtration on the tank.

I run my tanks with skimmer and bit of GAC, no other filtration.
Pictures from my Reefer.

Couple pictures from my 10gal:

 

[SonOfaGoat]

That nicrew 150 will grow virtually everything you throw in the tank, including sps like acropora so you are well set up there. I have the nicrew 50 over my 25g. It's growing softies, LPS, and some easy sps. I use the nicrew controller but the presets are decent. The presets run in 20% intervals from 0,20,40,60,80,100. I have mine at 100 blue and 35% white. My light is smaller than yours. So I would get yours to 100 blue and either 20 or 40 white.

Also the mounting arm is easily adjustable so if you wanted to you could still use the arm while fitting the coralife towards the front of the tank.

How are you dealing with evaporation? Are you topping off the tank by hand? That works fine. Also I've run my tanks for decent periods without skimmers or fancy equipment, one step at a time. It took me some trial and error reading the manuals for my WaveMakers and lights to dial them in. Keep asking questions, it's how we learn!

 

[Freenow54]

Sure BSR is there to sell, and everything they show you need to buy. That is the most biased place to get information from, sorry.

Ammonia is not that toxic to marine critters, actually I dose ammonia on my 10gal tank that has no fish. That tank I just set up 4 months ago, again I put in salt water, added one rock from my large system and corals. Good to go.

No need to measure, ammonia, nitrite and once the tank is going for some time perhaps one needs to check nitrate. I have not check any in the last 6 months.

The corals and live rock OP has will consume ammonia.
Also OP has skimmer. There is no need to get additional filtration on the tank.

I run my tanks with skimmer and bit of GAC, no other filtration.
Pictures from my Reefer.

Couple pictures from my 10gal:

It is Like I said just different opinions . That is the idea of test to make sure the rock is doing what they are supposed to be doing I don't like guessing. I have read about ammonia and coral from Mr Farley but we are talking fish and invertebrates. As to BRS can you blame them? But I found there videos highly interesting. They even admitted to mistakes they made that cost them fish. Like I keep saying This forum is a smorgasbord of ides. Very nice corals by the way would like to know your lighting set up if you would share. I do take opinions when I see results. I have yet to add coral after 3 years because don't want to fail

 

[Tamberav]

If you ever upgrade lights, kessils are super easy to use. Skip the app and just use the knobs and put it on a timer.

It has Kessil logic built in to keep the spectrum corals enjoy to keep ya from messing things up to much.

I have them over my frags tanks and enjoy the no BS quick set up and shimmer.

 

[Pod_01]

I don't know what a Duncan coral is. I have read that Anemones will go to your power head and get sucked in. You should research your starfish. I did there is many choices some not very good are excellent predators. If you go to a store that sells you whatever you want. Find another one. I go to one where he tells me if I am going in the wrong direction. That is what you need.

Duncan coral,

Easy to keep, happy coral, great addition.

Anemone is harder to keep, I never kept them.
The starfish is tough, no one really knows how to keep them. Some suspect biofilms is their food source, I had one it disintegrated. Some are able to keep them.

Part of the hobby is experimenting and we all loose some corals.

Other easy to keep corals:

GSP(green star polyp) but can become pest.

Devils hand

 

[Yesevil123]

You also use the generic term corals. She should do research to understand all the different types and the ones that wont survive. Way back my son and I made a lot of mistakes and cost a lot of money . Using the if they turn white method. Just was ignorant of everything, and trying to tell the lady not to make the same ones. Just because you did not use a par meter does not mean its the way to go. You must be aware of the dozens of people that think they are indispensable

I literally eat, drink, and research tank stuff. Im big on finding beginner corals like the duncan I have. A Zoa. I had gsp once. I look deep into the details. That's why I'm so like adamant about my lighting

 

[Freenow54]

I just goggled your light. There is all sorts of info and instructions you can follow

 

[Freenow54]

I literally eat, drink, and research tank stuff. Im big on finding beginner corals like the duncan I have. A Zoa. I had gsp once. I look deep into the details. That's why I'm so like adamant about my lighting

I will have to look up Duncan and a Zoa

 

[Reefering1]

Did you plug that nicrew in yet? Push some buttons?

 

[Pod_01]

That is the idea of test to make sure the rock is doing what they are supposed to be doing I don't like guessing.

Live rock will do only one thing, convert ammonia because that is the nature. It is full of nitrifying bacteria and as ammonia increases so will the population.

The test kits and cycling is useful on a new tank, with new rocks. Otherwise you are just confirming what nature does and OP is not into that at the moment. I don’t believe the extra test kits will help anything.

Very nice corals by the way would like to know your lighting set up if you would share.

I don’t know the Par, never cared for it. I have 3 foot tank and I have GHL Mitras LX 7206 and two Radeon XR15 G5. All are set up at 50% intensity running AB+ profile.
In the evening the profile is blue so I can enjoy the tank.

 

[Yesevil123]

Did you plug that nicrew in yet? Push some buttons?

Haha not yet. That's a today's project.

 

[Yesevil123]

Suggest to do the ammonia Nitrate and Nitrite readings at the very least. Again that is just your experience. I suggested Bulk Reef Supply videos not have her accept one persons opinion. Mine included

I get my parameters like every 3 days right now.

 

[Featherweight]

This thread is weird. I'm not quite sure what I stepped into, it's like bad ai.

Your light hardly matters right now so long as it's on for 12 hours.
Your temp needs to be stable between 76 and 79. Swings of 1 degree or less ideally.
You need salinity at 1.024 to 1.026. stable. Using fresh water to make up for evaporation.
Using a good salt at that salinity, change 10 percent weekly. This will provide all elements needed, keep alkalinity up, and help keep bads in check.
Provide flow, so poop doesn't build up in the tank.
Filter said poop with fleece roller, filter sock, and or protein skimmer.

Do these things before anything else.

Then test nitrate and phosphate.

Here's my tank. Also about 55 gallon. About 3 months in using established live rock.

 

[SonOfaGoat]

Haha not yet. That's a today's project.

When you do put it over your tank maybe start out at 40-60%. Then each week up it another 20%. The lights ramp down with each press of the B or W button. So with the lights off and you press B that's now 100% Blue. Press again now 80%. Another and 60% etc. W is the same but you want that on its lowest intensity before the whites turn completely off. Holding the M button in the middle turns it on and off. It will save the setting you leave it on last before you turned it off.

 

[Yesevil123]

You are not reading what I said . Please read this all the way through. I suggested it BEFORE I knew the situation. She did not offer any information about tank size light manufacturer or anything else. It was a question about here light and not being tech savvy. As to your par meter prejudice in my 90 I found that the par varies huge because of the rock. Again I was dealing with very little information when I made my first suggestions. Yes I assumed, and now I absolutly agree with what you are saying. And again nothing has come up yet about circulation or filtration. Do you notice she has quit responding as I said so maybe you should take some responsibility and quit trying to control everything said. She should know what is ahead as to expense to make good decision's

I'll respond to all comments. I take everyones opinions and options seriously and in consideration. I do the research. I use a marineland internal filter rated for an 80 gallon tank I'm pretty sure. And i use the jebao wavemaker. Along with the octo classic 100 skimmer. I've been ready for the expenses and knowing how much things will cost. I know that this is an expensive hobby. But I'll buy the important expensive stuff especislly if its almost "mandatory" but if I can just stay in a low budget then i will. I've had saltwater tanks for about 3-4 years. I just started off small and I thought it was soooo much easier. This is my second time at having a 55 gallon. My last one, the tank was damaged and I had to repair it when i got it, but it just made me super anxious because I was renting an apartment at the time. Now I'm in a basement if less space in a sense but more opportunity to do things the right away.

 

[Pod_01]

I will have to look up Duncan and a Zoa

Zoas are fun, get the cheaper ones. But be forewarned, they sometimes melt away for no apparent reason.

 

[Yesevil123]

Coral in my opinion will tell you about all sorts of problems fish seem to tolerate more. That being said I always do any changes one at a time and make sure there are no problems that way if there is a problem you probably know what caused it. I also think light intensity or par is critical for sps which she should not need. As to light like I said making what is close to a lighting schedule like a real day is nice. Should have 4 or 5 choices or slots to fill. Mine gives intensity in percent

That's why I want like good lights. I work 11 hour days. So im not home to adjust it accordingly. I just want it to do it it's self basically

 

[Yesevil123]

Zoas are fun, get the cheaper ones. But be forewarned, they sometimes melt away for no apparent reason.

Yeah! I had one in a previous tank and It looked really good and it just disappeared one day

 

[Pod_01]

Yeah! I had one in a previous tank and It looked really good and it just disappeared one day

Zoas are really temperamental, the ones in the picture I had for 5 years and nothing fazed them. Then suddenly 6 months back they just disappeared.

Nemo was really upset when that happened:

Some local reefers believe there is expiration date on Zoas…

Hence the suggestion to get the cheaper ones:

These also grew and one day poof, gone.

Corals are like that from my experience, sometimes they grow well and suddenly poof…

The only corals that I found indestructible are orange Yuma:

Unfortunately they are very aggressive.

And the devil hand:

Chopped him back few times and seems to grow right back but appears to play nice with other corals like SPS for now.
When he is all open like that I know water quality is good. He acts as my testing kit for NO3/ PO4 and general water quality.