Is my tank ready for corals?

[Acros]

My tank is three months and a week into the WWC/BRS bare bottom cycle. I seeded the tank with Fritz TurboStart(dry rock + live rock mix) and added fish after waiting for a week. Ammonia and Nitrate have always stayed at 0 since the first week.

Parameters: (from today's test)
Salinity: 1.026 (Milwaukee, has been exceptionally stable)
Alk: 9.3 (Hanna, reduced from 10.2 using sodium bisulfate)
pH: 8.0 (API, stable)
Cal: 490 (Salifert, between 450-490 in previous tests)
Mag: 1500 (Salifert, between 1440-1500 in previous tests)
Nitrate: ~0 (API, stable)
Phosphate: ~0 (API, stable)
Salt: IO Reef Crystals
Tank: 29g standard + 10g sump.

I have hair algae growth in my refugium, so my Nitrate and Phosphates can't be 0.

I would appreciate everyone's input on my parameters as I am thinking of getting a test frag and some snails today.

Are my Calcium and Magnesium too high? They have always been within the above-specified range. I do not dose anything to the tank, and I only have two almost dead test frags I added about a month back.

I had unexplained snail death within 24 hours of being introduced to the tank. They seemed to be fine initially and even grazed on my algae before dying.

Is my tank ready for corals and inverts?

Here is a picture of my tank. I regret not getting a 40 breeder. There is no space in the 29 for interesting rock work.

 

[Specific Ocean]

Are you looking into any particular type of coral?

 

[rubertoe93]

Get some soft coral to start out with, zoa frag or some gsp, it’s indestructible that stuff,

 

[Specific Ocean]

Get some soft coral to start out with, zoa frag or some gsp, it’s indestructible that stuff,

+ 1 on GSP. You would have to try and kill it

 

[rubertoe93]

+ 1 on GSP. You would have to try and kill it

I tried flushing that stuff before and it’s now growing in my toilet!

 

[Acros]

Thank you for the replies.

I was thinking LPS. Acans, Duncan, Torch, Blasto.

 

[Specific Ocean]

I tried flushing that stuff before and it’s now growing in my toilet!

Now it’s known as the Golden Shower Polyp

 

[Specific Ocean]

Thank you for the replies.

I was thinking LPS. Acans, Duncan, Torch, Blasto.

Duncan’s are pretty hardy in my experience

 

[rubertoe93]

Now it’s known as the Golden Shower Polyp

I get it!

 

[rubertoe93]

Thank you for the replies.

I was thinking LPS. Acans, Duncan, Torch, Blasto.

Duncan’s would be your better option out of those, just get a Duncan, see how it goes, don’t want you to spend loads and it end up dying, that’s why I suggested the softies first as there not as expensive

 

[Specific Ocean]

I get it!

 

[Uncle99]

I get by the uglies before adding LPS.
I wait for the first signs of coralline for SPS adds.
I hate losing stuff.

 

[Acros]

I took my water to the LFS and got it tested. My alk came out to 10 in their test. I am going to lower the alk to 8.6 in the next couple weeks, before adding any frags.

I am using sodium bisulfate to lower my alk. I will keep an airstone running to take care of ph.

Thank you all for the suggestions. Bare bottom is hard. I could add LPS with no problems after a week of setting up a sand bottom tank.

 

[OrangeCountyReefer]

You really don’t need to cycle for hearty soft and lps corals. You could have added some stuff 3 months ago and it most likely would have been fine.

 

[Acros]

You really don’t need to cycle for hearty soft and lps corals. You could have added some stuff 3 months ago and it most likely would have been fine.

I tried. I have a dead acan and a blasto skeleton in the tank. I think it is mostly because my alk was over 10 until very recently and it is too much of a shock for coral coming from 7-8 alk tanks.

 

[UnderseaOddities]

Stability is the key dial down your alk slowly and personally mushrooms are my favorite coral,and I reccomend them to beginners and pros alike there is nothing like getting something and watching it multiply,my advice drop 80 to 300$ and get a nice mushroom rock 5 to 14 polyps then let them set for about a month to get it used to the tank and dialed in then it will spit on it's own and you can cut frags multiplying the original concentration of mushies doubling you collection over a 3 month period get a kenya tree a 4 incher will run about 40$ this has about 4 frags already ready to go plus the original making it 5 frags including the original if you chop shop it thes are about 15$ for a 1 in frag and will grow rapidly and drop buds....so many people are abandoning commons,old schools once considered high end elegegant and beautiful now considered bland boring or unwanted to the new wwc coral flavor of the week or high end bounce commons are where everyone should start and anyone can afford them,then you build your collection up and can trade locally or to lfs for what you want then get a zoa colony from live aquaria or corals.com and chop shop a rock into 10 frags for 30$ this is a foolproof way start out cheap and then grow your collection from commons and in no time you'll have the rares

 

[UnderseaOddities]

Personally I'd wait on hard corals for 8 months from the original date you set up and finished cycling your tank and even then if you dont have the equipment or the time it's still not gonna work out because some acros and high end montis you have to baby regardless and if you dont have the time to baby a system and dedicate a few hours outta your day to your system then hardcoral may not be what you looking for and in corals like hammers and torches you have to watch out for brown jelly and exposed skeletons, also note rtn or stn can happen randomly for no apparent reason and can spread in a system to a visually healthy coral bleaching it in the course of a few days and the rule of deduction must be applied to save the coral dipping it in revive or remedy and adjusting the alk some higher end stuff is just finicky hense the pricetag some are just trendsnatcher trying to ride the hype train on a piece they paid 4 american dollars to an indonesian farmer for a 12in Colony the relabeling it and charging 200$ an inch or 3/4 inch just because it it has a fancy name and came from indonesia just wait until a few months go by tang and wrasse prices are gonna skyrocket Hawaiianban (fish farms wont be able to meet the demand)and if you do go for hard corals go for like a duncan or maybe pavona or staghorn or acanthastrea lordhowenesis and then always ask the buyer where they got there original specimen,params,lighting,flow,placement and what how and when they feed and nutrition

 

[UnderseaOddities]

But also on the same hand we have taken for so long from the polynesian natives from annexing the island from kamehameha from the dole pineapple company now in the recent years cutting down koa and balsa and teak and ocean poaching taking from Aina the Hawaii government finally said enough

 

[Dkmoo]

i think the people here have given you great suggestions. the only thing i want to add is:

Nitrate: ~0 (API, stable)
Phosphate: ~0 (API, stable)

I have hair algae growth in my refugium, so my Nitrate and Phosphates can't be 0.

it CAN be 0 - keep in mind what we are testing is only what's LEFT in the tank. you are right in that your system HAD No3/Po4 - it's just that it's already bound up in your GHA.

i think oftentimes we are too consumed with "chasing numbers" and lose sight of the fact that many parameters we test in the water a lot of times is the result of certain biological processes, and the number itself is not the cause of the problem.

 

[Ketan]

GSP should only be put on an isolated rock away from main rock work or else it will be everywhere. Keeping corals is not only dependent on parameters in range but keeping stable parameters. The latter takes some getting used to and is a combination of good habits + good equipment. All in all it will take you a few months or even years to get where you can grow corals. Good news is that there is plenty of good knowledge material on YouTube and on this forum.

I am slowly keeping coral alive and growing them too. I am doing this since 2014 with hit and miss success. Main culprit was not able to keep ALK and PH in good range all the time. I also am battling high NO3 and PO4 but now I am able to grow chaeto successfully in my fuge, so I am hoping low nutrients in a few months.