I've been thinking too much, trying to get myself to order first corals.

Should I order my first corals?


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ZipAdeeZoa

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Hello everyone!

I'm starting this thread because I'm trying to talk myself into pulling the trigger on my first coral purchase. I understand the importance of patience in this hobby. My first saltwater tank has been years in the making through a combination of diligent research and youtube spirals and 11 or so months ago I started acquiring gear and methodically planning my tank. I set that tank up in December and have been maintaining and learning from my tank. I decided to set up my tank following key concepts from the BRS/WWC hybrid method adapted for a smaller Softy/LPS tank. The hybrid method calls for waiting 3 months before adding corals to the system and I am now nearing 10 months into my three month wait.

My obsession with corals has not dwindled in that time, things have gotten to the point where I open google to do something productive and only 30 minutes later do I realize I have gone to a coral vendors website subconsciously and simply been glued to the fantastic colours and beauty of various softies and LPS. There are many moving parts that have caused this delay but I believe I've narrowed it down to the following:

My insecurities as a reefer. Saltwater is a new frontier for me and the learning curve for it has been far steeper than that of any of the other animals I keep and although I've invested 9 months into caring for my setup I still don't feel like I have that pulse on this environment the way I do for my freshwater tanks.

Green hair algae. My 2 hermit crabs keep it quite short on the rock work where they can reach it and I assist with it on the glass on bimonthly basis. it hasn't really gotten worse in the 9 months the tank has been running but I feel like its presence means that I haven't figured out this system well enough to venture into corals even if I'm only selecting hardier species (I've got a frag of yellow hornets, blasto and electric green nepthea in my cart).

Not having my Battery Backup installed A) because I'm still working with ecotech about getting my mp10 working B) Not sure if the tank is in it's final place, may be switching rooms in the next few months and although its only a 13.5 gallon tank I know moving tanks is a big production regardless.

Chronic overthinking. Example, this thread...

So I've figured instead of loosing more sleep over this I'm just going to put it to a poll and leave it open for discussion, not sure how far it will go since two of three corals are wysiwyg! Photo of the tank in its current state other than the glass and back have all recently been scrubbed, thanks in advance!
IMG_9372.jpg
 

Jon Fishman

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Too many words for a simple guy like me to read, so I will ask this; sorry if it was covered:

“Do you have a local or within 45min to an hour shop to look at corals?”

I find that when I go look at corals, some always just end up coming home with me
 
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ZipAdeeZoa

ZipAdeeZoa

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That was fast!
No time like the present!
Thats honestly what I''m leaning towards, I feel like I've made a mountain of a mole hill over the last 9 months and I'll probably be fine.
Too many words for a simple guy like me to read, so I will ask this; sorry if it was covered:

“Do you have a local or within 45min to an hour shop to look at corals?”

I find that when I go look at corals, some always just end up coming home with me
I talk as much as I think- to much:p

I'm fortunate to have three LFS that do saltwater within 40 minutes of me and I work at two (although one doesn't do salt) so I've just been drooling over but two have enough aptasia that I'm not super comfortable with buying from and the other is having some turf algae issues that I would rather avoid.

I found this place a few provinces over online and the last time my family went to Toronto I made a stop there and was really impressed with their knowledge, state of the tanks and health of the corals so I'm going to start with frags from there. However if the corals start not doing well for me my contingency plan is to just give them away to the store I work at, take the loss and figure out what went wrong before I try again.
 

Waters

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So what exactly are you waiting for? If it is because you feel insecure...welcome to every new reefer out there :) You are never going to curb those insecurities until you start moving forward. Is it because of the algae? You will be battling "something" for the life of the tank most likely lol. Start with some inexpensive, easy to keep coral. Usually I am telling people to wait.....don't add coral too early. This is the first time I have had to talk somebody into adding coral lol.
 

Salps

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You are good to go with corals. As you add different organisms, some on purpose some not, they all change the operations of the tank a little. Just shoot to keep the water chemistry within acceptable ranges and stable (most important). Make adjustments over days or weeks. In no time you will be a seasoned reefer, meaning you still won't know what to do, but you sure will know what NOT to do next time. :) Happy reefing!!
 
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ZipAdeeZoa

ZipAdeeZoa

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So what exactly are you waiting for? If it is because you feel insecure...welcome to every new reefer out there :) You are never going to curb those insecurities until you start moving forward. Is it because of the algae? You will be battling "something" for the life of the tank most likely lol. Start with some inexpensive, easy to keep coral. Usually I am telling people to wait.....don't add coral too early. This is the first time I have had to talk somebody into adding coral lol.
Well Said! I do realize that experience is really the best way to remedy insecurities and the coral species I've chosen are fairly hardy, beginner corals from different groups I want to have in my tank to see how well they all do before I start adding any more.
Most of the time the advice I see on here and agree with is completely the opposite of what I'm about to tell you.

Less thinking, more impulsive choices!
I've converted your response into several diagrams and I still have yet to find proof that I'm "thinking to much, maybe if I make Pie chart;Bookworm... I need more Nyquil...
You are good to go with corals. As you add different organisms, some on purpose some not, they all change the operations of the tank a little. Just shoot to keep the water chemistry within acceptable ranges and stable (most important). Make adjustments over days or weeks. In no time you will be a seasoned reefer, meaning you still won't know what to do, but you sure will know what NOT to do next time. :) Happy reefing!!
I never really thought about it that way, so far I've been pretty fortunate to only have to deal with bryopsis (defeated a few months ago) and pretty mild GHA. Stability is the name of the game no doubt about it!
if the gha is not in plague like proportions it will not hurt your coral at all. Your tank is more than stable for any organisms you want to add. Just take it slow to account for the new bioload.
it only really gets noticeable if I don't scrub the glass or back panel for 2 months or so. I think the bioload is too low to support it getting to that point. Theres only 2 crabs in there right now and other than coral the only thing I'm adding is one plectranthias inermis (has been through a month of QT and has been waiting patiently in the QT tank for a few months now. I figured I would add the corals then wait a water change or two before adding the fish so that I don't freak him out when I'm epoxying the corals.
 

Billldg

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Why would you be different than the rest of us, LOL!!! Buy some tester corals, I hate using that term but its the truth, and test out your tank.

But I will WARN YOU, once you start to buy corals its hard to stop, LOL!!! ;Hilarious
 
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ZipAdeeZoa

ZipAdeeZoa

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You have to skin your knees sometimes to learn to ride a bike. Dive on in , the waters fine.
Diving!
Doooooo it! What are you wanting to start with?
Yeah, decision made. What are you starting with?
One frag of yellow hornets (pretty sure they are actually LA lakers but I just want someething yellow), one Electric green Nepthea and a blasto! Orders placed and they'll be arriving next Friday (next day I'm totally free).
Why would you be different than the rest of us, LOL!!! Buy some tester corals, I hate using that term but its the truth, and test out your tank.

But I will WARN YOU, once you start to buy corals its hard to stop, LOL!!! ;Hilarious
It's a hard to truth but its one we all have to come to terms with at some point, the nature of the beast as they say.

Theres many reasons I got a nano tank, that was one of them!;Hilarious
 
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ZipAdeeZoa

ZipAdeeZoa

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Lol. It's cute that you think the nano tank will stop you. ;Hilarious
Nano tank. Ha!

Have you started thinking about what you'll upgrade to?
Of all my hobbies this one has the most enablers;Hilarious

My dream tank is the Red sea E-170 and was actually the tank I was going to start with but I figured I'd start with something smaller to make sure I really enjoyed it and was up to the task of looking after it. I also travel a lot and have no real plans of slowing for some time so such a tank will simply have to wait until I either have more time or can afford to automate the entire system. I also am planning on upgrading most of my other animals enclosures so the chances of me being able to afford that anytime soon;Dead

Until then I'm just going to enjoy my Nano for as long as a plausibly can, Honestly I'd be content with a nano for years, I find they help me appreciate the smaller things in life and forces me to see things in greater detail.
 

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