New to saltwater, picked up a live coral tank 3 days ago. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[BeatenEgg]

Picked up a 100gal saltwater tank with living coral and a few inhabitants. I'm just starting fresh so any help would be greatly appreciated. Original owner had this tank for about 10 years, almost 95% self sustaining. I picked it up from the second owner after he had it for only about 3 months. I don't know anything about live coral, how they respond to stress, and what are the signs of unhealthy or dying coral. I saved about 90% of the original water so only a 10% change in water, salinity was high so I just added filtered water until it was just right. there's a 10 gal sump underneath with a protein skimmer, wasn't to sure about when to run that and for how long? Just take a look and if you can try to give a basic rundown on how to keep this tank in tip top shape I would be so grateful. Thanks

 

[littlefoxx]

The corals look okay to me right now, the tree seems a little stressed

 

[dstockwell]

You need a test kit to see where you are with parameters. Looks like some algae that needs to be addressed.

 

[MelancholyBlenny]

You need a test kit to see where you are with parameters. Looks like some algae that needs to be addressed.

This, also you said you added filtered water, how was this water filtered? You should only be adding RO water for evap or reducing salinity. You can use distilled in a pinch also but that can get expensive and annoying.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Read this. Lots of good info on sw tanks in general, equipment, water quality, etc, etc...

The Supreme Guide To Setting Up A Saltwater Reef Aquarium

The Supreme Guide To Setting Up A Saltwater Reef Aquarium This article was sponsored by @MarineDepot at www.marinedepot.com. Introduction The marine environment is one of the most complex systems on the planet. The aquarium you are about to set up is only a tiny sliver of the vast ocean...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[SliceGolfer]

Picked up a 100gal saltwater tank with living coral and a few inhabitants. I'm just starting fresh so any help would be greatly appreciated. Original owner had this tank for about 10 years, almost 95% self sustaining. I picked it up from the second owner after he had it for only about 3 months. I don't know anything about live coral, how they respond to stress, and what are the signs of unhealthy or dying coral. I saved about 90% of the original water so only a 10% change in water, salinity was high so I just added filtered water until it was just right. there's a 10 gal sump underneath with a protein skimmer, wasn't to sure about when to run that and for how long? Just take a look and if you can try to give a basic rundown on how to keep this tank in tip top shape I would be so grateful. Thanks

Where in Minnesota are you? I would suggest visiting Reef Collective (Zach) in New Brighton or New Wave Aquaria (Jen) in Plymouth and get acquainted with the staff there. They can help answer many of your questions and give you in-person guidance on how you should proceed. Also look up and join TCMAS, which is the local marine aquarium club. They have frag swaps twice a year. You should also watch many of the YouTube videos available online that will help.

You're going to have a ton of questions, and answering them onesy-twosey on the forums is not going to get you the help you need. And you're going to get a ton of answers, from scrap it all, pour all these magical chemicals in the tank, to spending thousands of dollars. The best answer here is to use the R2R forum search, find some people you see posting consistent and well thought answers versus flip off the cuff responses.

Start a build thread. This way you can post your questions here, at mention people, and track your answers in one place.

Good luck!