I'm new to the reef tank hobby and I'm sorry for the length and if I sound foolish at any point. I got this aquarium (72 gal bow front) 2 weeks ago from a private seller as a complete setup. I'm trying to figure out the best placement for the corals that came with it.
Water quality has been up and down down since I moved it in and most of the corals haven't been showing the best signs (as expected with the poor quality fluctuations I guess). Ammonia has fluctuated between 0 and 0.5 and nitrate between 0-2.0. As of 3 or 4 days ago the tank is now fully re-cycled though with 0 of each.
The aquarium is sump filtered, there are 2-48" Coralife lights. They are florescent but I'm not sure of the output or how many bulbs are in each. One is blue "lunar" lighting. There appears to be a pretty substantial salt build up on the clear cover of the lights (I'm guessing I should try to get this scraped off, what's a good way to clean off the salt buildup?). There is a picture of the hood lights below. I've only been feeding the fish and adding no extra nutrients to the tank although I just ordered some Seachem Reef Trace (any thoughts on this?)
Overall I don't really know what I'm doing but I'm a quick learner and I know how to read overall aquarium health signs but it seems corals are a different story and take more time to be able to properly read them. I've been running a few freshwater tanks for a few years now and taken it pretty serious in that time.
I'm sure the corals just need more time to adjust but I'd like to get them into the right place and not have to move them anymore. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
The green star polyps were out in full (entire rock) after the first 24 hours but since then they receded to only come out minimally from time to time. I also moved them about a week ago into indirect flow (but still should be getting a moderate flow over them). I'm not sure if they are in a bad spot or if the poor water quality in combination with being moved is the reasoning for their receding, or maybe they just need more time.
I lost a whole rock of yellow clover polyps, it was maybe a 8 or so polyps on the rock (water quality, poor positioning, stress?) I dunno... but they are totally gone.
The mushrooms, both the elephant ear and purple have been lively and healthy looking since day 1. I just moved the purples down to the lower potion of the tank in a partially shaded area with little flow.
The pizza polyps have been closed/collapsed since day one. They were a purple/pink color at first, but they have really lightened to nearly white stalks with the heads and inside remaining purple. One finally opened up yesterday but the rest are still closed. I'm going to guess these just need a little more time, I plan to leave them where they are unless given a reason otherwise.
The dragon eye zoo polyps have been closed and tiny most of the time. Some opened up partially from time to time but haven't really looked anywhere near what I'd expect they should look like.
I just added a higher flow power head on the left and moved the leather plate into its flow and the leather toadstool has been in the same spot for awhile now (the pink polyps on the leather toadstool have only came out minimally slightly resembling a finger thimble) I'm hoping it will do better with the higher flower power head.
This is the setup as it stands right now, I've been trying to move things as little as possible but as I'm learning proper positioning I'd like to get things in proper place so I do not have to do any more moving I've read moving corals can make them hide out for long periods of time until they readjust.
The blue lines are the water flow. The left power head on the left is strongest and is pointing directly over the middle of the tank where the live rock is and flowing directly onto the leather plate and leather toadstool. The sump flow is pointing towards the middle of the live rock as well but has a much greater distance to go before it reaches the rock. And the other power head on the right isn't very strong (it's suctioned in the middle of the tank, pointing towards the slightly towards the front). The right power head isn't pointing directly into anything but it should be providing moderate to light flow to the elephant ear mushrooms and GSP.
Lighting:
![IMG_20160731_175556429[1].png](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fsike.us%2Fimg%2FIMG_20160731_175556429%5B1%5D.png&hash=60435c23df03df55ffb586b31f1aa18c)
Again any help greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading!
Water quality has been up and down down since I moved it in and most of the corals haven't been showing the best signs (as expected with the poor quality fluctuations I guess). Ammonia has fluctuated between 0 and 0.5 and nitrate between 0-2.0. As of 3 or 4 days ago the tank is now fully re-cycled though with 0 of each.
The aquarium is sump filtered, there are 2-48" Coralife lights. They are florescent but I'm not sure of the output or how many bulbs are in each. One is blue "lunar" lighting. There appears to be a pretty substantial salt build up on the clear cover of the lights (I'm guessing I should try to get this scraped off, what's a good way to clean off the salt buildup?). There is a picture of the hood lights below. I've only been feeding the fish and adding no extra nutrients to the tank although I just ordered some Seachem Reef Trace (any thoughts on this?)
Overall I don't really know what I'm doing but I'm a quick learner and I know how to read overall aquarium health signs but it seems corals are a different story and take more time to be able to properly read them. I've been running a few freshwater tanks for a few years now and taken it pretty serious in that time.
I'm sure the corals just need more time to adjust but I'd like to get them into the right place and not have to move them anymore. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
The green star polyps were out in full (entire rock) after the first 24 hours but since then they receded to only come out minimally from time to time. I also moved them about a week ago into indirect flow (but still should be getting a moderate flow over them). I'm not sure if they are in a bad spot or if the poor water quality in combination with being moved is the reasoning for their receding, or maybe they just need more time.
I lost a whole rock of yellow clover polyps, it was maybe a 8 or so polyps on the rock (water quality, poor positioning, stress?) I dunno... but they are totally gone.
The mushrooms, both the elephant ear and purple have been lively and healthy looking since day 1. I just moved the purples down to the lower potion of the tank in a partially shaded area with little flow.
The pizza polyps have been closed/collapsed since day one. They were a purple/pink color at first, but they have really lightened to nearly white stalks with the heads and inside remaining purple. One finally opened up yesterday but the rest are still closed. I'm going to guess these just need a little more time, I plan to leave them where they are unless given a reason otherwise.
The dragon eye zoo polyps have been closed and tiny most of the time. Some opened up partially from time to time but haven't really looked anywhere near what I'd expect they should look like.
I just added a higher flow power head on the left and moved the leather plate into its flow and the leather toadstool has been in the same spot for awhile now (the pink polyps on the leather toadstool have only came out minimally slightly resembling a finger thimble) I'm hoping it will do better with the higher flower power head.
This is the setup as it stands right now, I've been trying to move things as little as possible but as I'm learning proper positioning I'd like to get things in proper place so I do not have to do any more moving I've read moving corals can make them hide out for long periods of time until they readjust.
The blue lines are the water flow. The left power head on the left is strongest and is pointing directly over the middle of the tank where the live rock is and flowing directly onto the leather plate and leather toadstool. The sump flow is pointing towards the middle of the live rock as well but has a much greater distance to go before it reaches the rock. And the other power head on the right isn't very strong (it's suctioned in the middle of the tank, pointing towards the slightly towards the front). The right power head isn't pointing directly into anything but it should be providing moderate to light flow to the elephant ear mushrooms and GSP.
Lighting:
Again any help greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading!
