Ugh Unprepared and Tank Problems

[Rispa]

Definitely don't add it behind the filter pad; it won't work- I've tried it before a long time ago during my earlier ventures here. If you really don't want to wait until the next water change, I would go and get a small tub/big jug, put some freshwater (bottled or RODI) and add a load of salt in it. This is what I do when I want to raise my salinity up a point- just add a ton of salt to a small amount of freshwater and pour it into the filters. I can't really tell you how much; I don't know your tank well enough to eyeball it and I use Reef Crystals. Check your salt level in a few mins and go slow. Salt, if it lands on coral, will burn them, so you want to make sure it's fully dissolved.

On that note, if you're using tap water, don't. Use RODI or distilled/bottled.

I would highly recommend some wave makers or pumps; you can get one or two jebao wavemakers for not much money and it'd be fine. Flow is extremely important in reefs- I like running as much flow as my corals can tolerate without being upset. This prevents detritus buildup and keeps algae low.

I hear you on macros in your display- I have some red gracilaria in my nano that doubles as a phosphate remover and a pod haven.

Carbon is good- whenever I have an upset coral, I always replace my carbon first if it's been awhile (as in a month or two). If that doesn't work, I dose a little bit. Since I run an LPS/softy dominant reef, Purple Up and some trace elements is all I do. 99% of the time that takes care of it.

The problem is I'm on a time crunch today. I wound up mixing it using a jar and tank water. I don't have rodi here. Only spring water which in retrospect I could have used. I only added half a cup for now. Hopefully I will find my refractometer tonight. I'll have more time to search then.

Actually there isn't much Cyrano in there, mostly it's some other type that's harder to get off the tank.

Well now that I'm not doing seahorses I'll give upping the flow a go. I've got a spare power head on hand that I can add in.

 

[Rispa]

@CalebWBrink2000 so the real question here is how do you learn patience. I recently learned mom is giving me her tank and there are so many cool and pretty things to get for it that I can get now. Ugh I don't want to be patient.

 

[CalebWBrink2000]

@CalebWBrink2000 so the real question here is how do you learn patience. I recently learned mom is giving me her tank and there are so many cool and pretty things to get for it that I can get now. Ugh I don't want to be patient.

This is always a hard one. Simply put, not having patience results in dead livestock and wasted money. Beautiful tanks take awhile to create. Also, know what you want and stick with the plan; my nano is a LPS dominated reef with a mushroom garden and a few hardy SPS. Due to it being LPS, everything is centered around them and there is hardly no conflict.

What do you want this new tank to be?

 

[Rispa]

This is always a hard one. Simply put, not having patience results in dead livestock and wasted money. Beautiful tanks take awhile to create. Also, know what you want and stick with the plan; my nano is a LPS dominated reef with a mushroom garden and a few hardy SPS. Due to it being LPS, everything is centered around them and there is hardly no conflict.

What do you want this new tank to be?

Yeah, that's what I keep telling myself Or more specifically I cannot monitor the livestock I add in properly from this far away. I have three tanks planned and I haven't decided which one this will be. All will be planted because that really helps with water stability in my experience. One will be an anemone tank. Probably with BTA as the main occupant because according to the chart on here they get along with a lot plus they come in so many colors. I have not decided if I will use domino damsels or clownfish in this one, but I'm leaning towards the damsels because they school better. One will be a shrimp fish and sea urchin tank and I would definitely like to try seagrass in here. One will be a pipefish tank with several varieties of pipefish and I'm toying with the idea of trying some acropora in here after seeing the beauties on Jason Fox's sale. The latter two will probably have other inhabitants before having their final ones, so the tanks can mature. They will also be seeded by the original tank since the bristle worms in there are harmless and make for a good cuc plus the amphipods in there seem to be very prolific. Heck I'm thinking I'll set up a bucket or something and try culturing some of those amphipods sooner rather than later. I'd like to try out the hybrid T5's and led on all three and may try experimenting with metal halide (because I happen to have one sitting in the garage) when I try the acropora and I remember watching a video that said stony coral grow better with it than the other two. I'm planning to use hob overflows for all 3, but that may change and I may get rid of the one that is all tempered. I'd like to have a nice live food setup going as well. On top of that we have a 200g planned for small schooling freshwater fish one day, and a bunch of other tanks with guppies as the main focus. Oh wait I think I was just trying to talk about plans for salt and this one tank. I may have gotten a bit excited here

 

[Rispa]

Okay, I got a refractometer and calibration solution. My salinity is not 1.035... I think the store might need to calibrate theirs or something is off euth the solution I got. I'm going to use some water from my rodi unit to test it against. In addition to the solution For the time being I don't think I'll do anything else to the aquarium. The zoanthid still haven't opened, but I see a peek of color on their tip, so maybe they aren't as tightly closed as they were before. I'm going to test the rest of the parameters now.

 

[Rispa]

On second thought I can't. My test kit is contaminate with small bugs that look like sand or salt, but they are moving...

 

[Rispa]

I thought I'd update here because realistically I'm never fully prepared and the thread title still applies.

Tank parameters look good except for salinity at 1.035. I did a 12g water change today and will do another tomorrow or in a few days.

Today I dipped and added a bunch of coral. I also ticked off the elegance royally. He's been pretty happy though. I nervous about if I put aggressive corals too close together. A reminder of why I need to wait before adding stuff I need to be able to monitor after it's been added. I got a pic of the elegance all happy, then another of it baring its "teeth" when I was pulling water out. I accidentally blew it over by pouring too fast and moved if farther in the corner. When I left it was 1/3 normal size.

 

[Rispa]

Now all the pics of the frags I got from @WWC

Tomorrow I'll work on getting some under the lights. Also I need to get a pic of the paper with all the names and associated numbers.

 

[Rispa]

The rest of the pics wouldn't fit...
Actually since it didn't post in order I not going to waste my time trying to figure out what I didn't upload without the list I front of me. Maybe tomorrow~

 

[Rispa]

More coral pics. All are still angry and 2 look bad. A few are starting to let their polyps out. The one that looks bad on the rock just got moved there. I don't know what's wrong with it, but I thought in the state it's in moving it might help.

 

[Rispa]

Rest of the pics from today

 

[Rispa]

How long should I wait before they should start "coming out of their shells?" Also I'd like to know what you guys think of these two. I'll try to get better pics in a day or two. A few others have a little skeleton exposed, but I figure they are pretty stressed. These look kinda bad though. One I expected because the tissue was coming off in the bag. The other didn't look so bad I think. Could they recover?

 

[Rispa]

This is what I got during the sale.

Can this thread be moved so I can use it as a thread about this tank?

 

[Rispa]

Okay my refractometer was off by .02. This time it was 1.030. Here are some pics of the corals today. I just woke them up, so the elegance and leather are sinularia are getting bigger now that the lights are on. The one died and so did the arrow crab. I slowly lowering my salinity further again I really meant to get back to doing this 2 days ago, but AC issues and house sitting job were prioritized over coming to this side of town.

How do I tell how the acropora is doing? It's not nicely colored, but I don't think it's dead.

 

[Rispa]

Second round of pics

 

[Rispa]

Ending the Salinity at 1.026. I meant to go to 1.028, but I'm not going to mess with it further. Next I intend to try feeding. The tank gets frozen mysis daily, but I want to give coral food a go once a week. I say tentacles out along for food.

 

[Rispa]

I would like to emphasize that all of these corals are quite withdrawn in the pictures. Today when the lights were on and the tank was being fed they grew to like three times their size.

Oh also the elegance is developing 1 or 2 more mouths. I'm loving that guy and once the tank is moved rescaped, and I have a quarantine I want another.

 

[manilaboy1vic]

i have been feeding my tank more for the corals sake than the fish..

i get san francisco bay frozen food.. they have one pack that is mixed with coral feast and like reef plankton.

i also been dosing seachem phytoplankton twice a week.. the seachem reef phytoplankton IS NOT meant for target feeding it.. ive seen people like burn their corals with it... its super concentrated.

good luck

 

[lickyricky]

I would like to emphasize that all of these corals are quite withdrawn in the pictures. Today when the lights were on and the tank was being fed they grew to like three times their size.

Oh also the elegance is developing 1 or 2 more mouths. I'm loving that guy and once the tank is moved rescaped, and I have a quarantine I want another.

Why why why in the world do you KEEP adding livestock to your tank when you say in almost every post that “things are not doing well” or look like “******”. You have added more to this tank in a single day than I have over the course of a year.

Please stop adding new corals to your tank! These poor corals....they don’t look good and neither does your tank.

I am not trying to be rude but you really need to read up on the hobby before you waste any more money or life.

How could you forget a refractometer or a decent test kit?? These are basics and the reason why your tank is such a mess.

 

[manilaboy1vic]

Why why why in the world do you KEEP adding livestock to your tank when you say in almost every post that “things are not doing well” or look like “******”. You have added more to this tank in a single day than I have over the course of a year.

Please stop adding new corals to your tank! These poor corals....they don’t look good and neither does your tank.

I am not trying to be rude but you really need to read up on the hobby before you waste any more money or life.

How could you forget a refractometer or a decent test kit?? These are basics and the reason why your tank is such a mess.

the test results earlier in the thread look ok.. but no mention of alk or calcium levels..

I would definately make sure your alk is the correct level.. my alk dropped.. im getting it back to normal now.. then getting more corals..