Opinions wanted on what corals to add next and placement

[pammy]

Hi. I'd like some opinions on what you would add for corals to my tank if it was yours, and where you'd place them. Everything I have in my tank, is on the sand or lower rocks. The only thing on the top of my rocks is one feather duster. I had some zoos on my main rock structure, but they were really starting to spread, and I didn't want them to take over, so moved them so that they're only on their own rock on the sandbed. Seems the corals that I've chosen so far, all belong on the bottom of the tank according to what I read. I want to get some corals up on the top half of the rock structures. I'm not getting any more soft corals as I don't want to deal with chemical warfare or them taking over. I'd like to have a LPS dominated tank, with a few SPS corals. I've added pictures below so you can see what my tank currently looks like.

Current Corals and Misc inverts, from left to right in pictures:
Frogspawn, Mushrooms (on their own rock on the sandbed), Sabae Anemone, Hawaiian Feather Duster, Sun Coral, Red Macro Algae, Aussie Duncan, 1 Colony of Zoos (on their own rock on the sandbed)

53 gallon tank - 31 x 19.5 x19.5 with 7 gallon sump
Set up for 8 months (my first tank)

Lighting: 150w Metal Halide (elos 10k bulb) and 4 25w T5 bulbs

Parameters all stable (Ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrates all 0 Phosphates: between 0 and .1 PH: 8.3 Alk...hard to read test (Red Sea, but appears to be low...about 2 or 2.2). All other test kits are Salifert Calcium: 390 Mag: 1170 Temp: 80 Salinity 1.025)

Fish:
I do have a Coral Beauty but I'm pretty sure I'm going to bring him back to the LFS as he's trying to steal food from my new Anemone and I think he's irritating my clam. Other fish I have is a Percula and Ocellaris clown fish, possum wrasse, Scooter Blenny and a Orchid Dottyback.

Pics are below.

Thanks!!!! Pam

FULL TANK SHOT


LEFT SIDE of Tank


RIGHT SIDE of Tank

[Snowboarda42]

tank looks great so far!

I'd like to know what kind of flow you have in the tank. I see an MJ1200 and a Tunze of some sort.

If you can get the turnover to about 30x per hour, you shouldn't have a problem keeping SPS corals. Look into ones that are easy to keep like Green Bali Slimers, Montipora Capricornis, Montipora Digitata, Birdsnest, etc.

Wish you lived closer cuz I have lots of frags lol.

[Snowboarda42]

Also, get your Calcium up to above 400, and test your Alk.

If you have questions on balancing the two, PM me and I'll explain it.

[Craig Lambert]

Tank looks great. I second the above on params. Bump magnesium up to 1300, and then calcium above 400. You also want to monitor your ALK. Very important parameter to keep stable and at the correct level. (Especially if you begin adding sps).

[weaselslucks]

acans are nice

[pammy]

Thank you all. I didn't mention Alk, because I have a Red Sea test kit for Alk, and it's really hard to determine the results. I went to replace it with a Salifert at my LFS but they don't have any, so I need to order it online. All my other test kits are Salifert, but someone said the Salifert PH / Alk test kit was hard to read the results and Red Sea was much better, but the Red Sea Alk test kit is terrible with the gradient color chart. Alk appears to be somewhere around 2.3 (MgL?). I have a PH probe now, so don't use the PH test. I don't want to play with the Alk till I get an easier to read Alk test kit. Any Alk kits that you'd recommend?

For flow, I have a Tunze Nano 6025 (660gph) and a MaxiJet 1200
(295gph) and my return pump is a Eheim 1260 (635gph).
I'm assuming the return pump looses some strength bringing the water up from the sump to the display, so if I guess it at only 500gph instead of the full 635gph, I'd have a total of 1455gph which is approximately 25X flow for my tank. I could easily replace the maxijet with another Tunze 6025 to bring my flow up to 30X.

I have been working on bringing up my Calcium and Mag.
The Calcium was at 340, and I've gotten it up to 390 with SeaChem Reef Advantage Calcium and Magnesium. I dosed a couple times over two weeks, and now just add it at bi-weekly 10% water changes. Just at water changes has been maintaining calcium at 390. I also switched from Tropic Marin Salt to Reef Crystals. Magnesium hasn't moved much at all.

I'd like to get ideas on what types of corals would do well at the top of my reef, and look good with what I have in there.

Thanks!
Pam

[reefworm]

I'm a big fan of Euphylia ancora - hammer or anchor, and the frogspawn [also Euphylia. Is that a hammer in the lower left of the first 2 pics? The shelf about 2/3 the way up the left side structure would also be a good showcase spot for it. Also an excellent spot for a montipora as Snowborada42 suggests. 150w MH might be a bit on the weak side for SPS, so that might be about as low as you'd want to go with it. Looks good at this point. In addition to the chemistry recommendations the others have made, keep an eye on the CB! They're one of my very favorites, but can be incorrigible coral nippers. Mine killed an open brain after months of model behavior.

[Snowboarda42]

Pammy,

I am very satisfied with my salifert Alk test kit. There's no gradient color to read it against with their alk kit, its a change from a clear teal color to a clear pink color, and the change happens really fast within one drop from the pipet that comes with the kit. Definitely a great kit.

A good practice with SPS corals and a smaller tank such as yours (and mine) is to find your daily usage of Ca and Alk, then dose the amount needed to bring it up to proper levels each day at around the same time.

The way I did it was to test my levels, bring them up to the appropriate levels, test again, wait a day, test, add the certain amount of each, test again the next day, dose, and so on for 5 or 6 days. I tested in the morning at about the same time each day. So, I add 8oz of Alk each day, and 4oz of Ca each day as well. Now I test once a week to see how things are and I only need to add about .5oz usually to bring one or the other up. It saves alot of your test kit.



And keep that CB well fed too!

[pammy]

Thanks Reefworm. That's a frogspawn on the far left. I'd definitely like to put something really cool on that shelf.
I'm going to try to capture my CB tonight and bring him back to the LFS. He's really a beautiful fish...but when he started going after food in my Sabae Anemone, I decided he had to go before he starts causing damage. He really doesn't go after my corals, unless I'm trying to feed my sun coral or Aussie Duncan. He's a pain when it comes to that. Doesn't matter how much food is floating in the water, he wants what I'm feeding my corals!!! I've held off on an open brain because of the CB, but may get one if I bring back the CB. Thanks, Pam

Originally posted by reefworm
I'm a big fan of Euphylia ancora - hammer or anchor, and the frogspawn [also Euphylia. Is that a hammer in the lower left of the first 2 pics? The shelf about 2/3 the way up the left side structure would also be a good showcase spot for it. Also an excellent spot for a montipora as Snowborada42 suggests. 150w MH might be a bit on the weak side for SPS, so that might be about as low as you'd want to go with it. Looks good at this point. In addition to the chemistry recommendations the others have made, keep an eye on the CB! They're one of my very favorites, but can be incorrigible coral nippers. Mine killed an open brain after months of model behavior.

[pammy]

That's good to know Snowborda about the Salifert Test Kit. Went to order one online last night at Dr Fosters Smith, but they are backordered right now. Is it the ALK / Hardness test kit I want from Salifert? Thanks for the tips on bringing up the Calcium / Alk.
What supplements are you using to bring them up?

Thanks, Pam

Originally posted by Snowboarda42
Pammy,

I am very satisfied with my salifert Alk test kit. There's no gradient color to read it against with their alk kit, its a change from a clear teal color to a clear pink color, and the change happens really fast within one drop from the pipet that comes with the kit. Definitely a great kit.

A good practice with SPS corals and a smaller tank such as yours (and mine) is to find your daily usage of Ca and Alk, then dose the amount needed to bring it up to proper levels each day at around the same time.

The way I did it was to test my levels, bring them up to the appropriate levels, test again, wait a day, test, add the certain amount of each, test again the next day, dose, and so on for 5 or 6 days. I tested in the morning at about the same time each day. So, I add 8oz of Alk each day, and 4oz of Ca each day as well. Now I test once a week to see how things are and I only need to add about .5oz usually to bring one or the other up. It saves alot of your test kit.



And keep that CB well fed too!

[pammy]

I bought a Elos dKH test kit tonight and WOW....was that SO much easier than the Red Sea kit which has a gradient color chart. With the Elos, I just counted drops until it changed from blue to yellow, and the number of drops gives you the dKH. I tested my Alk at 8 dKH. I've read a couple different things saying Alk should be between 9 and 11, one said 7 and 11 and Elos' test kit says between 7 and 10. So, am I ok with a Alk of 8 ? PH is 8.3 .

I bought an Orange Montipora Capricornis tonight! It looks pink in these pictures with the T5's only lit. (MH had just gone out for the night). Question for ya... In the close up picture, see the white on the edges? I didn't notice that tonight at the LFS, but it maybe have been because of how it was sitting on the rock in the tank. Do you think that was there, or happened when I brought it home? (10 minute ride). Will the color come back to those sections? Thanks! Pam