When to add corals?

Druid · #1 10/27/2006, 02:13 PM

When should one start to add the first hardy corals to your tank? I've had mine up & running for 2.5months now - added the cleanup crew 2 weeks ago and I plan to add the first fish (a goby) next week. I want to try mushrooms and zooanthids first...

sir_dudeguy · #2 10/27/2006, 02:31 PM

as long as the tank has been cycled completely and theres no amonia/nitrite and nitrates are low (ten and lower) then you'll be fine w/stuff like shrooms and zoas. mine made it thru a cycle even..they were already on the rocks.

Druid · #3 10/27/2006, 02:35 PM

Ammonia & Nitrite are 0 and Nitrates are 2.5ppm...maybe I'll pick up a mushroom frag this week then!!

TekCat · #4 10/27/2006, 04:20 PM

Agreed. Since you starting put corrals in, you now need to pay attention to PO4, Ca, Alk, Mg too.

stewymaroon · #5 10/27/2006, 04:23 PM

Mushrooms can survive under pretty much any water conditions. Not telling you to neglect your husbandry duties, but don't worry too much about killing them by adding too soon.

rcbones · #6 10/27/2006, 10:09 PM

Shrooms and zoas are pretty hardy. Ricordia hangs in there pretty good too. Galaxia has been really hardy for me too along with acanthastrea. The galaxia has sweeper tentacles so keep it away from any other corals.

Yellow colony polyps is another hardy one I'd recommend.

sir_dudeguy · #7 10/27/2006, 10:15 PM

galaxia is a hardy one too? I saw one at the lfs and it was only 26 bucks for a good sized rock of it...a flat rock that was about 7 inches long by like 4 or 5 wide...not a bad price imo. I almost got it except there was a big chunk that was dead

But ya, go w/some yellow polyps too. I havent had too much luck with my button polyps, but all my other polyps have been very easy. The buttons seem to need to be fed....which i didnt know for the first month or so that i had them and they havent been doing so great ever since, even tho light and everything is perfectly fine.

PatMayo · #8 10/27/2006, 11:57 PM

There are several issues here that you need to think about and address.
Most tanks at 2.5 months have several things going against them. Mainly the owner of the tank. The tank is not stable because the owner has not learned how to keep the important parameters at the proper levels. In fact many tank owners don't even know what those are.
Calcium, alkalinity, magnesium and ph are very important to the long term health of the tank. Nutrient reduction is another problem that is faced at 2.5 months. Many skimmers are not working correctly. There not dialed in properly, the tank is overfed in most cases. Eventually what happens is the cry, "help algae is taking over my tank", or "how do I get rid of this green hair algae", etc. or the worst case, my critters are dieing.

So you have take all these things into account. There is a real good thread about what is a mature tank. I'll try to find the link and give it to you.

Anyway, those are just a few of the issues that need to be thought about when deciding when and how to stock you tank.

I started very slow. I still have not much in my tank at 272 days into it. But it's taken me some time to understand how to keep the levels correct, nitrates at zero, no ammonia spikes from overfeeding, phosphates almost always inundate many tanks that the beggining because folks feed too much and too much of the wrong types of food. And on and on.

But I need to get off my soapbox. Here is the thread I was talking about. It's a very interesting read.

Regards,

Pat

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...hreadid=249112

Sk8r · #9 10/28/2006, 12:35 AM

Also be aware that there are chemical compatibility problems between softies and stonies. Best decide where you want to go, and get 1-2 hardy specimens, get them to grow and keep color, and build your collection from there.

Druid · #10 10/28/2006, 03:05 AM

Thanks for all the info.

For clarity - I test for PH, Calc and Alk weekly or bi-weekly...I'm going to buy Mag/PO4 kits this week.

My skimmer is working properly..I had a local experienced reefer come set it up for me!

The tank is mostly definitely not over fed...3/5 granules of food once a week just to ensure the crabs have something!! I have v.little algal bloom (Did brown diatom and green hair....snails cleaned it right up)

I'd like to get yellow polyps..but later when I've tried something else!!

sir_dudeguy · #11 10/28/2006, 08:25 AM

Quote:

Also be aware that there are chemical compatibility problems between softies and stonies.

really? So does that mean that they cant be in the same tank as each other or just cant be close/touching?

Sk8r · #12 10/28/2006, 10:18 AM

Discosoma mushrooms will sting the base of, say, montipora, but are otherwise compatible: montipora recovers within a few hours of being fragged out. They're the only truly reliable softie that can mix with stonies...well, xenia gets along fairly well, and so do the notorious yellow polyps and green star polyps. Discosomas appear unfazed by hammer coral sweepers.

When you get into rics and yumas, however, they're stronger stingers, and should be downwind of any stonies, at very least. I won't keep them in my tank: I grow stonies for trade to the lfs.

Worse news when you get to leathers: toadstool and sinularia conduct chemical warfare, releasing growth-inhibiters into the water. You really want them downwind of the stonies, and if you REALLY want trouble in your tank, let a stony's sweepers reach a leather coral. It'll turn purple and nasty-up the water, which reaches the stony, which then has die-back, with ammonia, etc, etc, to perdition.

Buttons and such seem to get along better, and some of the milder softies are ok, as above.

The way to put a brake on the war is to run carbon nearly constantly, changing carbon every water-change or sooner, if once-monthly. Neither stonies nor softies will grow to best advantage in the presence of the other. The softies evolved to clear more growing space downwind, on the reef. Unfortunately, in our tanks, goes-around comes-around, and around, and around.

Stonies of course have sweepers: montiporas can touch each other without damage, but try to miss; hammer and frogspawn can snuggle without harm to each other---they're both euphyllia---and no, I haven't had the nerve to try adding torch to the pile---

And bubble is a reachy neighbor: keep it and galaxia well clear of anything else. But stonies don't release their toxins, they just sweep with them.

HTH.

Chaotic Reefer4u · #13 10/28/2006, 10:26 AM

sane advice...

Druid · #14 10/28/2006, 10:58 AM

Right..I'm so confused.

What class do mushrooms go in?? How do I tell what is a SPS, LPS, etc.???

sir_dudeguy · #15 10/28/2006, 11:37 AM

imo shrooms would be in with softies...but they might be in one on their own...at least thats how liveaquaria has them...they've got shrooms and i think polyps to their own category.

I think i'm gonna start a new thread about this...i'd hate to hijack your thread

(oh, druid...its all good...i was pretty dang confused too lol...but i think i got some of it)

sir_dudeguy · #16 10/28/2006, 11:39 AM

oh, but sps corals are "small polyped stoney" corals...do a google image search for acropora and it will turn up some pics of sps...they're the ones that just look like weird stones for lack of better word lol.

LPS is "large polyped stoney." They've got a stoney base, but then really large polyps come out...this would be like frogspawn, torch, hammer...etc.

Softies...this would be anything else imo...stuff like xenia, kenya tree, leathers, shrooms, polyps...etc.

Druid · #17 10/28/2006, 11:46 AM

Ok, thanks!! I'll have a look at live aquaria's catergories to get an idea of what is what!