What else can I do for my corals?

Bladeslinger · 01/30/2009, 08:12 AM

I've had my 48 gal. euro tank set up for a year now... its my first SW tank so I've been focusing on keeping the fish alive and healthy. Now that I've got that down I want to focus on my corals and what else I can do to get them to grow and spread in my tank. I have 3 bulbs... in back is an acinic, middle is a daylight, and up front is a 50/50. Acinic is on 10 hours ( i was told that is a good amount), and the other 2 are on 5 hours. What are the optimum amount of hours each should be on??

as for water chemistry... I make my own water and the filter i use for some reason puts a lot of calcium in my water, also some phosphates but i add in a phosphate remover... so im going to start buying water from the store from now on. Since i never really needed to add liquid calcium to my tank cuz it was already in my water... how often, and how much liquid calcium should i be adding to my tank? and the S+M and iodine?? I add them now but purely of rough guessing.....

as for food... i never really fed my corals... i thought they just used photosynthesis and little particles floating around. Sometimes i added "reef snow" to the tank for them... but how much and how often??? I also read brine shrimp for them?? I feed my fish brine shrimp, and mysis shrimp ( switching off each day) and put a piece of algae on a clip twice a week. What do you guys recommend I do for them feeding-wise?? and how often?

I really want my corals to flourish and i also want to add more corals but not until I master the care they need....

here's a list of my tank's inhabitants...
-blue tang -skunk cleaner shrimp
-flame angel -3 peppermint shrimp
-bi-color blenny -2 emerald crabs
-chromis -a few blue footed hermits
-false percula clown -a sand sifting star that is dying apparently from lack of food...
**I no longer have the copperband in the pics.... it never ate. had it for 4 days...
and here's a pic...

Bladeslinger · 01/30/2009, 08:15 AM

also.. i feed my fish mysis and brine shrimp... wat supplement should i add to their food?? (presoak) ..to add nutrients to their diet...

thanx

IslandCrow · 01/30/2009, 09:05 AM

OK, first a couple questions. There's obviously a wide variety of corals out there with very different individual requirements, so we'll need to know what you have. I apologize if it's evident from your pictures, but I'm at work at the moment, and our server blocks most pictures. Next, what type of lighting do you have (T5 HO, VHO, PC)? If they're T5, the brand is also very important. Personally, with fluorescent bulbs, I leave my actinics on for 12 hours and full spectrum on for 8.

Once we know that, we can answer your questions better, but I'll do my best with what I know for now. You don't absolutely need to feed most corals, but most will benefit from directed feeding. What you feed depends entirely on the type of coral. It can be anything from microscopic oyster eggs to mysis shrimp. The Reef Snow I'd stay away from. It's mostly inorganic and dead organic matter that for the most part is in your tank already. Also, if you look on the bottle, you'll see it's mostly water anyway. Personally, I hate to waste money, but I'd just throw that stuff away.

Before we can start talking chemical supplementation, we really need to know what types of corals you have. Only corals with calcium carbonate skeletons (i.e. LPS and SPS) need calcium supplementation. Also, if you supplement calcium, you have to supplement alkalinity as well. That's the carbonate part of calcium carbonate. In a lightly stocked tank, water changes are often times sufficient. You'll really want to read this article before you start adding supplements: http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/feb2003/chem.htm. And remember you should never add anything that you don't (or can't) test for. On that subject, I don't know what S+M is (I know what S&M is, but I'm pretty sure that's not what you're talking about), but I'd pass on the iodine. It's benefits are mostly unconfirmed, and it's very difficult to test for accurately. If you're interested, this article has more information on the subject: http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/mar2003/chem.htm.

Lastly, I'd invest in a quality RO/DI filter. I'm not sure what the deal is with the filter you have. Generally, filters don't add calcium or phosphates. I have an AquaFX filter that I've been very happy with, and there are many other choices if you go to the sponsors page on this site. Anyway, if you can answer the questions at the top of my post, I can hopefully help you out a little bit more.

YE||0W TA|\|G · 01/30/2009, 09:14 AM

IMO i would look into getting a RO/DI. Its a lot easier to fill the tank and top off the tank rather then spend a whole lot on bottled water from the store.

Bladeslinger · 01/30/2009, 10:22 AM

my 50/50 bulb is a F25T8 it has an HG circled underneath that...

My natural daylight bulb is a F30T8...with a HG circled underneath that...

and the acinic...is acinic...don't know if u needed specifics on that...

as for my corals... i have a few polyps.. button polyp, starbust polyp, and a hammer/anchor coral ( my best estimates from seeing pics on liveaquaria.com...)

Bladeslinger · 01/30/2009, 10:31 AM

...and the brand of my bulbs are eclipse(daylight), Zoo med (50/50) and marine-glo (acinic)

Johnny C · 01/30/2009, 11:41 AM

lock and load... i hear sirens from the tang police!

nice setup tho

YE||0W TA|\|G · 01/30/2009, 11:53 AM

Quote:

lock and load... i hear sirens from the tang police!

nice setup tho

take cover

IslandCrow · 01/30/2009, 01:36 PM

OK, I'm guessing T8 VHOs from what you've written, but you'll need to confirm, since even if I'm correct about the T8 part, they could be NO or HO. The actual brand of the bulb isn't all that important.

As for the corals, the zoanthids (what you're calling "polyps") are pretty low light corals, and they should be fine under VHO lighting (if that's indeed what you have). The hammer coral I'd put towards the top of the tank, but otherwise it should be fine.

You can feed your hammer coral anything from cyclopeeze to enriched brine shrimp to smal mysis shrimp. I've never been one to bother feeding zoanthids, but I believe some species will accept small pieces of meaty foods like what I suggested for your hammer coral. All of them will be fine without supplemental feedings.

As for everyone's comments on the tang police, they're referring to the fact that your tank is considered too small for any tang. I believe the recommended tank size for a powder blue tang is 100g. They just require a lot of swimming room.

Bladeslinger · 01/30/2009, 01:47 PM

o ok.. well i have a blue hippo tang... he's only an inch long. When he gets bigger i had plans to move him to my friend's 90 gallon.

today i went ahead and bought a vitamin soak for the brine/mysis shrimp i feed the fish... we'll c how they take to it...

Thanks for the advice guys!! I really appreciate it! any other tips on corals are appreciated!

minispider · 01/30/2009, 03:21 PM

Your hippo looks sick, showing signs of LLE (i hope i got that right), he's missing pieces of his blue texture (it will get worse) plus the tail has pieces missing this is due to stress and/or ground electricity leaking in your system, and yes the tank is too small for that fish. He will never be the same and hopefully he will not die due to this. I just took 200 lbs of rock on my 120 gal tank last Saturday to get my hippo out because he could not swim due to his large size, i will never make that mistake anymore ever, and it was not fun removing all the rock. Just my .02 cents

Peter Eichler · 01/30/2009, 04:56 PM

I'd suggest you stop feeding brine shrimp as it's not very nutritious and your fish look pretty bad overall. I'd suggest getting some Formula 1 or Prime Reef, and some Formula 2 in flake or frozen form and alter using that with the Mysis instead of the brine shrimp.

So, get your fish in order, get an RODI unit for makeup water, and get better lighting and a protein skimmer (didn't notice you mention one) then you can worry more about corals.

Bladeslinger · 01/30/2009, 10:24 PM

ok... my blue tang does have Lateral line erosion... i recently added a grounding probe. the angel was losing color around its face.. but i was told the grounding kit would fix that. Like i mentioned...i just today bought a vitamin supplement soak for the shrimp i feed. And as for water, i will be switching to buying saltwater all ready from the fish store. Its got ph, salinity, and etc.. all exact already. Im not going to be buying a water filter system until I move out of where I am now because there is just not space for it.

what exactly does a protein skimmer do and how do fish and coral benefit from it?? I hear all about then but never got all the info...

nikon187 · 01/31/2009, 12:18 AM

It removes organic protiens from the water as well as some fish waste, un eaten food, little nitrates. It will also add oxygen to you tank. The blue tang will need a bigger tank then your friends 90 as well. I would look into getting some selcon to soak your food in and start feeding that tang nori ( dried seaweed) every day

Bladeslinger · 01/31/2009, 12:43 AM

seaweed on a clip or the flake food type seaweed??? And i bought a bottle today of "V3 triple strength" vitamins, amino acids, and trace minerals. Ingredients include kelp, ascorbic acid, lecithin, vitamin A palmitate, calcuim chloride, folic acid, vitamin B12, Vitamin E, d-biotin... to name a few. I don't know if n e one had heard about it... i started useing it today..did 2 meals of mysis shrimp. let it soak for 5 mins or so before feeding it to the fish. Is this bottle good??? has n e one ever used it??

nikon187 · 01/31/2009, 02:12 AM

On a clip. Tangs are herbivores and NEED to have algea in their diet to grow and stay healthy..I have never used that product but it sounds like it is for supplementing the tank to replenish trace elements that are used up by the corals, not for soaking the food in but i may be wrong. Selcon is for soaking food in specificlly for fish

Bladeslinger · 01/31/2009, 10:45 AM

ok thanks.. I usually put the green seaweed on a clip like 2wice a week. is that good??? and the liquid i got is for soaking the fish food in. says it specifically on the bottle....

IslandCrow · 01/31/2009, 09:43 PM

I'd feed the tang seaweed daily. Tangs are grazers, and in the wild, they're eating constantly. Also, I wouldn't expect that grounding probe to solve your tang's LLE. First, I don't believe there's any direct evidence to support the theory that LLE is caused by stray voltage. Second, if you do have a voltage leak in your tank, the grounding probe doesn't help. It just gives the voltage somewhere to go, but it's still flowing through your tank. Some say it's actually worse for your fish in that case. I'm not saying grounding probes are a bad thing, but they're for your safety. It just gives the voltage somewhere else to go other than through you.

If you want to keep corals, you really need to invest in a protein skimmer. With enough water changes, you can certainly get by without one, but it's considered pretty basic equipment for most reef tanks. I'd spend some time reading through the stickies at the top of this forum. There's some really good information that covers lighting, protein skimming, and a host of other essential topics. Anything by Waterkeeper is well worth the read.

01/30/2009, 08:12 AM	#1
Bladeslinger Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Boynton Beach, FL Posts: 65	What else can I do for my corals? I've had my 48 gal. euro tank set up for a year now... its my first SW tank so I've been focusing on keeping the fish alive and healthy. Now that I've got that down I want to focus on my corals and what else I can do to get them to grow and spread in my tank. I have 3 bulbs... in back is an acinic, middle is a daylight, and up front is a 50/50. Acinic is on 10 hours ( i was told that is a good amount), and the other 2 are on 5 hours. What are the optimum amount of hours each should be on?? as for water chemistry... I make my own water and the filter i use for some reason puts a lot of calcium in my water, also some phosphates but i add in a phosphate remover... so im going to start buying water from the store from now on. Since i never really needed to add liquid calcium to my tank cuz it was already in my water... how often, and how much liquid calcium should i be adding to my tank? and the S+M and iodine?? I add them now but purely of rough guessing..... as for food... i never really fed my corals... i thought they just used photosynthesis and little particles floating around. Sometimes i added "reef snow" to the tank for them... but how much and how often??? I also read brine shrimp for them?? I feed my fish brine shrimp, and mysis shrimp ( switching off each day) and put a piece of algae on a clip twice a week. What do you guys recommend I do for them feeding-wise?? and how often? I really want my corals to flourish and i also want to add more corals but not until I master the care they need.... here's a list of my tank's inhabitants... -blue tang -skunk cleaner shrimp -flame angel -3 peppermint shrimp -bi-color blenny -2 emerald crabs -chromis -a few blue footed hermits -false percula clown -a sand sifting star that is dying apparently from lack of food... **I no longer have the copperband in the pics.... it never ate. had it for 4 days... and here's a pic...

01/30/2009, 09:05 AM	#3
IslandCrow Reef Monkey Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Rockledge, Fl Posts: 5,759	OK, first a couple questions. There's obviously a wide variety of corals out there with very different individual requirements, so we'll need to know what you have. I apologize if it's evident from your pictures, but I'm at work at the moment, and our server blocks most pictures. Next, what type of lighting do you have (T5 HO, VHO, PC)? If they're T5, the brand is also very important. Personally, with fluorescent bulbs, I leave my actinics on for 12 hours and full spectrum on for 8. Once we know that, we can answer your questions better, but I'll do my best with what I know for now. You don't absolutely need to feed most corals, but most will benefit from directed feeding. What you feed depends entirely on the type of coral. It can be anything from microscopic oyster eggs to mysis shrimp. The Reef Snow I'd stay away from. It's mostly inorganic and dead organic matter that for the most part is in your tank already. Also, if you look on the bottle, you'll see it's mostly water anyway. Personally, I hate to waste money, but I'd just throw that stuff away. Before we can start talking chemical supplementation, we really need to know what types of corals you have. Only corals with calcium carbonate skeletons (i.e. LPS and SPS) need calcium supplementation. Also, if you supplement calcium, you have to supplement alkalinity as well. That's the carbonate part of calcium carbonate. In a lightly stocked tank, water changes are often times sufficient. You'll really want to read this article before you start adding supplements: http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/feb2003/chem.htm. And remember you should never add anything that you don't (or can't) test for. On that subject, I don't know what S+M is (I know what S&M is, but I'm pretty sure that's not what you're talking about), but I'd pass on the iodine. It's benefits are mostly unconfirmed, and it's very difficult to test for accurately. If you're interested, this article has more information on the subject: http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/mar2003/chem.htm. Lastly, I'd invest in a quality RO/DI filter. I'm not sure what the deal is with the filter you have. Generally, filters don't add calcium or phosphates. I have an AquaFX filter that I've been very happy with, and there are many other choices if you go to the sponsors page on this site. Anyway, if you can answer the questions at the top of my post, I can hopefully help you out a little bit more. __________________ All opinions in the above message should be taken with 35 ppt salt. -Mike C. Current Tank Info: I have a reef screen saver on my phone, does that count?

01/30/2009, 09:14 AM	#4
YE\|\|0W TA\|\\|G Registered Member $YE\|\|0W TA\|\\|G's Avatar$ Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Hillsborough New Jersey Posts: 699	IMO i would look into getting a RO/DI. Its a lot easier to fill the tank and top off the tank rather then spend a whole lot on bottled water from the store. __________________ Rome was not built in a day, and neither was the ocean.. or our aquariums.. patience is they key to success.
$YE\|\|0W TA\|\\|G is offline$

01/30/2009, 11:41 AM	#7
Johnny C Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Buffalo, NY Posts: 4,140	lock and load... i hear sirens from the tang police! nice setup tho __________________ "...the sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonders forever" -Jacques Cousteau

01/30/2009, 01:36 PM	#9
IslandCrow Reef Monkey Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Rockledge, Fl Posts: 5,759	OK, I'm guessing T8 VHOs from what you've written, but you'll need to confirm, since even if I'm correct about the T8 part, they could be NO or HO. The actual brand of the bulb isn't all that important. As for the corals, the zoanthids (what you're calling "polyps") are pretty low light corals, and they should be fine under VHO lighting (if that's indeed what you have). The hammer coral I'd put towards the top of the tank, but otherwise it should be fine. You can feed your hammer coral anything from cyclopeeze to enriched brine shrimp to smal mysis shrimp. I've never been one to bother feeding zoanthids, but I believe some species will accept small pieces of meaty foods like what I suggested for your hammer coral. All of them will be fine without supplemental feedings. As for everyone's comments on the tang police, they're referring to the fact that your tank is considered too small for any tang. I believe the recommended tank size for a powder blue tang is 100g. They just require a lot of swimming room. __________________ All opinions in the above message should be taken with 35 ppt salt. -Mike C. Current Tank Info: I have a reef screen saver on my phone, does that count?

01/30/2009, 08:15 AM	#2
Bladeslinger Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Boynton Beach, FL Posts: 65	also.. i feed my fish mysis and brine shrimp... wat supplement should i add to their food?? (presoak) ..to add nutrients to their diet... thanx

01/30/2009, 10:22 AM	#5
Bladeslinger Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Boynton Beach, FL Posts: 65	my 50/50 bulb is a F25T8 it has an HG circled underneath that... My natural daylight bulb is a F30T8...with a HG circled underneath that... and the acinic...is acinic...don't know if u needed specifics on that... as for my corals... i have a few polyps.. button polyp, starbust polyp, and a hammer/anchor coral ( my best estimates from seeing pics on liveaquaria.com...)

01/30/2009, 10:31 AM	#6
Bladeslinger Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Boynton Beach, FL Posts: 65	...and the brand of my bulbs are eclipse(daylight), Zoo med (50/50) and marine-glo (acinic)

01/30/2009, 01:47 PM	#10
Bladeslinger Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Boynton Beach, FL Posts: 65	o ok.. well i have a blue hippo tang... he's only an inch long. When he gets bigger i had plans to move him to my friend's 90 gallon. today i went ahead and bought a vitamin soak for the brine/mysis shrimp i feed the fish... we'll c how they take to it... Thanks for the advice guys!! I really appreciate it! any other tips on corals are appreciated!

01/30/2009, 03:21 PM	#11
minispider Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Pembroke Pines, Fl Posts: 177	Your hippo looks sick, showing signs of LLE (i hope i got that right), he's missing pieces of his blue texture (it will get worse) plus the tail has pieces missing this is due to stress and/or ground electricity leaking in your system, and yes the tank is too small for that fish. He will never be the same and hopefully he will not die due to this. I just took 200 lbs of rock on my 120 gal tank last Saturday to get my hippo out because he could not swim due to his large size, i will never make that mistake anymore ever, and it was not fun removing all the rock. Just my .02 cents Last edited by minispider; 01/30/2009 at 03:27 PM.

01/30/2009, 04:56 PM	#12
Peter Eichler Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Milwaukee Posts: 6,081	I'd suggest you stop feeding brine shrimp as it's not very nutritious and your fish look pretty bad overall. I'd suggest getting some Formula 1 or Prime Reef, and some Formula 2 in flake or frozen form and alter using that with the Mysis instead of the brine shrimp. So, get your fish in order, get an RODI unit for makeup water, and get better lighting and a protein skimmer (didn't notice you mention one) then you can worry more about corals. __________________ April 2015 TOTM

01/30/2009, 10:24 PM	#13
Bladeslinger Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Boynton Beach, FL Posts: 65	ok... my blue tang does have Lateral line erosion... i recently added a grounding probe. the angel was losing color around its face.. but i was told the grounding kit would fix that. Like i mentioned...i just today bought a vitamin supplement soak for the shrimp i feed. And as for water, i will be switching to buying saltwater all ready from the fish store. Its got ph, salinity, and etc.. all exact already. Im not going to be buying a water filter system until I move out of where I am now because there is just not space for it. what exactly does a protein skimmer do and how do fish and coral benefit from it?? I hear all about then but never got all the info...

01/31/2009, 12:18 AM	#14
nikon187 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Edmonton Alberta Posts: 4,717	It removes organic protiens from the water as well as some fish waste, un eaten food, little nitrates. It will also add oxygen to you tank. The blue tang will need a bigger tank then your friends 90 as well. I would look into getting some selcon to soak your food in and start feeding that tang nori ( dried seaweed) every day __________________ ----------------- Current Tanks: New 210 custom 84 x 24 x 24, 60g sump, SWC 250 extreme with bubble blaster 5000, 2 vortech mp40, 2 vortech mp10, 12 T5, Water blaster 5000, warner marine bio pellets, 60g clownfish cube, red carpet anemone with a 25g sump,SRO octopus 1000sss, 250w radium, lumenarc large.

01/31/2009, 12:43 AM	#15
Bladeslinger Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Boynton Beach, FL Posts: 65	seaweed on a clip or the flake food type seaweed??? And i bought a bottle today of "V3 triple strength" vitamins, amino acids, and trace minerals. Ingredients include kelp, ascorbic acid, lecithin, vitamin A palmitate, calcuim chloride, folic acid, vitamin B12, Vitamin E, d-biotin... to name a few. I don't know if n e one had heard about it... i started useing it today..did 2 meals of mysis shrimp. let it soak for 5 mins or so before feeding it to the fish. Is this bottle good??? has n e one ever used it??

01/31/2009, 02:12 AM	#16
nikon187 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Edmonton Alberta Posts: 4,717	On a clip. Tangs are herbivores and NEED to have algea in their diet to grow and stay healthy..I have never used that product but it sounds like it is for supplementing the tank to replenish trace elements that are used up by the corals, not for soaking the food in but i may be wrong. Selcon is for soaking food in specificlly for fish __________________ ----------------- Current Tanks: New 210 custom 84 x 24 x 24, 60g sump, SWC 250 extreme with bubble blaster 5000, 2 vortech mp40, 2 vortech mp10, 12 T5, Water blaster 5000, warner marine bio pellets, 60g clownfish cube, red carpet anemone with a 25g sump,SRO octopus 1000sss, 250w radium, lumenarc large.

01/31/2009, 10:45 AM	#17
Bladeslinger Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Boynton Beach, FL Posts: 65	ok thanks.. I usually put the green seaweed on a clip like 2wice a week. is that good??? and the liquid i got is for soaking the fish food in. says it specifically on the bottle....

01/31/2009, 09:43 PM	#18
IslandCrow Reef Monkey Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Rockledge, Fl Posts: 5,759	I'd feed the tang seaweed daily. Tangs are grazers, and in the wild, they're eating constantly. Also, I wouldn't expect that grounding probe to solve your tang's LLE. First, I don't believe there's any direct evidence to support the theory that LLE is caused by stray voltage. Second, if you do have a voltage leak in your tank, the grounding probe doesn't help. It just gives the voltage somewhere to go, but it's still flowing through your tank. Some say it's actually worse for your fish in that case. I'm not saying grounding probes are a bad thing, but they're for your safety. It just gives the voltage somewhere else to go other than through you. If you want to keep corals, you really need to invest in a protein skimmer. With enough water changes, you can certainly get by without one, but it's considered pretty basic equipment for most reef tanks. I'd spend some time reading through the stickies at the top of this forum. There's some really good information that covers lighting, protein skimming, and a host of other essential topics. Anything by Waterkeeper is well worth the read. __________________ All opinions in the above message should be taken with 35 ppt salt. -Mike C. Current Tank Info: I have a reef screen saver on my phone, does that count?