What is the next step

[chrisely24]

Finally got the 90 ready (I think).
Tank is cycled, and rock is in. Please comment on my rock placement as I suck at any type of decorating.

My Cal is at 400, KH at 125, Phos between 0.5 and 1.0

I would like to know what the next step is, what chemicals do I need to buy to keep my levels up or down?
What should I do before adding corals and which ones are good to start off with.
Tank is still cloudy from messing with the rocks.

Thanks!

 

[beth]

What are your plans? Will your tank be a fish-only tank with live rock, or will you go reef? Do you want a jam packed display or do you like the open spaces look? What kind of fish do you want?

 

[chrisely24]

Definately going coral, lps, sps, everything.

I am not sure about fish yet, I have a 65 fowlr, I am focusing on the corals for a bit and might not add any fishies until later on.

I am just curious as to what I might need to purchase before I add my first easy corals, I am sure everyone's tank has different needs to keep the water parameters on the level.
I know the corals use calcium so should I be getting something to replace the calcium and other stuff in the water?

 

[lmforbis]

I use the BRS two part for cal mag and alk. I don't have many corals yet and the ones I have are small so they don't really deplete my levels much. I dose alk and mag. I have not yet needed to dose calcium. Probably best to get good test kits and monitor the levels and get an idea how much your system uses up. There are calculators out there to calculate how much to add to increase the levels. Again I use the BRS calculators. They also have videos on the subject.

 

[chrisely24]

Should I have the calcium, alk and mag on hand before I put corals in?
My reasoning is that if the corals use up the calcium below the 400-500 range or whatever, I might need to replace it and not wait a week for chemicals to come in the mail.

Magnesium is the one thing I have not tested for. I got the cheap api reefmaster kit for now and will slowly replace the separate tests out one by one with a good kit.

 

[reefkeeperZ]

not having fish in a reef is a mistake in my opinion. you want fish, fish poop is coral food.

as for all those additives thats up to you, generally I try to use water changes to keep my parameters in line as much as possible. once the reef is fully stocked and really growing that becomes challenging and I end up dosing but until there are a ton of corals really sucking down calcium etc. its fairly easy to just use water changes. so you will have time. but it doesn't hurt to have the stuff on hand ahead of time, just keep it sealed.

 

[pegasus]

I use the BRS two part for cal mag and alk. I don't have many corals yet and the ones I have are small so they don't really deplete my levels much. I dose alk and mag. I have not yet needed to dose calcium. Probably best to get good test kits and monitor the levels and get an idea how much your system uses up. There are calculators out there to calculate how much to add to increase the levels. Again I use the BRS calculators. They also have videos on the subject.

+1. With this kit, you can mix several gallons for the price of one gallon of premixed...

With only a few corals, and mostly soft corals, you should be okay with regular water changes. Once you get several "hard" corals, those with hard skeletons, the need to supplement Alkalinity and Calcium will go up. I use roughly the same amount of Alk and Cal, but each tank will differ slightly. Hard corals combine Alkalinity and Calcium to form Calcium Carbonate, which is the building blocks for their skeletons. Magnesium is important as it keeps Calcium and Carbonate (Alk) separated in the water column. Without proper levels of Magnesium, the Calcium and Carbonate will combine to form Calcium Carbonate crystals... basically sand... and it will no longer be available for corals. This is called "precipitation". Alkalinity, Calcium, and Magnesium are the most required supplements. These are what I refer to as the "Big 3". Right now, I'm dosing 50mL of Alk and Cal daily...

 

[chrisely24]

Cool, thanks for the replies. You guys have cleared some of the mystery up for me.

I will get 2 fish this weekend to get started then. Will it be ok to put a couple of easy corals in at the same time and if so what would you recommend?

 

[pegasus]

Cool, thanks for the replies. You guys have cleared some of the mystery up for me.

I will get 2 fish this weekend to get started then. Will it be ok to put a couple of easy corals in at the same time and if so what would you recommend?

Don't rush the process, learn all you can about what you intend to keep, and once you've gotten your feet wet (pun), you can try more demanding corals. Mushrooms and Ricordeas are very easy corals that require little to no maintenance. Good lighting is basically all they need. Once the system establishes and there's a little more "natural food" in the tank, you can add some filter feeders like xenia, anthelia, feather dusters, etc. After the tank is matured, you can try some LPS corals. Once you've mastered those, you can move up to the pinnacle corals... SPS.

 

[chrisely24]

Cool thanks, i will start with some mushrooms and Ricordeas, I might be able to pick up a few this tuesday after my doc appt.

 

[flower]

Hi,

Power heads... I don't see any in your tank. You need good strong water flow, the water surface should almost look like it's boiling. The wave is the life of the ocean, and your saltwater tank. Corals can't hunt for food, they wait for food to flow to them, the flow also helps certain corals shed their skin to keep algae off of them. Not all coral wants or needs really strong flow, each area of your tank will have different flow rates...some areas stronger then others. You have to study each coral (do your homework!) to know it's needs, not only for chemical parameters, but also for light and water flow.

I loved my reef... I had a 90g as well, congratulations on finally getting it going.

 

[chrisely24]

Hi,

Power heads... I don't see any in your tank. You need good strong water flow, the water surface should almost look like it's boiling. The wave is the life of the ocean, and your saltwater tank. Corals can't hunt for food, they wait for food to flow to them, the flow also helps certain corals shed their skin to keep algae off of them. Not all coral wants or needs really strong flow, each area of your tank will have different flow rates...some areas stronger then others. You have to study each coral (do your homework!) to know it's needs, not only for chemical parameters, but also for light and water flow.

I loved my reef... I had a 90g as well, congratulations on finally getting it going.

Look to the right of the tank. I have a maxspect gyre 130 there.

 

[flower]

Look to the right of the tank. I have a maxspect gyre 130 there.

I'm not familiar with the brand...it looks really different (tube on top...?) It's just that he surface seems really calm for a reef, so I felt I should say something...excuse the mistake.

I have a stick with a plastic ribbon I attached, I place it in different areas of the tank so I will know how much flow I have in what areas (really helpful for choosing what corals to get)...and if there are any dead spots. Releasing food will do the same thing...but my way can be done anytime without the fish interfering, and since right now you are without fish, you don't want to just dump food in the tank.

 

[chrisely24]

Sounds like a good idea with the stick,
That tube creates a gyre effect in the tank. 2 counter rotating cylydrical fans. It is only on 30% or so right now, it can also pulse creating waves.

 

[beth]

Just a bit of advise for a headache-free exp. Before you add fish, set up and use a quarantine tank.

If you are going to start with soft corals, you don't really need to worry too much about additives. You will need to be concerned with lighting. What is your lighting?

As for your rockscaping, with the addition of corals the rockscape you have is good. You want to keep it light to leave lots of growing space for corals. You may want to break up the line of rocks somewhere to make a cannon within
the wall of rocks you have.

 

[chrisely24]

Just a bit of advise for a headache-free exp. Before you add fish, set up and use a quarantine tank.

If you are going to start with soft corals, you don't really need to worry too much about additives. You will need to be concerned with lighting. What is your lighting?

As for your rockscaping, with the addition of corals the rockscape you have is good. You want to keep it light to leave lots of growing space for corals. You may want to break up the line of rocks somewhere to make a cannon within
the wall of rocks you have.

Thanks Beth, quarantine 20g has Been running since Feb Or so.
I have 320w maxspect razor led.

 

[mandy111]

You will find that if you start out with a few corals your water changes should normally keep up with demand and although I highly suggest you test for the big 3 (alk, cal , mag) I doubt you will have to dose extra for a while.
I auto dose all the big 3 but certainly don't rely on guess work, I still test every single week, and if inclined I test even twice a week. When you look at the cost of the livestock and corals you buy, a test kit is such a small but essential part of a reef system.

 

[chrisely24]

Magnesium is the only test I wasn't thinking about. I will pick up a test kit tomorrow if the LFS has them in stock.

 

[pegasus]

Magnesium is the only test I wasn't thinking about. I will pick up a test kit tomorrow if the LFS has them in stock.

Magnesium levels fall much slower than Cal and Alk, so you won't need to test it as often. As long as you have only soft corals, there's no need to test on a weekly basis, as these corals aren't using much, if any, calcium carbonate. If you want to check it every two weeks or so, that would be fine. You'll mainly want to test for Nitrate, and possibly Phosphate. Just thought I'd throw that in...

 

[chrisely24]

Thanks all, big help.
Got home to a massive diatom bloom that I knew was on it's way but I wasn't expecting this much.

On a side note, you would think that the JBJ ato offered by MD with a free powerhead would also come with a hose but it did not. So, off to the depot to find some!