All new additions doing great !

[mandy111]

Here is a quick video of all our newbies doing well.
All eating, no aggression and no ICH
Purple tang showed spots for about 2 days, but all clear now.
very happy indeedy. Only wish the powder blues had worked out, but it was not meant to be . They have both found great new homes, in tanks with no other tangs.

 

[Kristin1234]

Looks great! What happened with the powder blues?

 

[mandy111]

HI, thank you.
We had to sell the powder blues, they were extremely aggressive towards each other, We removed the aggressor immed & left just one in the tank. The remaining one turned nasty towards a number of the other new fish. So removed him as well. We found nice new homes for them both, were there were no other tangs.
LOL. We new it was a long shot. but worth a try.

 

[Kristin1234]

Darn! But oh well.

Every time I see your time I get coral envy. I still haven't made the move yet. If I can't keep an xenia tree, it may not be the best idea.

 

[honu808]

Very nice. Serious envy.

 

[mandy111]

Darn! But oh well.

Every time I see your time I get coral envy. I still haven't made the move yet. If I can't keep an xenia tree, it may not be the best idea.

corals aren't that hard mate. If you can get your hands on nice healthy specimens and go from there its easy. We don't do anything special to keep them. We have fairly decent water parameters, we do dose alk cal and mag (still test weekly for all) keep nitrates 0.00.-.0.02 (but for LPS ) up to 10ppm is find and phos around the 0..00-0.03 and they should be fine. We add ammino acids and over feed the fish a lot, so they get lots to eat. And of course lighting, we run T5's, but our tank is quite deep, 2..5ft so we probably would struggle with LEDs reaching the bottom.
Get yourself a torch or a duncan, easiest to start with. and go from there.
If I can help please just ask, happy to help any fellow reefer.

 

[mandy111]

Very nice. Serious envy.

Well thank you. They are all doing great and my corals are very happy to have some fish Pooh back in the tank, a couple of the red gonis sulked the while time we were fishelss. lol

 

[Kristin1234]

corals aren't that hard mate. If you can get your hands on nice healthy specimens and go from there its easy. We don't do anything special to keep them. We have fairly decent water parameters, we do dose alk cal and mag (still test weekly for all) keep nitrates 0.00.-.0.02 (but for LPS ) up to 10ppm is find and phos around the 0..00-0.03 and they should be fine. We add ammino acids and over feed the fish a lot, so they get lots to eat. And of course lighting, we run T5's, but our tank is quite deep, 2..5ft so we probably would struggle with LEDs reaching the bottom.
Get yourself a torch or a duncan, easiest to start with. and go from there.
If I can help please just ask, happy to help any fellow reefer.

Torch or Duncan? Which do you prefer and what do I need to buy with them?

And I kinda love that you called me mate. Lol

 

[Kristin1234]

You gonna add anymore fish?

 

[jay0705]

You have a cleaner wrasse. No problems keeping it alive?

 

[mandy111]

Torch or Duncan? Which do you prefer and what do I need to buy with them?

And I kinda love that you called me mate. Lol

Torch or duncan, thats what we call them here.

Above pic is a Duncan. Likes medium flow & high to medium light . Easy to care for , as you can see grows new bits all the time, we are forever cutting off branches. Will eat any fish food, loves mysis.

Above pic is a Torch. they like to be low in the tank, with medium to strong flow and medium light.
They also grow fast, this one has doubled in size over 6 motns. Easy to care for, will again eat mysis or fish poop. But I dont actually target feed any of my corals.
They are the easiest ones in the tank, you dont need to buy anything extra, just place them right, watch those numbers and see them grow.
They are not expensive and great beginner corals.
Let me know how you go.
I am just sorting through some photos to start a thread on the how we buy sick corals cheap and recover them. I will do later today, lots of before an after pics.
MATE !! lol

 

[mandy111]

You have a cleaner wrasse. No problems keeping it alive?

Yeah we've had him for about a year now. He eats anything you put in the tank including the nori clips for the tangs, But he does spend a great deal of the day also picking and pecking the tangs. They line up at night and first thing in the morning for him. I wouldn't be without one.

 

[jay0705]

Hmm intresting. I always thought they did poorly in the aquarium. I saw some just yest at a lfs

 

[Kristin1234]

Torch or duncan, thats what we call them here.
View attachment 1272 Above pic is a Duncan. Likes medium flow & high to medium light . Easy to care for , as you can see grows new bits all the time, we are forever cutting off branches. Will eat any fish food, loves mysis.
View attachment 1273

Above pic is a Torch. they like to be low in the tank, with medium to strong flow and medium light.
They also grow fast, this one has doubled in size over 6 motns. Easy to care for, will again eat mysis or fish poop. But I dont actually target feed any of my corals.
They are the easiest ones in the tank, you dont need to buy anything extra, just place them right, watch those numbers and see them grow.
They are not expensive and great beginner corals.
Let me know how you go.
I am just sorting through some photos to start a thread on the how we buy sick corals cheap and recover them. I will do later today, lots of before an after pics.
MATE !! lol

I'm digging that torch Mandy! I need to pick up a few more test kits before I make the jump. What test would you recommend? Calcium and magnesium? I've got the alkalinity test, nitrates, nitrates, ph and ammonia. What else should I grab?

 

[mandy111]

I'm digging that torch Mandy! I need to pick up a few more test kits before I make the jump. What test would you recommend? Calcium and magnesium? I've got the alkalinity test, nitrates, nitrates, ph and ammonia. What else should I grab?

HI,
Yes you def need to keep an eye on your Calcium and magnesium.Phosphate is 100% needed with coral care. High phosphate inhibits growth and colour. I use Salifert for all test except I use the Hanna Egg for phosphates.
I keep these

Mag 1280-1300
AlK 9.3
Cal 440 (3 clams and coraline uses heaps)
Salinity 1.026
NItrates 0.01-0.02
Phos 0.01 - 0.03

Just remember regular water changes are your biggest friend with coarls. There are so many trace elements we cant / don't test for that they use to grow and create good strong skeleton bases.
I wouldn't recommend any extra trace elements or coral food just yet as you don't prob have enough corals to worry about it. I only started using Seachem Trace & Seachem plus once I had too many corals to target feed.
If you get a torch or duncan, get a syringe and defrost some mysis or brine in saltwater and gently squirt it around the tentacles, when its open, it will grab the food and put it into their own mouths. Never squirt directly into the mouths, just the tentacles. It may take a while for them to respond, because they are not used to it, but once they get the hang of it they will grab really quickly.
Good flow is really important too, a lot of their survival is down to being able to have enough flow to remove any detritus or waste that gathers on them. And they also use this flow to grab microscopic foods from the water as they pass by generally at night. So if you can turn your power heads down during dark hours it helps a lot.
I turn mine down to 10% most nights, especially if Ive fed the tank plus or trace.

Hope some of this is helpful, let me know how you go. I would love to see you do well, a tank with corals is really pretty.

 

[pegasus]

I miss my duncans. I started with three heads, eventually split the colony, and had two colonies of 21 heads. Some type of infection wiped both colonies out. Nothing else in the tank was affected, and dipping them did no good. One by one, the polyps got covered by a red, slimy film... and blowing or brushing it off would result in tentacles shattering all over the place. It was almost like watching a family member being consumed by cancer. Every day was a little worse than the day before. I haven't gotten the courage to try another attempt...

 

[mandy111]

I miss my duncans. I started with three heads, eventually split the colony, and had two colonies of 21 heads. Some type of infection wiped both colonies out. Nothing else in the tank was affected, and dipping them did no good. One by one, the polyps got covered by a red, slimy film... and blowing or brushing it off would result in tentacles shattering all over the place. It was almost like watching a family member being consumed by cancer. Every day was a little worse than the day before. I haven't gotten the courage to try another attempt...

You should. Flows very important with Duncan's. They need to be able to get rid of poop. Yes corals all "expel" waste poop. Lol.

 

[pegasus]

You should. Flows very important with Duncan's. They need to be able to get rid of poop. Yes corals all "expel" waste poop. Lol.

I'm aware of how important flow is to corals. It not only carries poop away, it also brings food to stationary corals. I always kept them in a good, alternating flow. At times I wondered if the flow was too much, but I loved to watch them sway to and fro. The infection caused the slime, not the slime causing infection. It was only on the polyps, not the stalks. I have no idea of what it was, why it attacked only the duncans, or where it came from.

 

[2014FishKiller]

Mandy

AlK 9.3 - I only get 7.8, do I need to worry about it? You have mentioned Seachen Trace at night, is this what you mean:

Seachem Reef Trace Elements 500ml

 

[mandy111]

Mandy

AlK 9.3 - I only get 7.8, do I need to worry about it? You have mentioned Seachen Trace at night, is this what you mean:

Seachem Reef Trace Elements 500ml

Hi, no you dont need to be worried, Alk can be safely anywhere from 6-12DKH. do your fine, consistency is more important than numbers. If its constantly 7.8 then its all good.

Yes SEachem Reef Trace Elements x 2 week works hand in hand with

Seachem Reef Plus 500ml.

The trace adds trace elements to the tank that we don't/cant usually test for and the Plus is an ammino food supplement for corals.
I only use trace once a week as I do regular water changes, but I use the Plus as directed because I run a low nutrient tank and corals enjoy a feed.
Try to use both at night after lights down,on seperate nighs, not together. and if you can turn your wave makers down a little so its easier for the corals to crab the food out of the water column.