Need some help

[kawasakizx636]

Hey guys, here's my setup. Can anyone tell me if my coral placement is ok? My main concern "i think", might be the long tentacle plate coral being too close to the green donut. I've been in the hobby for awhile, but it's been on and off since things weren't working out. The tank is pretty stable now. Everything's growing fine, but there's still something i'm not liking about it, but i'm not sure what it is. Any input would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
46g bowfront
Tek T5 36" 4X39W Light fixture
2X ATI Blue Plus T5
ATI Purple Plus T5
KZ NewGen T5
2X Koralia 750 powerheads
AquaClear 110
Heater
2X PC fans
; background-color: rgb(235, 235, 235);">BRS 75 GPD RO/DI 5 Stage Plus System
ReefKeeper Lite
Two clowns
Orange spotted goby
Purple fire goby
Green spotted mandarin
Two blood shrimp
Six red scarlet crabs
Roughly fifteen snails
Two emerald crabs
Frogspawn
Green trumpet; background-color: rgb(235, 235, 235);" />
Green donut
Star polyps
Anthelia
Acanthastrea
Hammer
Water tests....
PH 8.0
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
Calcium 430 ppm
Alkalinity 8.4 dkh
Magnesium 1350 ppm
Salinity 1.0255
Phosphorous 16 ppb
erif; background-color: rgb(235, 235, 235);">Here's a few pictures......

 

[alanjess]

I'm not experienced enough to give any relevant information, but for what it is worth, the tank is very very attractive.

 

[scarecrow]

Looks nice!!!!

 

[kawasakizx636]

Thx, so you guys think my corals are fine where they are? what other things could i put on my rock that would be fine with the other corals?

 

[snakeblitz33]

Xenia, antellia (like a coral weed, it covers everything!) blue short anthellia, zoanthids, protopalythoa, green star polyps, leather corals, nepthia, yellow scrolls, You could probably fit in a frogspawn or torch somewhere...
You could try some maze brains, acans, blasto's, favia, and a lobo brain ... they are all species of brain corals. they are slow growing and don't really mess with anything close to it. (please, correct me if i am wrong!)
There are many different species of leather corals that grow large and are easy to maintain. Some of them look really pretty - and have a little color. Like green polyp toadstool leathers, yellow tree leathers, nepthia. Then you have your regular leathers - toadstools, devil hand, etc. I personally like any leathers, but they don't mix well with SPS which is the goal of my new tank.
You could try some SPS corals - Montipora are pretty easy SPS corals that do ok under moderate lighting and in mixed reef tanks. There are many different shapes and colors of montipora... M. Digitata, M. Undata. M. Spongodes, M. Capricornis, etc. etc. and in all different kinds of color morphs that have become highly available through the hobby over the years. My personal favorites are M. Capricornis, M. Undata and M. Spongodes.

 

[snakeblitz33]

By the way, Mushrooms and mushroom anemones are perhaps the easiest to keep corals out there - and there are MANY different color morphs out there. Just run a little carbon in your system if you are loading your system with soft corals and want to keep a species of SPS coral or two.
Good luck! Post more pics as you get more corals!

 

[kawasakizx636]

Thx for the reply. I do have a frogspawn in my tank, it's in the top left. As for anthelia, i just got rid of it, i don't want stuff that eventually takes over the tank. It was spreading like crazy, i finally got rid of it. Here's a pic....There's a lot on the bottom, and then there's some piece in back that were starting to spread. This pic was taking a few weeks ago, before i bought the plate coral, i also moved the brain down and raised the frogspawn.

I was thinking of going with a yellow leather, but i'm still not sure yet, i know they grow pretty big. And i wouldn't know where to place it. I wanted an anemone, but i don't like how they split and kill everything in their path. I do need something for my clowns though, they seem lost without the anthelia. I'm gonna look into the rest of the corals you suggested. Thanks again for your reply.

 

[alanjess]

If it were me, I think I'd add zoanthids and shrooms. I think I would have kept the anthelia tho, especially since your clowns liked it. I'm partial to the movement of the coral. You could also add some palys. I'm not a big fan of the whole palytoxin deal, but they are growing FAR faster than anything in my tank, so they are definitely easy to keep.

 

[kawasakizx636]

Do zoanthids grow over coral? Or do they just spread around corals?

 

[lubeck]

It depends what coral the zoa goes against only one will win and it won't always be the zoa.

 

[kawasakizx636]

Are there any corals in my tank that would lose the battle? I'm thinking of maybe adding some, but i don't want to put any near a coral that it'll grow over. Thanks for the reply.

 

[kawasakizx636]

Hey guys, i need some help. Lately i have been battling against some red hair algae. I read up only that i should do a blackout for three days, well i'm on day four now and i still some some on a few rocks, should i leave the lights off longer? Yes i have a blanket over most of the tank, to stop the light from my living room to shine in. I also read that i should do a water change before turning the lights back on. So i'll most likely do that. I've done a 20% water change each saturday for the past month and a half, before that i was doing changes every three weeks. Plz help me guys, i'd like to have my tank back to normal
Thanks so much

 

[kawasakizx636]

Can anyone help? The blanket and lights off worked to get rid of the hair algae, but now things are dying in my tank, i lost two fish and some coral isn't opening up. My water seems to be a lil cloudy also, and all my snails are hiding. Anyone know what could be happening. I've tested the water for PH,Ammonia,Nitrite,Nitrite,Calcium,Alkalinity,Magnesium,Phosphates,Salinity, and everything is within specs.