Saltwater noob here!

noobzilla

noobzilla

Member
As the title entails, I'm new to the saltwater world and have been doing lots of reading/researching for quite some time now. I've had freshwater tanks for 15+ years, and I've finally decided to take the plunge into saltwater! Plus my old boss challenged me to set one up on the money he was paying me. I got everything set up in it (50 lbs fine sand, 25ish lbs of medium crushed coral, and 44 lbs. of live rock) let it cycle for a couple months, then put in a couple fish. It just kinda went from there, so I've recently started putting some corals in. I've read snakes guide a couple times now, and all my parameters have been reading in the ideal zone. Here's a few pics I took this morning.
http://s675.photobucket.com/albums/vv119/bigmansas/Saltwater%20tank/
Any advice on things I should look out for, now that I've started putting some frags in? I've also got a frogspawn in the corner, but I've read they can grow sweepers up to 12" so I'm keeping it away from the liverock until I get some more cured to put it on. I'm running a dual bulb T5 HO setup with a 10k and actinic bulb in it.
 
snakeblitz33

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by Noobzilla http:///t/392573/saltwater-noob-here#post_3486896
(50 lbs fine sand, 25ish lbs of medium crushed coral,)
I've read snakes guide a couple times now,
Any advice on things I should look out for, now that I've started putting some frags in?
First off, welcome to the forums! I hope you enjoy your stay and become an active member of the community!
Was there any particular reason you mixed the substrates together?
I'm glad that you have read my guides. Makes me feel like I didn't do it for nothing.

When it comes to corals, there are a few things you look out for. ...
1. predators - it can be fish nipping at them, it can be crabs disturbing them and picking them - it could even be microstarfish that are eating them. Any signs of bad bugs crawling on them - that kind of thing. If you find something that is bothering them - remove it. You don't want it in your tank anyway.
2. Tissue recession - If a coral starts to melt away or show all or part of its skeleton, there is trouble. It can be a series of things - your lighting perhaps - your water quality maybe - what you are feeding and if your corals are filtering out enough food. If there is tissue recession without any predators, those are the three things that you will look into.
3. Bleaching - If the coral was once dark and colorful when you bought it and now it's turning white but there is no tissue recession, it could still be one or more of those three things that I mentioned in number 2. Bleaching is the act of the coral expelling its zooxanthellae algae in order to survive. Long term, without the zooxanthellae returning and repopulating the coral, the coral will start to melt or show tissue recession.
4. Use carbon in reef tanks. There are a lot of toxins that some corals release that can make the water in the aquarium toxic. By running carbon in your system, most of this toxin is removed or made inert. carbon also removes discoloration of the water by chlorophyll called "gelstab."
So, if your corals aren't showing signs of being eaten, bleaching or any tissue recession - I would say your doing pretty good.
 
noobzilla

noobzilla

Member
Thanks for the info! So far I've only had the coral in for a week or two, but it seems to be doing well. I can't wait to see it in 6 months to a year! as far as mixing the substrate, I like the look it gives, plus I have a watchman goby in there that likes to play in both. Mainly it was in hopes of preventing sand plumes.
I've got a few frags on some kind of stick and am wondering if I should trim the stick down to get it closer to the live rock, or will it just grow down it in time? The brain and candy corals are the ones on sticks..
I've also got carbon in the second stage of my filter setup, how often should I change out the charcoal? I know with my freshwater tanks I only need to do it every couple months before I start seeing any issues.
 
snakeblitz33

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
sand plumes in saltwater tanks are mainly caused by an imbalance in calcium and alkalinity. Not really much to worry about unless you are manually dosing Ca and Alk without testing first. The sticks are called "frag plugs" You can potentially cut the frags off of the plugs and use superglue gel to hold it in place on a rock. The candycanes will never grow OVER the frag plug, but over time it will make many, many new heads and eventually over time you will not even see it or pay attention to it. The brain coral will eventually grow large enough to cover the plug. I personally wouldn't suggest cutting the coral off of the plug.
You can add pictures in your post by clicking on the "picture" button in the content menu... (you know, where the bold, underline, link, list and smilies are) You will eventually find it. click on browse, select your picture from the computer then click ok. It will take you to another box that asks for the size and to click a check box. You do that and click ok... it uploads and appears in the post before you post it. Confused yet?
You can also click on the picture icon and copy and paste your direct link from like... photobucket, and then follow directions.
 
noobzilla

noobzilla

Member
Thanks for the info! I never noticed the picture icon.
I meant sand plumes from the goby swimming all over with mouthfulls of fine sand.
 
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