Thinking of starting a reef? Help!

[ebsochin]

Since I know people on this board are full of vast knowledge, can you guys and gals help me with information on coral keeping.
Basically I need to know what you have to do different than just keeping fish. I have a 75gal that I want to convert to a reef. Right now the only inhabitants are a sailfin tang, naso tang, arrow crab, and a rock anenome. The tank has the following equipment:
2 Emperor 400
250W Titanium heater
Prisim Skimmer
Power Filter (not sure which kind)
75-100lbs of LR
CC substrate
Right now I have normal flourescents but just purchased a power compact lighting system with four bulbs and moon lights, total of 260W.
1) Can anyone suggest some easy beginner corals to get?
2) What kind of additives to you have to add to the tank?
3) I have heard something about calcium?? Not sure about all of that.
4) What do you feed the corals?
Basically, real beginer questions for corals. Any help is greatly appreciated. By the way the tank has been up and running for over 2 years. Thanks in advance.

 

[dcel22]

zoanthids are very hardy and they look sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet :happy: :happy: :happy:

 

[birdy]

Well the first thing I would do is test your water, when you are switching to inverts you water quality is most important. Ammonia and Nitrite should be 0 (as in a FOWLR) after that it gets a bit different. The specific gravity of a reef should be around 1.025, the temperature should be 80-82, the Nitrates should be as close to 0 as possible, your alkalinity or dkh should be close to 10, your calcium should be around 400-450, your pH should be 8.2-8.4, also you should test for phosphates this should also be as close to 0 as possible.
After you get that in line then you are read to keep corals. The easiest to keep are the mushrooms, and many types of soft corals, and zooanthids are colorful and hardy.
You may want to consider changing your cc to sand, it will help keep your nitrate levels low.

 

[ebsochin]

Birdy thanks for the response. I don't think I am going to change the CC but as far as the nitrates and other tests, all are at 0. As far as calcium I haven't ever tested for it. I guess I will buy a test kit. Do you have any recomendations. As far as alkalinity, when I have tested for it, it read normal. Do I need a different kind of test kit for the alkalinity, right now all I have is the Red Sea test kit and it doesn't give any numbers for alkalinity, just low, normal, and high. As far as temp, it stays right at 80/ ph is at 8.2.
Is it true that you have to add calcium daily to the tank? If so, what is the best way to do this?

 

[birdy]

As far as test kits go, I like salifert the best in fact for calcium I wouldn't buy anything else. I do not really like red sea test kits, I don't think they are very accurate. Right now I use Fast test and saliferts and will probably switch to all salifert when the other run out.
As far as calcium goes, There are many different ways to dose calcium. My personal favorite is dripping Kalkwasser solution as my evaporated water, but it is not the easiest way. There are some liquid calciums out there that are not as difficult as kalk.
I am suprised your Nitrate level is 0 that is pretty rare in a tank with CC and no refugium. You may want to double check your test kit.

 

[petem]

You mentioned that you have two Emperor 400, and then the third item down, you mentioned another power filter. You have 3 powerfilters? Or did you mean two powerheads?
:notsure:

 

[ebsochin]

You have 3 powerfilters? Or did you mean two powerheads?
Sorry about that, I meant I have two powerheads along with the two Emperor 400's.
Birdy, just checked the nitrate again, it's 0. I try and vaccuum the cc once a week with some water changes every other week. If I could get my hands on some more southdown, I would change over to sand, but until then I guess I'll stay with cc. Thanks for the advise about the calcium.
Anyone else have some ideas to share for a beginner?? :help: :help:

 

[ebsochin]

Anyone??:help: :help: I just want to make sure I start off on a good foot! I have been awed by FOWLR but have always been drawn to corals. If you have any good practices or advice feel free to share them, thanks.