5 Often overlooked secrets to happier corals...

[uniquecorals]

Scott feeds "Coral Crack" to his corals, don't you know that?
Btw, another great write up, I shared it on the Houston site for you, Scott.
As the answer to your question that we have to come up with the next 5.........................all what is said is enough.
Start the basics and you'll succeed, we all know that....... right?

LOL- yup, we use aminos (specifically Julian Sprung's "AcroPower", which my friend Jake Adams only half-jokingly refers to as "coral crack." Amazing results!)!

 

[JVI90gREEF]

Another relevant write-up. Thanks again!

 

[uniquecorals]

Spot on with one exception - Alkalinity. Once you have a balanced Alkalinity, Calcium, and Magnesium, figure out what your Alk is and keep it there. Of course if it naturally wants to go up and down when you make changes or in the beginning that's fine, but once it is settled down keep it at that spot and keep it steady as you possibly can. I find with Alkalinity spot on, everything else just falls right into place.

The thing with "0" phosphates is nobody ever knows what the heck they have unless they go out and buy a Hanna HI-736 or better colorimeter or have access to a spectrometer. If you are using a Salifert, Red Sea Pro, or God forbid - API, getting "0" phosphates is a must since a "0" can actually be 0.15ppm with the better kits and 0.25ppm on the API which would just be a tank full of algae and brown coral. Really knowing what is going on with your phosphates (or really any parameter in your tank) is a really good thing when it comes to having the best looking coral you can have.

Knowledge is king when it comes to your reef.

Your point about alkalinity is well taken...I think I might have touched on this important parameter in a previous blog- and it's really important...particularly for Acros, which, in our experience, just HATE "being taken for a ride" with roller coaster alkalinity! Stability is super important! And yup, the phosphate thing is a tricky one. As you correctly point out, zero" on a hobbyist level test kit is probably not, and the increments that we are talking about here are a fine line between a tank with good food sources for growing corals, and a nutrient source for nuisance algae...A real dance, huh?

Thanks for the great feedback!

-Scott

 

[TriggerThis]

Good write up! I've seen a lot of damage come from people putting corals too close

 

[RedReefer]

Great write up!

 

[AJsTank]

Good write up. I enjoy your posts

 

[Eienna]

Nice write up, nice advice. However, many of my corals actually seem closed up when the lights go out?!?! like my little pink goniopora I bought from you…. I also sometimes don't know if the corals are eating for example back to the goni; I feed it gently with the Goniopower (2-3 x/week), but have no idea if it is eating…LOL my goni is still alive and it has been 2 weeks so we will see… thanks
Scott

The polyps will look a little bit swollen right after a good feed, I -think-.