A few noob questions

[Stardust2080]

My 75 +20 tank finished cycling last week. I bought a mated pair of mochavinci clownfish and 4 soft coral. (candycane, zoa, leather, gsp)
I put them all around mid to lower level of my tank ( 48X18X18) I placed two lights ( viparspectra 165w) 10 inches above the top.

My question is how strong should the lights be? I set them at 50% each. 9hrs blue 8 hr white in-between.

2nd question. I also have 10 hermits and Its day 3 and the last two days i've found a dead hermit each morning. The female seems to be hungry all the time. The male is a little more content.
Feel like I shouldn't feed too much. Im feeding once a day about 50ish pellets maybe more. Its reef nutrition tdo chroma boost small. for 1-2inch fish.
I think the female is a tad bit over 2in. The male is more like 1 1/4. I would say they take around 3 mins to finish eating and then keep looking for more pellets after. Should I feed more? Maybe the other hermits are fighting?

last question, how long is normal for the coral to open up?

 

[zukihara]

 

[BeltedCoyote]

Well, I’m also a newb. But well read

first, candy cane corals are actually lps so stony, but they’re still pretty forgiving

as far as your question about lights. I hate to answer a question with a question, but what lights are you running?

3rd: are you sure the hermits are dead and not molting. I know with my hermits the first time I saw a molt I thought it was a dead crab. As far as feeding goes, depends on what your goal is for nutrients and nutrient export. If you’re feeding that many pellets, I’d wager there are some that get missed which your clowns could forage for. Also any uneaten food will feed the hermits

All that aside, I am a new reefer so don’t take what I said as gospel

 

[Fennel]

My 75 +20 tank finished cycling last week. I bought a mated pair of mochavinci clownfish and 4 soft coral. (candycane, zoa, leather, gsp)
I put them all around mid to lower level of my tank ( 48X18X18) I placed two lights ( viparspectra 165w) 10 inches above the top.

My question is how strong should the lights be? I set them at 50% each. 9hrs blue 8 hr white in-between.

2nd question. I also have 10 hermits and Its day 3 and the last two days i've found a dead hermit each morning. The female seems to be hungry all the time. The male is a little more content.
Feel like I shouldn't feed too much. Im feeding once a day about 50ish pellets maybe more. Its reef nutrition tdo chroma boost small. for 1-2inch fish.
I think the female is a tad bit over 2in. The male is more like 1 1/4. I would say they take around 3 mins to finish eating and then keep looking for more pellets after. Should I feed more? Maybe the other hermits are fighting?

last question, how long is normal for the coral to open up?

Too much food and bad water parameters. Blue Legged Hermits, same sized claws, are resilient to temp and salinity swings and really take those first time f ups like champs. The thing is, they scavenge and accidentally tear Stony corals up after a direct feed if close.. I stay away from soft coral, too much health risk. ..But if Stony and It hasn't opened up in an hour after placing, it's toast.. yet.. it might still live..

 

[resortez]

Without a par reading, you are going to judge sufficient lighting by how the coral reacts. I would personally place soft coral a bit below mid level, canes would go a bit above mid level. Provide them with decent flow. Your light schedule is a good starting point. 8hr of whites for my personal taste is a bit too much but that’s my personal taste. If I understand it correctly, the tank has a 17 hr light cycle, I would reduce that to 12. Again, that’s my personal take, 17hr could be working for you now but can also give you problems in the future, you dial things in as the tank progresses & matures. The coral will always let you know if it’s too much or not enough & you adjust to their liking, different fixture produce different results. If everything is locked in, coral will immediately react & open up. If the coral is struggling to acclimate to your tank, I suggest to check your parameters first, second would be flow & third is lighting.
About feeding, if the amount of food your introducing is not fluctuating parameters all over the place, then your ok. Hope it helps

 

[BeltedCoyote]

Too much food and bad water parameters. Blue Legged Hermits, same sized claws, are resilient to temp and salinity swings and really take those first time f ups like champs. The thing is, they scavenge and accidentally tear Stony corals up after a direct feed if close.. I stay away from soft coral, too much health risk. ..But if Stony and It hasn't opened up in an hour after placing, it's toast.. yet.. it might still live..

I’ve got friends who have far more sensitive stony coral which are now thriving but didn’t open in an hour. Heck, there’s plenty of threads on here about people having to do sudden water changes or changing lights with sps like acros, lps, or even anemones which take several hours if not a day or two to stop being mad and closed up. An hour is not nearly enough time to write off an lps....

 

[Fennel]

I’ve got friends who have far more sensitive stony coral which are now thriving but didn’t open in an hour. Heck, there’s plenty of threads on here about people having to do sudden water changes or changing lights with sps like acros, lps, or even anemones which take several hours if not a day or two to stop being mad and closed up. An hour is not nearly enough time to write off an lps....

Great, that's nice. When they start shedding their skin to bones it's just more live sand anyway. When the bone itself shows a black dot, you tell me how susceptable to lactobacilli and strep mutants you think it is.. hull, ask your friends.. you know coral is used for jaw bone implants right and is extensively farmed..? after an hour it's a write off.. under twenty bucks for a frag, ever think f it, some of that is going to help the reefs in the ocean anyways, take a chance and learn something... I don't toss any coral skeleton out, as the progressive condition of the bone has scientific value, if not just as live sand in the end...

 

[mdb_talon]

I dont know what the guys is talking about with LPS being a goner if they dont open in an hour, but in any case it is not at all unusual for corals to stay closed up for hours and even days after transport and being moved to a new tank. I have had duncans stay closed for over a week after introduction. Just give them time.

In general as far as placement you want to put them in lower light and move up gradually. It is much better to have them in too little light and adjust than start them with too much.

 

[BeltedCoyote]

Great, that's nice. When they start shedding their skin to bones it's just more live sand anyway. When the bone itself shows a black dot, you tell me how susceptable to lactobacilli and strep mutants you think it is.. hull, ask your friends.. you know coral is used for jaw bone implants right and is extensively farmed..? after an hour it's a write off.. under twenty bucks for a frag, ever think f it, some of that is going to help the reefs in the ocean anyways, take a chance and learn something... I don't toss any coral skeleton out, as the progressive condition of the bone has scientific value, if not just as live sand in the end...

What? Stony corals experiencing RTN, STN, or just dying create the structure of reefs. Beyond that......what?

an hour is not enough time to write just about anything off coral-wise.

not trying to argue with you. Just don’t want OP getting the wrong idea

 

[mdb_talon]

What? Stony corals experiencing RTN, STN, or just dying create the structure of reefs. Beyond that......what?

an hour is not enough time to write just about anything off coral-wise.

not trying to argue with you. Just don’t want OP getting the wrong idea

Haha dont mind him. I assume he is trolling. He wrote his welcome thread on R2R this morning saying he was new to the hobby. Either trolling or a very quick learner

 

[Fennel]

What? Stony corals experiencing RTN, STN, or just dying create the structure of reefs. Beyond that......what?

an hour is not enough time to write just about anything off coral-wise.

not trying to argue with you. Just don’t want OP getting the wrong idea

Oh ok, gotcha. Salinity increases on that note, in home aquaria don't work on small frags.. there is a study, respectfully.. another on... The value of bioprinting and coral regeneration in regards to coral reefs.. specifically omitting the details as it might scare ya..

 

[BeltedCoyote]

Haha dont mind him. I assume he is trolling. He wrote his welcome thread on R2R this morning saying he was new to the hobby. Either trolling or a very quick learner

Yeah I think I fed the troll. But it was a clever one haha.

and entertaining lol

 

[BeltedCoyote]

Oh ok, gotcha. Salinity increases on that note, in home aquaria don't work on small frags.. there is a study, respectfully.. another on... The value of bioprinting and coral regeneration in regards to coral reefs.. specifically omitting the details as it might scare ya..

.....yes lol

 

[Stardust2080]

Well, I’m also a newb. But well read

first, candy cane corals are actually lps so stony, but they’re still pretty forgiving

as far as your question about lights. I hate to answer a question with a question, but what lights are you running?

3rd: are you sure the hermits are dead and not molting. I know with my hermits the first time I saw a molt I thought it was a dead crab. As far as feeding goes, depends on what your goal is for nutrients and nutrient export. If you’re feeding that many pellets, I’d wager there are some that get missed which your clowns could forage for. Also any uneaten food will feed the hermits

All that aside, I am a new reefer so don’t take what I said as gospel

viparspectra, each is suppose to cover 24"
Im not familiar with molting but I didnt see any empty shells either.

 

[Stardust2080]

Without a par reading, you are going to judge sufficient lighting by how the coral reacts. I would personally place soft coral a bit below mid level, canes would go a bit above mid level. Provide them with decent flow. Your light schedule is a good starting point. 8hr of whites for my personal taste is a bit too much but that’s my personal taste. If I understand it correctly, the tank has a 17 hr light cycle, I would reduce that to 12. Again, that’s my personal take, 17hr could be working for you now but can also give you problems in the future, you dial things in as the tank progresses & matures. The coral will always let you know if it’s too much or not enough & you adjust to their liking, different fixture produce different results. If everything is locked in, coral will immediately react & open up. If the coral is struggling to acclimate to your tank, I suggest to check your parameters first, second would be flow & third is lighting.
About feeding, if the amount of food your introducing is not fluctuating parameters all over the place, then your ok. Hope it helps

I actually have them blue 8am to 5pm white 830am to 5pm each day. Was told not to do more than 10 hours a day.

My ammonia is 0, nitrite 0, ph 8.4, nitrate 5, salinity 100.24

its 3 days and and the cane cane and a zoa havent opened up

 

[BeltedCoyote]

I know some people on here use the vivaspectra lights to great success. Without a par meter it’s hard to say where the intensity should be beyond observing your coral. If coral is new it may be P.O.’d even if the intensity is good as it needs some time to get used to the new environment.

as far as molts goes, if there’s not any empty shells and your population seems unchanged I’d wager it’s just a molt. With hermits it looks really alarming at first. The legs and claws look normal and towards the back of the molt it looks shredded and bad. If that’s along the lines of what you’re seeing id vote molt

 

[mdb_talon]

I actually have them blue 8am to 5pm white 830am to 5pm each day. Was told not to do more than 10 hours a day.

My ammonia is 0, nitrite 0, ph 8.4, nitrate 5, salinity 100.24

its 3 days and and the cane cane and a zoa havent opened up

In 3 days I may start to worry a bit. Can you share any pics of the whole tank we can see where they are and curious what the candy canes look like. That light at 50% white for that long is quite a bit of light depending on where the corals are placed. If I was going to guess I would say they might be getting too much light.

 

[vetteguy53081]

With a new tank, I tend to start with light on low side, , , Blue 55% and white 20%. Adding inverts a in a few short days may be premature as you will have changes with ammonia and nitrate mainly in which some snails cannot tolerate. Adding your first tank inhabitants is fun and exhilarating. But, it’s important to add the right creatures at the right time to ensure their survival and the health of your newly established reef tank. inverts also require adequate food source. I generally wait at leasy 2 weeks t allow algae/diatoms to generate so the CUC have something to munch on.
For your first fish choose something that is known for it’s hardiness and that is compatible to your tank size. Just because that tang or other fish is tiny in the store remember they will grow! Make sure you are buying a hardy fish appropriately sized for your tank. The goby family (firefish, catalina, diamond, neon) are good choices
leather corals are good starters and then next Mushrooms.
Taking precautions and considering the type of animals you want to home will give you the most success in reefkeeping. Adding the easiest and passive inhabitants first will help you avoid problems in the future.

 

[Stardust2080]

I know some people on here use the vivaspectra lights to great success. Without a par meter it’s hard to say where the intensity should be beyond observing your coral. If coral is new it may be P.O.’d even if the intensity is good as it needs some time to get used to the new environment.

as far as molts goes, if there’s not any empty shells and your population seems unchanged I’d wager it’s just a molt. With hermits it looks really alarming at first. The legs and claws look normal and towards the back of the molt it looks shredded and bad. If that’s along the lines of what you’re seeing id vote molt

yup thats what im seeing.

 

[Stardust2080]

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