Am i ready for coral? 4 months in

[reeferdugong]

Hello guys,

my tank has been running for 4 months. Do you guys think im ready to add my first corals?

My current stocking:
2 clown fish
1 banggai cardinal
1 Yellow Watchman Goby
1 firefish goby
2 fire shrimps
1 Pistol shrimp
1 tuxedo urchin

My water parameters:
Ammonia 0 ppm
Nitrite 0-0.05 ppm
Nitrate 20 ppm
Phosphate 0.14 ppm
Alkalinity: 8.4-8.6
pH: 7.9-8.1
Salinity: 1.024

43g tank, 10% waterchange everyweek with tropic marin pro reef salt.

I will only get LPS & soft corals, not planning to get SPS corals.

Thanks guys!

 

[Brady4000]

You been ready, what light are you running?

Edit: My Biocube is around 4 months old, got my fist coral about a month in.

Having said that, maybe keep the nitrates a little lower around 5-10.

 

[reeferdugong]

I have a AI Prime 16 HD. Am not sure which light setting yet, Probably will go with David Saxby since it’s used by most people?

 

[terraincognita]

For LPS Absolutely.

SPS try to get the nitrates and phosphate a little lower just a tad, but honestly my system is running around 15 nitrates and .16 Pho and my sps are doing totally fine.

 

[terraincognita]

I have a AI Prime 16 HD. Am not sure which light setting yet, Probably will go with David Saxby since it’s used by most people?

You have a single prime on a 40G?

Idk if that's enough for SPS but LPS should be fine.

Just make sure they're closer to the center of the light source rather than out at the sides.

 

[fishdude123]

Added my first corals right after the cycle, they’ve been growing.

 

[Brady4000]

Now for the expensive part, fit as much coral as possible without letting them kill each other!

 

[reeferdugong]

thanks guys! my param is quite stabile, probably will start to get a gfo reactor running if Phosphate goes up to 0.2 ppm.

Am dosing Nopox currently, trying to get my nitrate to 5-10ppm slowly.

Yes im only planning to get LPS& softies

 

[kcinnick]

thanks guys! my param is quite stabile, probably will start to get a gfo reactor running if Phosphate goes up to 0.2 ppm.

Am dosing Nopox currently, trying to get my nitrate to 5-10ppm slowly.

Yes im only planning to get LPS& softies

You don't need to get nitrate down to 5, 10-15 is fine IME.

I plan on ordering a couple of boxes of coral to tank as soon as my tank arrives, Modern methods (concentrated bacteria mostly) and established rock any you can instantly "cycle" a tank. I am not adding SPS at first, I only want a few specific ones anyway.

 

[LegendaryCG]

You should add at least 1 more prime16 - I have 2 over a 20g. I do target SPS so I need more light but that said even LPS are going to want more than 1 prime for a 40g — honestly 3 primes is probably the correct amount.

all that said you certainly can add coral underneath that prime you have, but if you add them outside it’s radius you will see them probably struggle.

General rule of thumb for most of the *popular* lights is they provide between 1-2 feet of coverage.

 

[LegendaryCG]

I would NOT run the
David Saxby plan with the current AI lights because it was developed prior to them. A big feature of the current AI lights is to pull power from un-used channels
to increase the par for
channels you ARE using. This is my light plan I run, it’s very SPS friendly but should give you an idea.

 

[Dkmoo]

I would NOT run the
David Saxby plan with the current AI lights because it was developed prior to them. A big feature of the current AI lights is to pull power from un-used channels
to increase the par for
channels you ARE using. This is my light plan I run, it’s very SPS friendly but should give you an idea.

For SPS I actually get better results by boosting the white, red, and green more. From what I read, although the blue is the main spectrum for cyan fluorescent proteins (the most prevelant in SPS), other colored FPs actually do better in other spectrums ranging from green to red to uv. This is where a broad spectrum light helps SPS more and why some people swear by T5s. In the Primes the only way to achieve that is to boost the white. I have max blue and purple like you but I also put white/red/green at 40/20/10. Under this,, im noticing better coloration and new colors forming on my acros.

 

[reeferdugong]

Hi guys so i decided to use the BRS custom setting for my AI Prime 16 HD. Do i need to acclimate my new corals to the light? Like starting with lower intensity and gradually increasing it to 100%? If so, how long and what intensity should i start it with?

 

[fishhead1973]

You don't need to get nitrate down to 5, 10-15 is fine IME.

I plan on ordering a couple of boxes of coral to tank as soon as my tank arrives, Modern methods (concentrated bacteria mostly) and established rock any you can instantly "cycle" a tank. I am not adding SPS at first, I only want a few specific ones anyway

 

[fishhead1973]

Hope you got deep pockets you’re find out

 

[TxReefer21]

Hi guys so i decided to use the BRS custom setting for my AI Prime 16 HD. Do i need to acclimate my new corals to the light? Like starting with lower intensity and gradually increasing it to 100%? If so, how long and what intensity should i start it with?

I just recently started using the prime 16hd and started about 50-60% lighting that being said my corals where very happy at first but now they seem like meh so I’m going to increase the lighting I do not run red greens or whites. Just blues the schedule I have been using I can send to you it’s pretty popular. Pirates of the Caribbean I believe