Am I ready for corals?

SeaCreature · Feb 15, 2019

My tank will be a year old in July. My plan is to start introducing soft coral at the 1 year mark. My concern is that I am not ready. The reason being is that I can’t seem to keep snails. I have 12-15 snails (not all at once) since my tank cycled. Some confirmed dead and some that just disappeared never to be seen again. I am down to 2 confirmed living. Does this mean that I am not keeping the conditions stable enough?

Nitrates and phosphates are generally 0 to barely detectable.
pH avg 7.9
DKH avg 7.7
Temp avg 77.9
Salinity 1.025
I have not started testing Calcium and Magnesium yet.

Light bio load. All fish are doing well. (2 clowns,1 azure Damsel, 1 green Chromis)

~55 gal water vol. (65gal less displacement)

I did experience a bacteria bloom followed what I believe was Dinos after returning from 9 day vacation what I believe was due to over feeding but I least all but 1 snail long before then.

James M · Feb 15, 2019

How are you acclimating the snails and how long does it take them to die ?

SeaCreature · Feb 15, 2019

James M said:
How are you acclimating the snails and how long does it take them to die ?

First set dripped acclimation(qty 5) and qt 2 months with fish , second set (6-8 ) floated and qt for 2 weeks ghost feed tank parameters were the same as DT so transferred directly, last set about(4) a couple were still living from second set floated 15 min the released into DT. Last set did not keep accurate record of demise but lasted several weeks. Down to two.