Right on
@Timfish couldnt agree more the three simple steps for a fail proof reef
Step 1:stop overthinking! this will be the death of you in this hobby alot of times the research is what makes the hobby fun for most,but for others it can be a headache you'll hear and see so many different things and what may work for you may not work for someone else or vice versa so be careful what you read and what you hear and see may be too different things,on the flip side of the hobby you got these trend setters that brag about the latest gear and their 5k acanthophyllia,sicce this sicce that I have 5 aminos bro do u even dip.lol they always talk about what they have or what they're gonna get never what they lossed! and radion g5 x30s and 500$ a month on bottles or this or this.the equipment doesn't take care of the reef you do at the end of the day so if you're not practicing propper care or putting in the research that 500$ light is useless that apex u bought useless. I've seen people with 300$ budgetbuilds using t5s and a 2x4 flood table grow some of the nicest coral, and guess what it was a fraction of the price and took half the time to set up go with the tried and true and whatever u can afford... but rember it can be as easy as a 10-15% waterchange twice weekly(you can do 35% which will eliminate the need for a 2 part as you are constantly replacing trace minerals within the water column, doing detritus once or twice a week, and feeding only mysis and spirulina
That's right no reefroids no aminos not even a skimmer, just dedication and time!
Step 2.know the who and why behind your product! I know this sounds crazy but always inquire on where a piece came from,aquacultured, maricultured,wild,ocean poached,captive bred. What country did it come from? Was it domestic? Was it on a ship or a plane? Was it reoxed at anypoint(lax)was it housed by a whole saler at some point?how long did you have the animal in your possession before you sold it to me? How'd did you house it / placement,what are the parameters of your system? Did you qt it or dip it? How long was it qtd for? Are the fish that you sell currently house in methylene or cupramine? Formaline or quinine? Was this animal given praziquantul? Did you dip in coral rx,Bayer or lugols, did this piece come in with any problems,what do they eat?can I feed them?these are all questions that the buyer should inquire about before purchasing a piece you dont wanna get ripped off buy some flava boy chasing the flavor of the week charging you 35$ a polyp for some vietnam zoas he paid 65$ a rock for(100- 300 polyps) also you dont wanna buy a fish or coral that may potentially bring diseases to your system(zoas and montipora)
Step 3 :always qt,coral or fish, inverts are hard to qt but can be given antibacterial like ciprofloxacin to rid them of fungal infection or parasitic isopods, coral should always be dipped and inspected for any hitchhikers and basted while dipping for the amount of time stated on the bottle usually 15m on coral rx, also know what your dipping for coral rx should be used to remove any hitchhiker on lps sps are more sensitive to dips so the ratio should be diluted(always make sure to rinse and re dip in a bucket of fresh tank water before re introducing to dt), some corals shouldnt even be dipped at all, for soft corals freshwater dip works well for a quick antiseptic, if your zoas are closed or have algae caked up you can add 1ml 2% h202 in a blunt tip syringe or pipette and blastem with that while they're submerged in water reintroduce to dt, a coral qt tank is neccessary and should not be skipped if you have alot of coral coming in and out of your house, think of it this way were artisan coral growers and were buying coral off people who are doing it for production alot of the times wild is mixed with aquacultured and maricultured and it creates a whole slew of contaminants wild,man made, all contained and growing prime in synthetic conditions!yuck makes my toes curl..so we should assume everything that we bring into our home is contaminated aswell as fish we should have a qt for fish and a qt for coral were you can observe them for 2-3 months before introducing them to the system. Now with fish your qt can be as simple or elaborate as you want (in highschool I used quickstep and a 5gbucket with sponge filter and spigot)it can be as simple as a tote or stocktub or as classy as a waterbox..know what type of disease or parasite and how to qt/ treat,also what type of scales your fish has(some fish like pipefish seahorse,moorish idols,butterflies are smoth scaled and dont react to well to copper getting burn very easily for these fish quinine based medication should be used), personally I like to start out with praziquantul then after that's done give them a week to chill by slowly diluting it downwit wc 50 35 20 10 and 10 then another 50 wc, then let them chill out then I do my cupramine this can be short or long or even unnecessary depending on the fish and how it was supplied and kept... but after cupramine I dilute that then run the formaline this is usually a 2-4 month process depending on how thorough you wanna be with it,know the big three,brooklynella,euronema,Ichthyophthirius, also know what to look for and where to find it on the fish,but sometimes once you get nasties in the tank you may have to fallow the system
Just my 2 cents I would wait until the wrasse is sleeping and get the jump on him,or wait till hes eating (sacrifice a snail hell start picking it to death netem when hes occupied lol...
Then setup at 66qt tote(12$ at dg) as a temporary qt setup buy a aqueon 150w( heater(15$) pvc elbows, thermometer,
Qt with praziquantul(prazi pro) and formalin(failproof)observe fish maybe qt all fish for atleast 72 days leave inverts and coral in the tank
Inverts cant get ich only carry it on their shells or chittin for up to 8 weeks,without a food source the tomate/cillates and flukes will die in the water colum, be sure to redip the coral after fallow period(some people may even remove rocks and substrate
Qt with cupramine based product and methylene blue
Ich x herbtana there are a few more I've tried as well but stick to the others
Get selcon to fatten up stressed fished
Soak mysis and nori in selcon or refroids,start feeding a wider variety of foods spirulina mysis brine bloodworms,live macro live sponge,cruscteceans,clams mussels(maybe therapy spectrum plus) for pelets
Some pet stores may offer qt option to customers if they have a qt system aswell
