coral crash course

[NoahLikesFish]

can anyone give me some advice for softies, i have gsp and parazoanthus. the latter might be burning (turning white) and i dunno where to place it. its in a very dark area rn. my gsp is doing ok just having a bit of nusiance algae on it. i have a 20 long 5 fish (it works well) weekly 25% wc <20 nitrates 0 amonia 0 nitrite, idk calc alk mag or phos but i assume they are safe because m yfish and inverts are well. i wanna make my corals healthier and get growth and full polyp extension

 

[Fish Think Pink]

can anyone give me some advice for softies, i have gsp and parazoanthus. the latter might be burning (turning white) and i dunno where to place it. its in a very dark area rn. my gsp is doing ok just having a bit of nusiance algae on it. i have a 20 long 5 fish (it works well) weekly 25% wc <20 nitrates 0 amonia 0 nitrite, idk calc alk mag or phos but i assume they are safe because m yfish and inverts are well. i wanna make my corals healthier and get growth and full polyp extension

My advice for corals is get test kits so you know your parameters for calc alk mag or phos - corals it matters. Fish and inverts those parameters don't matter so much.

 

[NoahLikesFish]

i did do a test at my lfs and they didnt say anything off abt them. i only asked for nitrate nitrite and ammonia but they did phos and stuff too i think. i am gonna do lawns soon ( saturday) so i will get 20$ more (40$) any idea what to buy

 

[Fish Think Pink]

i did do a test at my lfs and they didnt say anything off abt them. i only asked for nitrate nitrite and ammonia but they did phos and stuff too i think. i am gonna do lawns soon ( saturday) so i will get 20$ more (40$) any idea what to buy

calcium test kit

 

[NoahLikesFish]

im keeping softs though, do they need calc. i am mostly going off garf.

 

[NoahLikesFish]

also im going off lasse method

 

[Gtinnel]

i did do a test at my lfs and they didnt say anything off abt them. i only asked for nitrate nitrite and ammonia but they did phos and stuff too i think. i am gonna do lawns soon ( saturday) so i will get 20$ more (40$) any idea what to buy

Is your tank still cycling? With 5 fish I'd assume it should be cycled. If so you really don't need to test for ammonia or nitrite again. The most important test IMO besides salinity and temp is alkalinity. But cal, mag, nitrate, and phosphate are the others that I test regularly. It's hard to know what's going on with your tank if you can't regularly test for those parameters. If you start adding stony corals and get to where you need to start dosing it's important to check alk, cal, and mag (mostly alkalinity though) regularly at the beginning.

 

[Bribo12]

Buy quality kits for alk, calcium, magnesium, ph and ammo, nitrites and nitrate. Do you have pictures of the corals? Those are pretty hardy corals that should bounce back

 

[NoahLikesFish]

yeah its been up 2 months now.

 

[NoahLikesFish]

im gonan see if i can get kalkwasser and such

 

[NoahLikesFish]

i went with a deep nitrate reduction bed because i have some sand sifters

 

[Gtinnel]

Since in another thread you just mentioned that you add baking soda to raise pH, you should definitely find out what your alkalinity is. I suspect it may be too high

 

[NoahLikesFish]

oh ok. i did it like twice, what are syptoms of high alk? i did it 3 weeks ago about

 

[TxReefer21]

can anyone give me some advice for softies, i have gsp and parazoanthus. the latter might be burning (turning white) and i dunno where to place it. its in a very dark area rn. my gsp is doing ok just having a bit of nusiance algae on it. i have a 20 long 5 fish (it works well) weekly 25% wc <20 nitrates 0 amonia 0 nitrite, idk calc alk mag or phos but i assume they are safe because m yfish and inverts are well. i wanna make my corals healthier and get growth and full polyp extension

Main source to check params for coral is alk
And cal i would use hanna for both of them

 

[NoahLikesFish]

i dont wanna pay 50% to know my perams. i am gonna start with something simple

 

[NoahLikesFish]

where should i place my corals? light/flow and things for ideal polyp expansion. also i have black green stuff growing in the very dark parts of my tank, idk what kind it is

 

[Bribo12]

i dont wanna pay 50% to know my perams. i am gonna start with something simple

Go with salifert or Red Sea, you’re gonna pay about $15 per kit and you need a kit for alk, calcium, mag, pH, nitrate and phosphate.

 

[Bribo12]

where should i place my corals? light/flow and things for ideal polyp expansion. also i have black green stuff growing in the very dark parts of my tank, idk what kind it is

If you post a tank pic that would help decide placement. Neither of those corals need a lot of light or flow though so they should really do fine anywhere as long as it isn’t a dead spot

 

[KrisReef]

i dont wanna pay 50% to know my perams. i am gonna start with something simple

Salifert is inexpensive and does 50-100 tests.

 

[Gtinnel]

I get that $50 for testers is relatively expensive but for alkalinity and phosphate the hanna checkers really are worth it.