Coral dipping and lighting question

[Melinda01]

I have an established 72 gallon bowfront that has been up and running for a few years. I’ve never kept corals and would like to start. I ordered 3 zoas, 2 montiporas, a fungia plate coral, a green birds nest, and a goniastrea coral from vivid. I also just placed 2 radion xr 15s on the tank. It’s 48in across and 24in deep.

The 1st question is about dipping. I ordered Coral Rx but I’ve read very good reviews about Bayer.
Does anyone have a reccomendation of one over the other?
I was thinking of a 15 minute Coral Rx (or Bayer) dip, a freshwater dip, then a dip in tank saltwater to make sure the corals are good and clean. Does that sound like a good plan? I don’t want any unwanted hitchhikers in the tank as I already have enough problems trying kill off velvet at the moment.

Next is the lighting. I know all of the corals have different requirements. Since the only livestock I have in the tank right now are inverts I was thinking of placing the corals where they should go in the tank and slowly ramp the lights up over a period of weeks. There is an acclimation mode on the lights. Anyone have experience with the radions who can tell me a good schedule to acclimate the corals to the light? What percent to increase and how often?

 

[Big G]

Both: Bayer (pesticide) dip for 15 min, rinse dip in fresh saltwater 15 min, rinse dip again in fresh saltwater 15 min ; dip in Coral RX (antiseptic qualities), rinse dip in fresh sw 15 min, again. Done. Quarantine for 76 days in a fishless tank.

 

[Melinda01]

Both: Bayer (pesticide) dip for 15 min, rinse dip in fresh saltwater 15 min, rinse dip again in fresh saltwater 15 min ; dip in Coral RX (antiseptic qualities), rinse dip in fresh sw 15 min, again. Done. Quarantine for 76 days in a fishless tank.

I can do that. Thanks! What about the lights? Should I place everything on bottom and move them up or put the corals where they will be and slowly ramp up the lighting!
Btw I think this 76 days is going to be harder on me than the fish! I feel so sorry for my lil ywg. He acts depressed. I think he misses his shrimp friends and cave . Poor fella. I love that fish!

 

[Big G]

You could make a frag rack out of egg crate to be able to move corals up, down, away from each other if needed.

 

[Melinda01]

You could make a frag rack out of egg crate to be able to move corals up, down, away from each other if needed.

Good idea. Thanks!

 

[Melinda01]

Good idea. Thanks!

Okay. Now I have a nutrient question. I’ve been vinegar dosing the tank because I did have issues with nitrates. But the alk stays 8.6-9 dKh. Now I have no detectable nitrates and phos is reading 0.02. Is this bad for the corals? Before I had read that nitrate and phos are bad. But now I’m seeing threads that state a small amount of nitrates and phos should be detectable for corals. I’m thinking about stopping the vinegar dosing or maybe feeding a bit more to bring them up some.. or should I leave it as is and keep dosing a small amount (around 15 mL for a 72 gallon tank with 20gal sump)?

 

[Big G]

I'm in the camp that likes to keep a small amount of nitrates 5-10 ppm and a bit of phos to keep corals happy and helps prevent some odd algae problems as well. I feed my fish & corals to achieve that balance. Takes a bit of time to get it right and steady-ish.

 

[Melinda01]

I'm in the camp that likes to keep a small amount of nitrates 5-10 ppm and a bit of phos to keep corals happy and helps prevent some odd algae problems as well. I feed my fish & corals to achieve that balance. Takes a bit of time to get it right and steady-ish.

Thanks again for always being there to answer my questions! You’ve been such a big help! I think I’ll quit vinegar dosing the tank for now and feed a bit more. I just added 8 corals, more nassirus snails and a tiger tail cucumber. So I don’t think a little extra feeding will hurt anything anyway. I’ll try to get my nitrates around 5 or so and keep them there. I’m sure the critters will be happier with a Lil extra food anyway
Are there foods that you recommend for the corals? As of now I only have reef chili. Wanted to get oyster feast as well but the shipping costs are outrageous!

 

[Big G]

My gorgonians and others seem to like Reef Roids

 

[Melinda01]

My gorgonians and others seem to like Reef Roids

I just ordered reef roids, coral frenzy, and sarchem zooplankton. I have reef chili here for now. Hopefully this will keep all the corals happy!

 

[Hanfam1111]

I’m sure this is old but Bayer worked on everything for me except it bleached and killed my Fungia plate. Could be a one off but it immediate slimmed like crazy and totally died. Even kept in tank for possible babies and nothing.