coral equipment

[stewy14]

Hello, what do I need for corals(I already have a tank with a clown, look at my tank thread for more details), like dosing, food, more, I bought a k7mini. so ye

thanks,
stewy

 

[Cell]

Your tank thread link simply brought me to the vendor site selling presumably the tank you own. More details about your specific setup and stocking plan is needed.

What kind of coral do you want?

 

[Troylee]

All depends on the corals you want.. that small tank with a decent light and water changes would be fine for awhile with softies or LPs.

 

[stewy14]

Your tank thread link simply brought me to the vendor site selling presumably the tank you own. More details about your specific setup and stocking plan is needed.

What kind of coral do you want?

oh it did, sorry, ill update that rn

 

[stewy14]

Your tank thread link simply brought me to the vendor site selling presumably the tank you own. More details about your specific setup and stocking plan is needed.

What kind of coral do you want?

updated it, the coral, fish and everything is in my tank thread!

 

[Cell]

11G tank, weekly water changes should be sufficient for awhile with some small frags. Just test regularly and when water changes stop keeping up, I'd start dosing kalkwasser.

 

[slogan315]

How old is the tank? Your tank thread shows a bunch of sps, mainly acropora.

Assuming the tank isn’t brand new, and you’re set on trying acropora in this tank, you mainly just need to focus on lighting, flow, and water chemistry stability.

The k7 mini is plenty of light. For flow, the return pump would be enough for LPS and softies probably, but for acros you’re going to need a powerhead to create lots of “random” flow. Possibly 2 to get the flow pattern you want.

With sps and acros, it’s less about foods (ie. You don’t need coral foods), and more about water chemistry. Keeping your alkalinity, calcium, and magnesium at stable levels. To start, water changes might be enough, but eventually you’ll need to start dosing. The easiest and most inexpensive way is to add kalkwasser with occasional magnesium supplements. Eventually, kalk won’t be able to keep up with the demand. But by that point, you’re doing a lot of things really right, and won’t be referencing my little comment here .

 

[Cell]

You can look into nano skimmer, but I'm not a fan of a bunch of equipment crammed into AIO chambers myself.

 

[stewy14]

Note, I just need like foods, dosing, and others, I already know everything about Flow, lighting, heating, etc.

 

[Cell]

Dosing: kalkwasser

Food: I like benereef and acropower

 

[Troylee]

Note, I just need like foods, dosing, and others, I already know everything about Flow, lighting, heating, etc.

Acros don’t really need food but if you wanna boost growth then food and bacteria dosing is a great way to jump start them. Food= aminos, reef roids etc.

 

[TehBrainz]

While everyone is giving good advice about foods/dosing, I'll ask another question!

What kind of test kits are you using? You'll want some reliable ones for keeping those corals (not api kits)

 

[TehBrainz]

I personally like hanna checkers for nitrate, phosphate, and alkalinity. And I like salifert for magnesium and calcium.

I've seen plenty of other good test kits recommended by others, as well.

 

[stewy14]

While everyone is giving good advice about foods/dosing, I'll ask another question!

What kind of test kits are you using? You'll want some reliable ones for keeping those corals (not api kits)

Im using tetra test strips, imma upgrade tho, they are very reliable and gave me the same results as my lfs's salifert kits

 

[stewy14]

so the corals im getting are, acros, one Monti, a rock flower nem, a Goni, and thats all(what dosing do I need? and what do I need to test for besides ph, nitrate, nitrite, ammonia, and alkalinity

 

[stewy14]

and what's wrong with API?

 

[stewy14]

I personally like hanna checkers for nitrate, phosphate, and alkalinity. And I like salifert for magnesium and calcium.

I've seen plenty of other good test kits recommended by others, as well.

what if I just buy this:
link Is the Red Sea fish pharm with everything

 

[TehBrainz]

so the corals im getting are, acros, one Monti, a rock flower nem, a Goni, and thats all(what dosing do I need? and what do I need to test for besides ph, nitrate, nitrite, ammonia, and alkalinity

Is this the kit you are referring to?


Nitrite and ammonia you only need to test for until you're completed with your cycle. Looking at your tank thread, have you finished cycling? It seems pretty newly set up.

Regarding ongoing minimum testing/monitoring for a tank with the corals you listed:

Temperature
Salinity (preferably from a calibrated refractometer shown below)
Nitrate
Phosphate
Alkalinity
pH
Calcium
Magnesium

Api kits do not provide resolution or repeatability needed for sps or other corals (some may argue they're adequate, but most everyone here will recommend against using them), nor so they cover all the tests needed.

Redsea kits are good BUT some people have troubles identifying the various shades of pink for nitrate (myself included, hence using hanna). Their magnesium and calcium are good from what I remember

 

[TehBrainz]

so the corals im getting are, acros, one Monti, a rock flower nem, a Goni, and thats all(what dosing do I need? and what do I need to test for besides ph, nitrate, nitrite, ammonia, and alkalinity

Also, you may or may not need dosing. You will need to test weekly to understand what the tank needs.

Small bio/coral load tanks may only need routine water changed to keep things in check, but as others have stated the tank will get to a point when that is not adequate on its own. The way to know is by continued testing.

For instance, I have a low demand system and I only need to dose alkalinity and calcium. I confirm my dosing schedule each week when I test parameters. If alkalinity is lower than the week before then I bump my dosing up to accommodate the consumption in the tank

 

[stewy14]

Is this the kit you are referring to?


Nitrite and ammonia you only need to test for until you're completed with your cycle. Looking at your tank thread, have you finished cycling? It seems pretty newly set up.

Regarding ongoing minimum testing/monitoring for a tank with the corals you listed:

Temperature
Salinity (preferably from a calibrated refractometer shown below)
Nitrate
Phosphate
Alkalinity
pH
Calcium
Magnesium

Api kits do not provide resolution or repeatability needed for sps or other corals (some may argue they're adequate, but most everyone here will recommend against using them), nor so they cover all the tests needed.

Redsea kits are good BUT some people have troubles identifying the various shades of pink for nitrate (myself included, hence using hanna). Their magnesium and calcium are good from what I remember

the tank thread was just newly posted because I didn't make one, the tank is 4 weeks old, cycled for 1 week with 3 times the recommended amount of turbostart 900 bacteria, and I have both those test kits, kinda annoying how the Red Sea reef kits are 60$ for 3 things, whereas the one with 6 things is the same price