Im not a PRO. Advice for corals (round 2 for me)

Woodenbark · May 22, 2020

Hey everyone. I am not anywhere's near as pro as you guys.

This is my second go around with corals. I had some zoas and an awesome green star polyp that I lost in the great squareback anthias death crash of 2017.

My tank is pretty stable and I am trying another round of corals.

I bought 3 zoas and a beginner SPS pack from aquasd. They also included a "freebie" in the shipment which I have no idea what it is. (would love some help identifying)

on my first go around I was feeding Seachem Phyto Plankton and using Kent Coral Vite (once a week)

It seemed to do well until the squareback I bought died and brought disease to my tank and killed almost everything.

Is Seachem Phyto Plankton and using Kent Coral Vite (once a week) Good? What else should I do? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Here's what I bought

And here's a link to a vid of them in the tank after acclimation:

I run a 55 gallon tank

Copingwithpods · May 22, 2020

Lots going on here, let's suspect the fish death as cause for the instability last as it's usually the other way around. Can you post your most current parameter test?

Woodenbark · May 22, 2020

The fish death was 3 years ago LOL. I don't believe it will affect my current tank setup.

I was asking what the "freebie" coral was and what the best supplements/food are for them

RichtheReefer21 · May 22, 2020

1st off, wanted to say none of us were pros when we started. You are in the right place for advancing your knowledge and skills. Its all here.

As for your coral feeding worries, sps and zoas are very low maintenance when it comes to this sort of thing.

Plankton is a great source of food, fresh is better if u can find it locally. Aminos and fatty acids are also key to coral nutrition, and can be broadcasted in the tank on a regiment based off your stocking level.

Sps are some of the hardest coral to keep, but stylophora is a great try as a novice.

Zoa and palys will thrive with just light and stable parameters. Nothing extra needed really.

Copingwithpods · May 22, 2020

Woodenbark said:
The fish death was 3 years ago LOL. I don't believe it will affect my current tank setup.

I was asking what the "freebie" coral was and what the best supplements/food are for them

Must have had a stroke while reading sorry completely misunderstood lol

Woodenbark · May 22, 2020

RichtheReefer21 said:
1st off, wanted to say none of us were pros when we started. You are in the right place for advancing your knowledge and skills. Its all here.

As for your coral feeding worries, sps and zoas are very low maintenance when it comes to this sort of thing.

Plankton is a great source of food, fresh is better if u can find it locally. Aminos and fatty acids are also key to coral nutrition, and can be broadcasted in the tank on a regiment based off your stocking level.

Sps are some of the hardest coral to keep, but stylophora is a great try as a novice.

Zoa and palys will thrive with just light and stable parameters. Nothing extra needed really.

So no need to target feed them? Last time I was target feeding the zoas with the plankton and they seemed to like it

Woodenbark · May 22, 2020

Copingwithpods said:
Must have had a stroke while reading sorry completely misunderstood lol

Lol, no worries. I gotta work on explaining better

RichtheReefer21 · May 22, 2020

Woodenbark said:
So no need to target feed them? Last time I was target feeding the zoas with the plankton and they seemed to like it

It wont hurt. But not necessary.

I always use the natural approach.. In the wild, there are no target feedings.

although i will say i target feed my LPS, and Dendrophyllia.

Woodenbark · May 22, 2020

RichtheReefer21 said:
It wont hurt. But not necessary.

I always use the natural approach.. In the wild, there are no target feedings. although i will say i target feed my LPS, and Dendrophyllia.

I agree on the natural approach. I had dealt with a green hair algae outbreak and instead of chemicals I got a lawnmower blenny a couple emerald crabs and a sea hare

Worked great and they keep it in check. Plus, theyre some neat critters!

Uncle99 · May 22, 2020

I do feed phytoplankton and the larger zooplankton + aminos once per week one day apart.
While light is the greatest portion of nutrition, the manual “snow” provided in a broadcast feeding is beneficial to metabolic growth in terms of speed in which the coral can generate fleshy growth.

Woodenbark · May 23, 2020

Can anyone help me identify the orange tree-like coral that they gave me as a freebie?

jeffchapok · May 23, 2020

Advice? Aside from the zoas, you haven't exactly started out with the easiest corals to keep. Although these may be "beginner" SPS, they are still going to be more sensitive to water quality than soft corals and most LPS, not to mention lighting and flow.

Don't feel bad, I did the same thing. I tried to keep several birdnests, stylophora, montipora and cyphastreas too early and none of them survived long term. Even my zoas all died until my tank was about 9 months old.

Now that the tank is approaching a year and a half old, I'm having more success. Zoas are now growing well and I'm even getting birdsnest to grow nicely. But montis and cyphastrea are still hit and miss. My tank is primarily softies and LPS and my PO4/NO3 is usually .5/50, so I may never have luck with them.

So if you experience some losses among what you just purchased, don't assume you did anything wrong. Some corals just don't seem to do too well in newer tanks. They require a more established environment. Try some easier soft corals and LPS for a while, and then give the SPS another try in a year or so. You should have much better results then.

Of course, you may have no trouble at all, and I hope not. I just want to encourage you not to give up.

Woodenbark · May 23, 2020

jeffchapok said:
Advice? Aside from the zoas, you haven't exactly started out with the easiest corals to keep. Although these may be "beginner" SPS, they are still going to be more sensitive to water quality than soft corals and most LPS, not to mention lighting and flow.

Don't feel bad, I did the same thing. I tried to keep several birdnests, stylophora, montipora and cyphastreas too early and none of them survived long term. Even my zoas all died until my tank was about 9 months old.

Now that the tank is approaching a year and a half old, I'm having more success. Zoas are now growing well and I'm even getting birdsnest to grow nicely. But montis and cyphastrea are still hit and miss. My tank is primarily softies and LPS and my PO4/NO3 is usually .5/50, so I may never have luck with them.

So if you experience some losses among what you just purchased, don't assume you did anything wrong. Some corals just don't seem to do too well in newer tanks. They require a more established environment. Try some easier soft corals and LPS for a while, and then give the SPS another try in a year or so. You should have much better results then.

Of course, you may have no trouble at all, and I hope not. I just want to encourage you not to give up.

Well my tank is 4.5 years old so Im hoping its established enough.

This is my second attempt at corals. As I mentioned above I had tried back in 2017 when my tank crashed I hadnt bothered to try again until now.

Crossing my fingers, they seem to be pretty happy out of the gate, which as at least a good sign that they arent too angry from shipping.

jeffchapok · May 23, 2020

Woodenbark said:
Well my tank is 4.5 years old so Im hoping its established enough.

This is my second attempt at corals. As I mentioned above I had tried back in 2017 when my tank crashed I hadnt bothered to try again until now.

Crossing my fingers, they seem to be pretty happy out of the gate, which as at least a good sign that they arent too angry from shipping.

Im sorry, I misunderstood. I thought you had restarted the tank from scratch.