Making the jump into corals...

Jisko · Jul 4, 2016

I've recently upgraded my tank this week and now that I have a 20g tank I have a lot more room to work with. I currently have 2 clarkii clowns, 1 blue legged hermit and 7 snails. When the tank was upgraded I replaced the sand bed and moved the live rock over along with about 8 or 9 gallons of water. the rest of the water is new and I'm also preping to add 20lbs of base rock in another week.

I would like to get started in corals but I'm a complete noob when it comes to this. My current light is Current USA Orbit Marine Aquarium LED Light. I don't dose the tank and the salt I use is the instant ocean sea salt. I do mix this with RO water and I try to do weekly 10-20% water changes.

Main questions (also what ever else I might of missed

)

1. How many corals can I add at a time? I'm looking at a lot of nano packs and beginner packs but i'm worried adding 5-10 corals at a single time will cause a lot of problems.

2. Should I switch salt?

3. Should I be doing daily water tests to track the parameters of the tank before adding any corals to make sure everything is stable? I found the thread HERE that goes over a lot of the water parameters. So I'm guessing I should wait till I have this perfect?

4. What corals would be good for the lighting im using? also would settings should I do such as when should the lights turn on and off or what colors should be used.

5. Should I dose the tank and if so how often and with what? I'm going off to college in a few months so my father will be taking over water changes and feedings. I do have a budget but its not really high so I'm not sure if a dosing system is in that budget.

I prolly missed some stuff but yeah haha any info will help

tcarter1936 · Jul 4, 2016

My best advice would be to let the tank mature,only dose what's needed when it's needed and if it were me I wouldnt stock a tank with corals if I was leaving a few months later unless you Dad had experience I'd wait.I'm not trying to be discouraging but this hobby tales dedication and if your away in college maybe better to hold of, again just my advice. Good luck at school.

Diesel · Jul 4, 2016

Jisko said:
I've recently upgraded my tank this week and now that I have a 20g tank I have a lot more room to work with. I currently have 2 clarkii clowns, 1 blue legged hermit and 7 snails. When the tank was upgraded I replaced the sand bed and moved the live rock over along with about 8 or 9 gallons of water. the rest of the water is new and I'm also preping to add 20lbs of base rock in another week.

I would like to get started in corals but I'm a complete noob when it comes to this. My current light is Current USA Orbit Marine Aquarium LED Light. I don't dose the tank and the salt I use is the instant ocean sea salt. I do mix this with RO water and I try to do weekly 10-20% water changes.

Main questions (also what ever else I might of missed )

1. How many corals can I add at a time? I'm looking at a lot of nano packs and beginner packs but i'm worried adding 5-10 corals at a single time will cause a lot of problems.

2. Should I switch salt?

3. Should I be doing daily water tests to track the parameters of the tank before adding any corals to make sure everything is stable? I found the thread HERE that goes over a lot of the water parameters. So I'm guessing I should wait till I have this perfect?

4. What corals would be good for the lighting im using? also would settings should I do such as when should the lights turn on and off or what colors should be used.

5. Should I dose the tank and if so how often and with what? I'm going off to college in a few months so my father will be taking over water changes and feedings. I do have a budget but its not really high so I'm not sure if a dosing system is in that budget.

I prolly missed some stuff but yeah haha any info will help

As mentioned before if you off to college don't add any crazy stuff to the tank.
Water changes can be enough but if for some reason other stuff will pop up your corals can be at loss.
Just in case to give you some answers on your questions.

1) Corals can and will as fish add waste to your tank and as your tank is fairly new I would stick to only two or three as we speak
Mushrooms and oa's are you best choice and you can find some for not more than $5 at a local reefer as far of the common corals.
Def wouldn't even think of a pack.

2) Your salt is good for softies.

3) With a 10% a week you're good and all you need to test for is PH, Po4 and Temperature.
If your tank is still in a cycling process test for ammonia and nitrite till these are 0 out.

4) Answered that in Q #1

5) No dosings are needed for soft corals other than feed your fish as fish poop is your best friend as far as coral food is.

Again think twice before you add corals to this tank as you will be gone but as your Dad can take care of this and put his mind in the hobby as it is more than just throw some food in there and change out some water.

Kungpaoshizi · Jul 5, 2016

For now don't do anything. I would start looking for a new tank or a new home for the clowns, 20g is pretty cramped since they will get big.
Ask around locally and get yourself some Kenya tree. If you can keep the Kenya tree looking happy for 6-8 months, then you're ready for the next step.

Jisko · Jul 5, 2016

Before the upgrade the tank was around 8 months old and yeah my father has wanted to get into the hobby just dint have the budget so now that im paying for it he is interested haha

It would be a learning experience for both of us as neither know anything about corals. I will be making stops a few times a months to check on everything. As far as corals i was lookin at zoas or something along them lines as a start.

About the fish growing that im not worried about i can always upgrade if need be and ill be looking into my own place within the next year after which ill be upgrading to 50g

Im slowly putting my feet further and further into the ocean haha

MermaidTail · Jul 5, 2016

Jisko said:
Before the upgrade the tank was around 8 months old and yeah my father has wanted to get into the hobby just dint have the budget so now that im paying for it he is interested haha

It would be a learning experience for both of us as neither know anything about corals. I will be making stops a few times a months to check on everything. As far as corals i was lookin at zoas or something along them lines as a start.

About the fish growing that im not worried about i can always upgrade if need be and ill be looking into my own place within the next year after which ill be upgrading to 50g

Im slowly putting my feet further and further into the ocean haha

Totally just my opinion on this, as a newbie myself- my tank is only 5 months old and while everything is going great (corals and fish), it is absolutely a DAILY journey of monitoring and care; it's a very rewarding hobby but a demanding one. Just consider your schedule, commitments, and time/distance obstacles!

Jisko · Jul 5, 2016

MermaidTail said:
Totally just my opinion on this, as a newbie myself- my tank is only 5 months old and while everything is going great (corals and fish), it is absolutely a DAILY journey of monitoring and care; it's a very rewarding hobby but a demanding one. Just consider your schedule, commitments, and time/distance obstacles!

Yeah im gonna have to talk with him about it i dont leave for another 2 months so could kind of just show him what I do :/ hhmm I've also thought about a mini frag tank in my dorm to grow the frags out a bit and by time i come back home the tank would be ready for some corals and i would also be home

I cam have up to a 30g tank in my dorm but i was looking at a biocube or something small that i could use

BoneXriffic · Jul 5, 2016

I use regular IO salt, and always have. All types of corals doing great....for testing I only test alk daily. Calk twice a week and mag once a week. Unimportant for softies.

Im not a fan of your light but it works, im old school and love halides.

And for softies not really any dosing, keep the water a lil dirty.

highlite2nice · Jul 6, 2016

Jisko said:
I've recently upgraded my tank this week and now that I have a 20g tank I have a lot more room to work with. I currently have 2 clarkii clowns, 1 blue legged hermit and 7 snails. When the tank was upgraded I replaced the sand bed and moved the live rock over along with about 8 or 9 gallons of water. the rest of the water is new and I'm also preping to add 20lbs of base rock in another week.

I would like to get started in corals but I'm a complete noob when it comes to this. My current light is Current USA Orbit Marine Aquarium LED Light. I don't dose the tank and the salt I use is the instant ocean sea salt. I do mix this with RO water and I try to do weekly 10-20% water changes.

Main questions (also what ever else I might of missed )

1. How many corals can I add at a time? I'm looking at a lot of nano packs and beginner packs but i'm worried adding 5-10 corals at a single time will cause a lot of problems.

2. Should I switch salt?

3. Should I be doing daily water tests to track the parameters of the tank before adding any corals to make sure everything is stable? I found the thread HERE that goes over a lot of the water parameters. So I'm guessing I should wait till I have this perfect?

4. What corals would be good for the lighting im using? also would settings should I do such as when should the lights turn on and off or what colors should be used.

5. Should I dose the tank and if so how often and with what? I'm going off to college in a few months so my father will be taking over water changes and feedings. I do have a budget but its not really high so I'm not sure if a dosing system is in that budget.

I prolly missed some stuff but yeah haha any info will help

1. You have a relatively small tank small tank, so maintaining perimeters will be harder, thought I don't think adding 5 small frags at a time will effect you that much.

2. I believe you should slowly start to switch to another salt maybe reef crystals, because eventually you will probably be moving to corals like LPS and SPS.

3. How long has your tank been running? You should mostly test after you add corals because as of right now you don't have anything using much calcium and alkalinity as you add corals and they grow you will have to keep your numbers in range.

4.Right now I believe soft corals would be the corals you can keep right now. You many want to consider upgrading your lights as lights are every important in keeping corals and you will most likely want to get LPS or SPS corals (research what corals you like) . Most reefers run there lights anywhere from 7 to 12 hours, many do 1 hour of just the blue lights when they turn on and 1 hr of just blue when they turn off (to simulate dawn and dusk) If you get a controller like apex and upgrade your light you will be able to ramp them up and down.

5. For soft corals you don't really need to dose just keep up with water changes. If you go for SPS/LPS you will have to dose because they have a calcium structure and use up calcium/alkalinity- Magnisuim (not as often) up quickly. You can start dosing with 2 part. Bulk Reef Supply has good stuff to start with.