My first LPS candy cane!

Hoopastank · Aug 31, 2015

i bought my first LPS coral. I was told it's called a candy cane. I was wondering what you all think of them and if you have any advice on care or feeding. I was told it has tentacles but j have not seen them yet. Also any advice on dosing for calcium or alkalininity? Thanks!

TreyC2010 · Aug 31, 2015

I have the same but neon green. Give it medium flow and light. Do you keep any other LPS? If so, just keep it around the same parameters as those. 8-12 alk 400-450 cal in my tank

steve&mari · Aug 31, 2015

Feeders will come out at night feed little frozen to it like lrs reef frenzy nano or similar 1-2x weekly moderate light and flow should make it happy. Looks nice also.

Hoopastank · Aug 31, 2015

TreyC2010 said:
I have the same but neon green. Give it medium flow and light. Do you keep any other LPS? If so, just keep it around the same parameters as those. 8-12 alk 400-450 cal in my tank

This is my first LPS. I have eagle eye Zoas and GSP along with a pally. I am running 16k lighting with an AI prime should I adjust? Thanks

Hoopastank · Aug 31, 2015

steve&mari said:
Feeders will come out at night feed little frozen to it like lrs reef frenzy nano or similar 1-2x weekly moderate light and flow should make it happy. Looks nice also.

When you say frozen do you mean mysis or brine should I feed it at night when the light is off? I really like the look of it thanks!

gmendez619 · Sep 1, 2015

The tentacles come out at night so i say thats the best time to feed. Thats when i feed mine although they do take a really long time to fully injest the food. Turn your pumps off so the food doesnt just blow away or else it wont eat at all

Hoopastank · Sep 1, 2015

gmendez619 said:
The tentacles come out at night so i say thats the best time to feed. Thats when i feed mine although they do take a really long time to fully injest the food. Turn your pumps off so the food doesnt just blow away or else it wont eat at all

Thanks for the advice! I actually saw the tentacles this morning when i got up just shined the light from my phone on the tank and BAM! there they were. I will do some feeding tonight when the tank lights go off!

steve&mari · Sep 1, 2015

Mysis is fine or like coral frenzy/reef roids. I like lrs reef frenzy nano has smaller particles for smaller corals and has a great mix of ingredients.

Hoopastank · Sep 1, 2015

steve&mari said:
Mysis is fine or like coral frenzy/reef roids. I like lrs reef frenzy nano has smaller particles for smaller corals and has a great mix of ingredients.

I bought mysis yesterday so i will give that a shot tonight! Thanks!

gmendez619 · Sep 1, 2015

Hoopastank said:
Thanks for the advice! I actually saw the tentacles this morning when i got up just shined the light from my phone on the tank and BAM! there they were. I will do some feeding tonight when the tank lights go off!

No problem

good luck with the feeding

RareEarthCorals · Sep 1, 2015

Shouldn't have to dose at the moment if you stay on top of your water changes. Especially since it is your first piece. When you feed it should be two hours after main lights out and very little. I started using Brightwell Microvore. No more than twice a week. Remember to turn off your pumps during feeding. Hope that helps you. Dosing comes much later when you are full stocked and averaging your water changes to six weeks.

Hoopastank · Sep 1, 2015

RareEarthCorals said:
Shouldn't have to dose at the moment if you stay on top of your water changes. Especially since it is your first piece. When you feed it should be two hours after main lights out and very little. No more than twice a week. Remember to turn off your pumps during feeding. Hope that helps you. Dosing comes much later when you are full stocked and averaging your water changes to six weeks.

Helps a lot thanks. I just went to feed the coral and no tentacles. So the time oeriod you out really helps. I will have to look in the am. I did my first water change last weekend. And my levels are now off. My ammonia is at .25 and the nitrate is at 40. Is this normal for the first change.? The tank will be 3 months old in the 4th. To top that off my salinity was off from the get go to 1.019. Now it's at 1.025 now the Zoas that I have in the tank are not opening. I'm freaking out a little.

RareEarthCorals · Sep 2, 2015

You didnt cycle your tank?

Hoopastank · Sep 2, 2015

RareEarthCorals said:
You didnt cycle your tank?

yeah the thank did cycle. Could it be doing it again?

RareEarthCorals · Sep 2, 2015

It can, your ammonia and nitrates are too high and the reason nothing is looking good and closing up. Did you ever register ammonia and nitrites since set up?

Your salinity should be between 1.024-1.027. Temp between 78-82 deg F, Ph 7.8-8.2, Ammonia -0-, Nitrite -0-, and nitrates less than-5-. You need to do a water change soon if not now. Do a water change at least weekly 10-15% to stabilize your nitrates and start bring them down. You corals will close up and eventually die with ammonia and high nitrates. I would hold off feeding until after change your water. After that you can feed before your water changes. Your bacteria colony is pretty new so I would also not add anything new to the tank until it stabilizes to the parameters I suggested and the corals start bouncing back. Make sure your water has the same temp, Ph within 7.8-8.2 and salinity before adding to avoid any additional shock. You need to act or you may lose what you have.