Need a crash course on coral care

[ajlovesfish]

Hey, I work at a big box store that sells corals but I need some pointers on how to care for them. I’ve noticed a couple started bleaching and I’m also not sure what to look for in regards to disease.

-can bleaching corals be rescued?
-I don’t really have much on hand to test water parameters outside of standard test strips and a refractometer
-sometimes employees do not turn off the lights for the night on my days off, which I wouldn’t be surprised if this contributes to some of the problems
-I try to feed every day with zooplankton and coral life microvert per the bottle. I don’t know if this is sufficient enough
-I supplment with coral vite every Sunday. Again, I don’t know if this is sufficient enough
-I try to siphon the tank once every few weeks. It’s very difficult for me to make it more regular because I’m the only one that maintains all the tanks here (on top of other things…) which stretches me VERY thin
-I know that some species prefer more light/flow than others, but I have to research each one on my own time. I don’t know if these specifics can be generalized per type of coral (like acro coral needs, etc.)
-it’s a pretty sizable amount of frags in (I think) a 60ish gallon cube tank. I have a rabbit Fox face, naso tang, and wrasse in there but the tang and fox face suck at their jobs. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s because they don’t like the type of algae currently growing in there (some kind of dark green, fuzzy kind). It hasn’t completely overtaken the tank but I wish they would work on the spots in the back where it’s pretty thick.
-there IS some algae sometimes on the coral. How do I remove this safely, or should I just pray the residents inside actually do their jobs? I also don’t know if algae growth is a reflection of the corals health, or simply because of the light/lack of maintenance problem

I love learning about these things, so I don’t mind if I’m getting thesis-sized replies I had to do a lot of research on my own but saltwater is definitely the hardest one and I hate having to say “uhh I actually don’t know” on things I wish I knew. I also know myself and will definitely want a reef tank in the future, but that has to wait until I have my own house, lol

Sorry for the fuzzy images, I broke my camera on my phone years ago while longboarding

 

[paragrouper]

If you look in the individual coral forums (SPS, LPS, Zoas, etc…) you will find a number of sticky threads that provide a lot of good information. You may also want to look at the “new to saltwater and reef aquariums” forum sticky posts, so you can bone up on basic husbandry.

I think you will quickly find there are some items you need in order to properly test the parameters of your tank, it I expect that will be a challenge, given your circumstances. Perhaps your management would listen, based on the rationale reducing lost inventory.

As for learning about individual corals, I prefer the videos that Tidal Gardens put together.

 

[Andreas' Reef]

-can bleaching corals be rescued?

Short answer: Yes. Long answer: It's quite hard to do and the thing that's causing the bleaching has to be fixed.

-I don’t really have much on hand to test water parameters outside of standard test strips and a refractometer

I would recommend hannah checkers, they can be expensive but they are lifesavers and they work quickly.

-sometimes employees do not turn off the lights for the night on my days off, which I wouldn’t be surprised if this contributes to some of the problems

Corals bleach if they get too much light upon other things.

-I try to feed every day with zooplankton and coral life microvert per the bottle. I don’t know if this is sufficient enough

Lighting should be sufficient enough but feeding is recommended. If you feed too much, you could have some issues with too much nutriernts.

-I supplment with coral vite every Sunday. Again, I don’t know if this is sufficient enough

It is.

-I try to siphon the tank once every few weeks. It’s very difficult for me to make it more regular because I’m the only one that maintains all the tanks here (on top of other things…) which stretches me VERY thin

You should probably talk to your manager or boss to see if anyone else can help you. Usually pet stores will have 2-3 people working the aquatics, especially when there is freshwater and saltwater present. Try to water change every week and siphon the sand (if any) only around once a month.

-I know that some species prefer more light/flow than others, but I have to research each one on my own time. I don’t know if these specifics can be generalized per type of coral (like acro coral needs, etc.)

Usually saltwater shops put different types of coral into their own seperate tanks. Mixed reefs are harder to do than acro only, of course.

-it’s a pretty sizable amount of frags in (I think) a 60ish gallon cube tank. I have a rabbit Fox face, naso tang, and wrasse in there but the tang and fox face suck at their jobs. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s because they don’t like the type of algae currently growing in there (some kind of dark green, fuzzy kind). It hasn’t completely overtaken the tank but I wish they would work on the spots in the back where it’s pretty thick.

If there's a foxface and a naso in a 60 gallon cube, there's an issue. It's probably hair algae, which they devour. Instead of those two fish, I would recommend a tomini and a lawnmower blenny.

-there IS some algae sometimes on the coral. How do I remove this safely, or should I just pray the residents inside actually do their jobs? I also don’t know if algae growth is a reflection of the corals health, or simply because of the light/lack of maintenance problem

You could try dipping in hydrogen peroxide to remove the algae but that can be risky. I would wait it out. It usually isnt a reflection of the corals health if its only around the frag plug but if its directly on the coral then It may be time to act.

cheers.

 

[Uncle99]

Can you show a pic of the “backend” of the stores filtration system and describe its components and its maturity in terms of time been running?

Without regular testing of water chemistry and maintaining all 8 parameters in a stable mode, your going to run into serious problems over time. You’d be surprised how better corals look and grow when water is right on point, day in day out. You’ll be thankful of how much less work in keeping things clean, when, we employ those things, not seen, in terms of micro-fauna. Those guys are slow to populate, but, with solid water chemistry, they will in the end, outcompete the bad algaes and bacterium’s.

A “regular” photoperiod is required, lights coming on, same time, same intensity every day, no miss is essential, otherwise the coral will be forever, having to adjust for the change. Some cheap timing devices can fix that.

Feeding, sure, but once per week is fine. Feeding impacts nutrient levels so use it sparingly.

 

[chthao]

stability