New 36gal reef... Help getting into sps.

[Jason_1990]

So I have a small problem with cloudy water. It seems to come an go. Should i get a Uv sterilizer?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

So I have a small problem with cloudy water. It seems to come an go. Should i get a Uv sterilizer?

I wouldn't. Cloudiness is nothing but an aesthetic concern and may be desirable for filter feeders.

Are you dosing organic carbon? Do you have a skimmer?

 

[Jason_1990]

Not dosing organic carbon. Would that help? An yes I have a skimmer.

 

[Jason_1990]

Small update. Installed the pp-8 jebao propeller pump. That puppy is strong for a 36 gallon bow front. But good news I'm future proofing if I ever upgrade to a bigger tank.

 

[Jason_1990]

Wow don't get jebao Wave maker. What a sack of crap that is. Stopped working with in a hour of set up. Defaulted to full power an blasted my tank. I couldn't change the settings after that.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Not dosing organic carbon. Would that help? An yes I have a skimmer.

No, carbon dosing is more often a cause of bacterial growth.

How's the cloudiness?

 

[Jason_1990]

It comes an gose the past 2 days its been better. My water parameters are stay steady also. I need to find a powerhead that won't blow sand around in my tank. Then I'm gonna add more corals. What's a good rated flow rate for 36 gallon? 3 to 5 time the tank capacity?

 

[XNavyDiver]

It comes an gose the past 2 days its been better. My water parameters are stay steady also. I need to find a powerhead that won't blow sand around in my tank. Then I'm gonna add more corals. What's a good rated flow rate for 36 gallon? 3 to 5 time the tank capacity?

If your getting into sps, then I don't think you need to worry about too much flow. If sand storms become a problem, you can experiment with placement angles, bouncing current off of glass and such. Strong chaotic current will serve you well with more demanding sps, and especially acro in the future. Look into gyres or mp10's if you can. Programmable chaotic current is what you should shoot for.

 

[Arcticreefer]

It comes an gose the past 2 days its been better. My water parameters are stay steady also. I need to find a powerhead that won't blow sand around in my tank. Then I'm gonna add more corals. What's a good rated flow rate for 36 gallon? 3 to 5 time the tank capacity?

Good options for an sps tank this size would be Vortech mp10 or Tunze nanostream 6055. with those you can dial in the flow to your liking and they are likely to last for years without problems and will work on bigger tank if you want to upgrade later.

 

[Tim Russell]

So a little background on this tank. I set it up a little over a month ago. Added 40lbs of live sand 25 lbs of live rock. Week later added a clown an going into week 3 added my 2nd clown. My cycle was relatively short lived an I probably won't add anymore live stock. Maybe cuc.
So on to my questions currently I have 3 frags in the tank. Green star polyp, mushrooms, an another soft coral. Forgot the name. I'll post pics. I'm test water try to tweak it in an I wanna dose kalk eventually because of ph problems.
So here is my water..
Salanity 1.025
Alkalinity 11
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
Calcium idk
Ph varies. 7.6ish to 8.0

So I want to know how I can transition into hard corals from here. I'm gonna get calcium test kit today I'm gonna guess it's low because at one point I got bad advice used a ph buffer an it probably spiked my dkh which would lowered calcium. So I'll raise my calcium which will drop my dkh a tad then get into kalk an start dosing kalk to keep stable an add hard corals same time? Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

I’ve been getting into sps. Lots of flow and higher lighting for starters. I run my alk at 8.5 calcium 400 mag is high at 1450 and it never seems to go lower. If you’ve researched you know that low nutrients are a must but, not zero nutrients. Corals will be pale if that’s the case. Keep stable params. You say dosing kalc? If heavy in sps that won’t be enough. I switched to 2 part dosing because adding kalc and more alk to keep up is a pain. And kalc in a top off ime isn't stable enough. Enjoy.

 

[Jason_1990]

I been testing, an my tank don't take up enough alk or cal to dose kalk. But as for lighting how much lighting do I need or when do I know I have enough? I have the evergrow 165watt led lights. They ramp up to 85% an back down over 11 hours. Roughly 4 hours of that is over 50% power.

 

[Jason_1990]

So I'll probably get ripped on this update. Yes that's a sulfintang in a 36 bowfront. I'll probably end up returning him in a year but right now he is happy to be out of the 10 gallon tank they had him in, plus he eats like a horse. I added a few more softy corals an some sps. Everything opens up in this tank very well. Only problem is my tank is next to a window so I'm gonna have to black out that window. Half my sand is a shade brown. Nothing crazy.

 

[kamike91]

So I'll probably get ripped on this update. Yes that's a sulfintang in a 36 bowfront. I'll probably end up returning him in a year but right now he is happy to be out of the 10 gallon tank they had him in, plus he eats like a horse. I added a few more softy corals an some sps. Everything opens up in this tank very well. Only problem is my tank is next to a window so I'm gonna have to black out that window. Half my sand is a shade brown. Nothing crazy.

Oh no, tang police assemble! Haha. Just keep an eye on that guy, you may have some success with it, but have a plan. As you already know it will outgrow your tank, if not already. But man, I have a 6 foot 125 and wouldn't even put it in mine. Hope it goes well.

 

[Jason_1990]

If ppl truly wanted the best for tangs make it illegal to be captive in my opinion. Anything short of that an your just blowing smoke. Let's be honest 95% of ppl don't have 200 gallon tanks.

 

[Jason_1990]

That's not good is it?

 

[Jason_1990]

So just wanted to do an update been awhile. Last time i posted i wanted to get into sps. Well that failed, both birdsnests bleached in weeks. So i got few more tests kits an realized my water conditions arent as stable as i thought an calcium was on the low end just south of 380. I also put in a ato on my system real cheapo float valve one. An just last week i took the leap into kalk. I been hesitating cause of all the horror stories. But i been watching it closely. For anyone with just a softy tank, or wanting to dose kalk an only have a handful of corals. im dosing 1/2 tsp. Per gallon. An i think that might be the sweet spot for now. Its very strong stuff i even added a power head in the sump to keep it mixed or it perciptates an formed a white crust were it comes in. My ph spiked to 8.3 luckily when i mixed it but last time i checked
Ph 8.1
Cal 440
Pho >250 (need a more sensitive test kit)
Dkh 10
Mag 1300
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrates 0
The photos are just of corals an my tang ill get another one of the entire tank later today. My only concern now is how do you know when you have enough flow an the lighting is right? I can't put a number to that like i can with water conditions. I have the Chinese black box lights that you can control with the app an ramp up an down over the day. An for flow i just make sure everything has a nice sway to it no sand storms.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Thanks for the update!

Its very strong stuff i even added a power head in the sump to keep it mixed or it perciptates an formed a white crust were it comes in.

It is good to mix it in fast to reduce the chances for precipitation of calcium carbonate in the high pH environment where it is added (which wastes the additive), but the initial precipitate that instantly forms when limewater hits tank water is mostly magnesium hydroxide, and it will redissolve as the additive mixes in, so some initial cloudiness is normal and not an indication of a problem. The same happens with high pH two part additives.

 

[Jason_1990]

This is the entire tank so far i have 2 coloines of gsp now. Its gonna tank alot of cash to fill in the rest with coral. Any online stores that sell 5$ frags so i can fill this in an let everything grow out? Btw that hammer in the front next to my gsp dosent seem to grow but isnt dieing off. Am i suppose to feed him?

 

[Jason_1990]

What do you guys think about the aquascape?

 

[Jason_1990]

Small update. Ive had plenty of failures with this tank but I'm very excited about this. Got him apirl 9th. So almost 2 months growth here. The other sps frags i bought with him have browned out or bleached. My first sps frag with really good growth. Or any for that matter. Small water changes an dosing kalk in top an thats it. Color seems to be an issue with my corls all togther they seem to not pop as you csn tell here. Any tips? Drop the light a tad? Idk