Quarantine vs. Lighting

Ocelaris · Nov 13, 2016

I picked up 6 new frags at a show this weekend and they're bayer dipped and in my 40 breeder under 2 t5s. The question is, how long should I wait before putting them in the display tank? I'm just worried about the mediocre lighting in the quarantine tank. The display tank has an acro, a pocillipora or two and is under leds growing well. They came from a reputable dealer, but I'm itching to get them in the display tank ASAP. Corals are extended fine, but only filtered by a hob filter, so not a ton of flow.

Also some of the frags have some hair algae on them. Any way to clean them up besides completely removing the plug. Some haven't encrusted and are pretty small, so I was going to leave the base, which I realize is unsightly and a risk of eggs, unless the consensus is to always remove the plug.

Thoughts?

saltyfilmfolks · Nov 13, 2016

its 8 to 16 days I believe for zoa nudi eggs to hatch. (yea I know) I dont know on the other bad bugs..... According to humble a few days for ics, and you'll want to get that algae off. revive or light peroxide.
how mediocre is the qt light? and are there nutrients in the coral qt.

#reefsquad coral qt question.

melypr1985 · Nov 13, 2016

76 days to be completely safe from ick and other fish parasites. theoretically you would be ok after a month or so, but it would certainly stink to end up with the strain that takes 72 days to hatch.

Humblefish · Nov 14, 2016

melypr1985 said:
76 days to be completely safe from ick and other fish parasites. theoretically you would be ok after a month or so, but it would certainly stink to end up with the strain that takes 72 days to hatch.

+1 However, those SPS aren't gonna last long under just 2 T5 bulbs.

Ocelaris · Nov 14, 2016

Thanks, I have some old 250w metal halides with 6500k bulbs lying around I may throw on that tank, although not ideal, it's better than the existing lighting. It's a M58 Magnetic ballast, so bulb selection is less than ideal. Eventually a fully SPS capable hospital tank would be my goal, but that should keep me going for a while. It's also a matter of water movement, although I have an apex power strip I can do wave making action, I'm low on powerheads as well. I may have to get creative with some random small pumps lying around for the time being.

Thanks!

ksc · Nov 14, 2016

The 2 t5's will be fine, just put your frags on a rack and put the bulbs directly over them. You don't have to light the whole tank....

Ocelaris · Nov 14, 2016

Even better! thanks!

saltyfilmfolks · Nov 14, 2016

Ocelaris said:
I may have to get creative with some random small pumps lying around for the time being.

ksc said:
The 2 t5's will be fine, just put your frags on a rack and put the bulbs directly over them. You don't have to light the whole tank....

this and this.

Ocelaris · Nov 14, 2016

For now this will have to do for this week until I can get to the store to make myself a little frag rack. Long term I'd like to make this into a frag tank, but for now the display tank gets most of the expenditures.

An old skimmer pump without air mixes up the water pretty decently on an oscillating schedule. The apex I have hooked up is 30 feet away in a different room. Soldered a thermostat wire onto USB A ends, so I can control it remotely.

Thanks all for the help!

West1 · Nov 15, 2016

saltyfilmfolks said:
its 8 to 16 days I believe for zoa nudi eggs to hatch. (yea I know) I dont know on the other bad bugs..... According to humble a few days for ics, and you'll want to get that algae off. revive or light peroxide.
how mediocre is the qt light? and are there nutrients in the coral qt.

#reefsquad coral qt question.

Hi Salty, Can you post which par meter you are using? I recall reading you had one that was rather inexpensive.
I figured this would be a good place to post instead of sending you a PM.

saltyfilmfolks · Nov 15, 2016

West1 said:
Hi Salty, Can you post which par meter you are using? I recall reading you had one that was rather inexpensive.
I figured this would be a good place to post instead of sending you a PM.

your welcome to PM any time. I do not have a par meter, I use a lux meter and convert.

experience tells me the light in question here should supply about 400 par or so at the top of the tank if the fixture is about 8 in from the surface. the amount on the corals is likely in the 200+ par range depending on the tubes(and fixture a bit).

West1 · Nov 15, 2016

saltyfilmfolks said:
your welcome to PM any time. I do not have a par meter, I use a lux meter and convert.

As long as you get a really close ball park reading, I'm ok with that. Which model do you have and is it plug and play or did you have to modify anything?

saltyfilmfolks · Nov 15, 2016

West1 said:
As long as you get a really close ball park reading, I'm ok with that. Which model do you have and is it plug and play or did you have to modify anything?

Uhhh, I actually own a LOT of different meters.
But for convenience and easy to sel and try out I recommend the red $14 lux meter from amazon. Milwaukee makes them to about $75, they also make an underwater probe about the same price.
with lux you have to do conversion, lok at apogeess site and dana riddle has an article as well.
Basically divide lux reading BY
50 for sun
40 for t5
60 for led.

this so far seems accurate IME