Ready for Corals?

[Poseidon's snail]

Hi,
I was wondering if our tank is ready to try a few corals as our tank is at 345ppm calcium and 12.6 alk?
thanks

 

[Copingwithpods]

Ehhhh not quiet, you want to be closer to 9 dkh alkalinity and 420 calcium. Most importantly you want those stable. Stability is key. Even if you have garbage numbers as long as they are consistently garbage your corals will adjust to those but best practice is being as close to the above numbers.

Second thought with alk and cal being that far out check your mag levels, might be low.

 

[SPR1968]

Assuming your tank has been cycled also check your salinity and then try and bring all your parameters within the ’normal’ limits

This is a very good guide

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/

 

[Poseidon's snail]

How can i get my alk and calcium in sync again?
any products or just the waiting game?

 

[Copingwithpods]

Couple questions,

have you been dosing anything?
What salt are you using?
How long has the tank been up?
What is your goal for the tank?

 

[Poseidon's snail]

I dose ph buffer which also raises alk twice a day.I use Tropic marin pro reef salt.My tank has been running for around 5 months.My goal is to have mainly sps but i will start with much easier corals first and my stocklist is 2x clownfish ,firefish and a cleaner wrasse.I would also love a rose bubble tip nem for my clowns

 

[Poseidon's snail]

I dose ph buffer which also raises alk twice a day.I use Tropic marin pro reef salt.My tank has been running for around 5 months.My goal is to have mainly sps but i will start with much easier corals first and my stocklist is 2x clownfish ,firefish and a cleaner wrasse.I would also love a rose bubble tip nem for my clowns

 

[Poseidon's snail]

sorry about the double post

 

[Copingwithpods]

First off stop dosing pH buffer, whether you are using the pro, the bio or the standard your parameters are way out of wack. Focus on stability through conscious dosing and not buffers. Aim for your salts parameters.

 

[Poseidon's snail]

I should stop dosing altogether? Wouldnt my ph go low?

 

[Fishbird]

These are the pH Mistakes to avoid! Get pH right for your tank and stop doing this.

pH is one of the first parameters saltwater aquarists need to understand and monitor for success. In this episode, Ryan and Randy put together a list of the top 15 most common mistakes and misconceptions around pH that will ideally help you skip the learning curve and maintain a rock-solid

www.bulkreefsupply.com

Here is a video that talks about pH (and why you should definitely stop adding pH buffer).

If you're using tropic Marin pro if you mix it to a specific gravity of 1.026 or so you should have an alkalinity of 7, calcium of 440 and magnesium of 1350 (per the tropic Marin pro bucket). Those are all fine levels. For corals you want stability.

I would let your alkalinity come down naturally (it should when you stop dosing pH buffer and as long as you keep up with your water changes). Once your alkalinity has fallen to 7 or so then you could probably try an "easy" coral. Examples include softies and some LPS like favia and favites.

If you go with a LPS coral it will consume alkalinity, calcium, and magnesium to make its skeleton as it grows. Your goal is to keep the levels of those three things consistently available in the water column for the coral to use. That's why people say test for those three on at least a weekly basis.

When you do your weekly water changes your new water will contain calcium, magnesium, and alkalinity so you may not need to start dosing for awhile. Once your corals are consuming more than you can keep up with from water changes, then you will need to dose but in that case you would be dosing calcium and alkalinity. Bulk Reef Supply also has videos on various dosing options and their pros and cons.

 

[EMeyer]

Don't worry about pH.

Drop your alkalinity to somewhere between 7-8 (the level found in the ocean).

I'm convinced unnaturally high alk is one of the biggest obstacles to success in this hobby. I've never seen a coral that didnt suffer when I let the alk get above 8.

 

[Poseidon's snail]

Thanks everyone
Roughly how long can it take for the alk to drop to 7-8

 

[Sosuke]

I dose ph buffer which also raises alk twice a day.I use Tropic marin pro reef salt.My tank has been running for around 5 months.My goal is to have mainly sps but i will start with much easier corals first and my stocklist is 2x clownfish ,firefish and a cleaner wrasse.I would also love a rose bubble tip nem for my clowns

Why a cleaner wrasse?

 

[Fishbird]

my stocklist is 2x clownfish ,firefish and a cleaner wrasse.I would also love a rose bubble tip nem for my clowns

Oh yeah I didn’t read your stock list carefully the first time. In your other thread you say your tank is 55 liters? That’s 14 gallons. I think many people would say that two clowns is a full stock list in that size tank. Some might argue that you could add a third small fish several months down the line. I think 4 is pushing it quite far and blue streaked cleaner wrasses have a minimum recommended tank size of 90 gallons/340 liters.

 

[Poseidon's snail]

My lfs recommended a cleaner wrasse for pests.Also love the look of them

 

[Poseidon's snail]

Maybe instead of the wrasse a cleaner shrimp?

 

[Poseidon's snail]

also - does anyone know a good remedy for dino's?

 

[Fishbird]

Is there any chance they were recommending a cleaner goby (neon blue goby) and not a cleaner wrasse? If they really did recommend the wrasse I would take all their advice with a huge grain of salt going forward. Honestly, any time somebody gives me advice where if I follow it, it’ll involve me giving them money, I take it with a grain of salt and seek second/third opinions elsewhere

 

[Poseidon's snail]

Thanks They also said we could choose a goby but we liked the look of the wrasse