Tips for newbies!

[Bradsreeeftank]

Hey everyone thought i would say some things i wish people told me when starting this hobby! 1. Never glue a coral down on your live rock! Why? well because if theres a pest ( like aptasia) on your rock all you half to do is simply take it out of your tank! Theres gotta some place you can nicley place your coral so it stable! 2. Do not add chemicals! If you need to add tap water conditioner, then ok. But if you wanna add something like trace elements, calcium etc. Dont do it! best way to keep up with your tank is a water change not a stupid chemical! Those are two of the most important tips i wish i would of got!

 

[cdness]

I happen to have a differing opinion on this one...

1. Glue down your frags. This will assist in the encrusting to your live rock and add to colony stability. If you have a pest, treat as needed. Not gluing has caused me many coral losses in the past when one falls into another. I now glue EVERYTHING.

2. Calcium, Alkalinity and Magnesium are critical elements to the growth of corals. Replacing via water changes alone on a full SPS reef would be nearly impossible.

Tap water conditioner should never be used. Get an RODI unit or buy RODI water and give your reef the cleanest water possible. Tap water conditioner only removes the Chlorine. It leaves in all of the other harmful contaminants that can kill a reef if you are not careful.

 

[Reefing Madness]

I happen to have a differing opinion on this one...

1. Glue down your frags. This will assist in the encrusting to your live rock and add to colony stability. If you have a pest, treat as needed. Not gluing has caused me many coral losses in the past when one falls into another. I now glue EVERYTHING.

2. Calcium, Alkalinity and Magnesium are critical elements to the growth of corals. Replacing via water changes alone on a full SPS reef would be nearly impossible.

Tap water conditioner should never be used. Get an RODI unit or buy RODI water and give your reef the cleanest water possible. Tap water conditioner only removes the Chlorine. It leaves in all of the other harmful contaminants that can kill a reef if you are not careful.

+1
And to add to the conditioner post, Skimmers hate water conditioner and it will drive them usually into overflow mode.
I carbon dose, and do not use water changes to keep my ALK, CAL, MAG in proper levels, I have to dose them.

 

[gregcoyote]

I happen to have a differing opinion on this one...

1. Glue down your frags. This will assist in the encrusting to your live rock and add to colony stability. If you have a pest, treat as needed. Not gluing has caused me many coral losses in the past when one falls into another. I now glue EVERYTHING.

2. Calcium, Alkalinity and Magnesium are critical elements to the growth of corals. Replacing via water changes alone on a full SPS reef would be nearly impossible.

Tap water conditioner should never be used. Get an RODI unit or buy RODI water and give your reef the cleanest water possible. Tap water conditioner only removes the Chlorine. It leaves in all of the other harmful contaminants that can kill a reef if you are not careful.

I also agree with most of this. As to gluing down frags, I agree that corals can tell if they are firmly connected to the rocks, but sometimes placement just isn't right for that particular coral and moving it 6" does the trick. I would try not to glue down until you are certain that coral will do well in that location.

I dose a heavily populated reef, 500 gallons if water, so water changes with the volume I would need is a lot if salt I have to pack into the fish room. But I have friends with heavily populated SPS reefs that don't dose but do 20% per week water exchanges. I do 5% every week and monitor/dose. But both methods work.

Agree totally on RO/DI water. You could have the best tap water in the country and one day you might be pouring poison into your reef. Heck, I won't drink the tap water where I live, much less expose a sensitive reef system to it.

 

[Small triggers]

Before you put anything in your tank, research it!
Fish, corals, and any additives....
If you choose to use additives in your tank...test for them..do not add things blindly! A dash of this and a splash of that can crash your tank if you aren't checking you levels and reasons for dosing....