Will take pay it forward Corals or Fish please for beginner

[FreshSaltyGuy]

Also, FreshSaltyGuy, all the corals you’re receiving, are you dipping or quarantining them before you introduce to your tank (from the pics, everything you already got looks good and healthy, but curious as to whether you plan to dip or quarantine future arrivals).

Yes dipping them all. I do seem to be having a issue with the very first Zoas I bought myself 3/4 of them haven't opened for about a week now. The only thing that has changed is placement of my wavemaker and the lighting became more intense. Do you think I should move them down lower because intensity may be much? Last I checked parameters were ok with Phosphates being on the high side. I will be testing tmrw or Friday and can post new #'s.

 

[RSNJReef]

So I will preface this by saying I have never owned a Zia or paly, So maybe someone else that has kept Zoas for a long time can chime in,

But maybe what you can do is send a message to the person you got The Zoas from and ask them What water parameters they were kept in.. A couple of things I will say though:

Some corals can take up to a week to acclimate to a new tank so once you put it in a new position or a new tank give it about 4 to 5 days to settle in, Unless you see the corals start to turn white, You see brown jelly disease, or the coral begins to melt, that’s when you need to act quickly.

If it’s a coral that you have had for a while that was doing well and all of a sudden started to close or retract that’s an indication that something has gone wrong with the coral or the tank water

For the first year with any new tank the ecosystem is still stabilizing, So swings and what people call the ugly phase is normal. Just move at a steady pace thoughtfully and carefully and try not to panic too much because it’s just part of the process of the tank establishing itself.

above all else if it’s a new coral addition, and the new Koral is acting strange but all of your other corals seem fine, don’t start changing your water chemistry drastically to chase after that one coral because you might mess things up for all the other corals. However if it is a coral that you have had for a while and it was doing OK for months and then all of a sudden it starts going downhill, that can be an indication that your water parameters are starting to go out of whack or some thing is beginning to attack that one coral.

 

[FreshSaltyGuy]

So I will preface this by saying I have never owned a Zia or paly, So maybe someone else that has kept Zoas for a long time can chime in,

But maybe what you can do is send a message to the person you got The Zoas from and ask them What water parameters they were kept in.. A couple of things I will say though:

Some corals can take up to a week to acclimate to a new tank so once you put it in a new position or a new tank give it about 4 to 5 days to settle in, Unless you see the corals start to turn white, You see brown jelly disease, or the coral begins to melt, that’s when you need to act quickly.

If it’s a coral that you have had for a while that was doing well and all of a sudden started to close or retract that’s an indication that something has gone wrong with the coral or the tank water

For the first year with any new tank the ecosystem is still stabilizing, So swings and what people call the ugly phase is normal. Just move at a steady pace thoughtfully and carefully and try not to panic too much because it’s just part of the process of the tank establishing itself.

above all else if it’s a new coral addition, and the new Koral is acting strange but all of your other corals seem fine, don’t start changing your water chemistry drastically to chase after that one coral because you might mess things up for all the other corals. However if it is a coral that you have had for a while and it was doing OK for months and then all of a sudden it starts going downhill, that can be an indication that your water parameters are starting to go out of whack or some thing is beginning to attack that one coral.

The Zoa has been in the tank a little over 3 months and the toad stool for about a month and all have been open just fine until recently.

I think I found the problem. See my reading below. My nitrates got to 0.0 and my Phosphates are still high though I was up to 0.75 at one point and then my Salinity can come down some. Everything else has been stable for over 2 months. I'm going to do a 10% water change today and maybe another tmrw and see where I am at that point. Any input would help.

Water Temp- 77.0 f

Salt 1.029

Phosphate- 0.51

Alk- 12.8

Nitrates- 0.1

PH - 8.0

Magnesium - 1230

Calcium- 450

 

[wolfen281]

 

[RSNJReef]

The Zoa has been in the tank a little over 3 months and the toad stool for about a month and all have been open just fine until recently.

I think I found the problem. See my reading below. My nitrates got to 0.0 and my Phosphates are still high though I was up to 0.75 at one point and then my Salinity can come down some. Everything else has been stable for over 2 months. I'm going to do a 10% water change today and maybe another tmrw and see where I am at that point. Any input would help.

Water Temp- 77.0 f

Salt 1.029

Phosphate- 0.51

Alk- 12.8

Nitrates- 0.1

PH - 8.0

Magnesium - 1230

Calcium- 450

Ok, so looking at this, I’d say your salinity crept up to high and your phosphate is too high. How big is your tank?

 

[FreshSaltyGuy]

Ok, so looking at this, I’d say your salinity crept up to high and your phosphate is too high. How big is your tank?

Only 40 gal. I have Neo Nitro I'm going to dose after a 10 gal water change

 

[RSNJReef]

Ok, definitely do the water change, but I’d also recommend lowering your salinity to 1.027 max (try to keep it between 1.025-1.027). If it’s 40 gallons, I would add about 16-32 oz of rodi water every 4-6 hours till your salinity is around 1.025.

after that I would look at getting some lanthinum chloride (phosphate rx), and dose that within the sump of your tank (drip it into your filter socks or filter floss that acts as the mechanical filtration for the return water from the tank. I would dose the phosphate rx at a rate of 6 drops on the first day, then the next day make sure your phosphates haven’t dropped by more than 0.2ppm (if it has, drop your dosage to half, if it only lowered the phosphate by less than 0.05ppm, then double the dosage). Dose the lanthanum daily until your phosphates are below 0.08 (0.03 is ideal, but will be difficult to maintain with a 40 gallon tank).

as and alternate to the lanthanum, you can continue to do 5-10 gallon water changes daily until your phosphate is under 0.08, but, with the water changes you will be lowering your nitrates as well.

 

[Drummerguydw]

Hello,

I've been in the freshwater fish hobby for 20 years with successful planted tanks.
I started my first reef tank 3 months ago after my 3 girls have begged me for the passed 2 years, and would like to populate it with some coral and fish. I currently have a 1 frag Duncan and 1 frag Zoa , 2 clowns, and 2 damsels (yes all getting along well and would love to add.
I'm located in Central California so anyone in the Bay Area, Modesto, Tracy, Sacramento, Merced area I have no problem driving to pick up anything your willing to get rid of to help me out. Looking to pay it forward in the future.
Appreciate any help! Happy Holidays!

If you’re ever in the ventura county area, I got plenty of gsp and a few single polyp zoa frags, same goes for anyone else reading this

 

[McCarrick]

Welcome to the salty side,
I hope I'm not thread jacking here but I am a month from moving to the sacramento area and want to be part of an aquarium club. How did you join?

 

[FreshSaltyGuy]

Welcome to the salty side,
I hope I'm not thread jacking here but I am a month from moving to the sacramento area and want to be part of an aquarium club. How did you join?

Hey send me a PM I can help you with all the info you need

 

[FreshSaltyGuy]

Ok, definitely do the water change, but I’d also recommend lowering your salinity to 1.027 max (try to keep it between 1.025-1.027). If it’s 40 gallons, I would add about 16-32 oz of rodi water every 4-6 hours till your salinity is around 1.025.

after that I would look at getting some lanthinum chloride (phosphate rx), and dose that within the sump of your tank (drip it into your filter socks or filter floss that acts as the mechanical filtration for the return water from the tank. I would dose the phosphate rx at a rate of 6 drops on the first day, then the next day make sure your phosphates haven’t dropped by more than 0.2ppm (if it has, drop your dosage to half, if it only lowered the phosphate by less than 0.05ppm, then double the dosage). Dose the lanthanum daily until your phosphates are below 0.08 (0.03 is ideal, but will be difficult to maintain with a 40 gallon tank).

as and alternate to the lanthanum, you can continue to do 5-10 gallon water changes daily until your phosphate is under 0.08, but, with the water changes you will be lowering your nitrates as well.

Is there a specific brank Phosphate RX I should use?

I found this on Amazon-
But I don't think it's correct?

Thanks!

 

[RSNJReef]

Yes that’s the one I use (the blue life phosphate rx). It comes exactly as shown in the pic with a dropper bottle. The key to using it correctly is you want to add the drops directly into your mechanical filtration area (if you’re using filter floss, drop it into the wettest area of the filter floss, or if you are using a fleece roller, drop it into the water inside the fleece roller.

for your first dosage , add only enough to drop your phosphate by 0.1-0.2, no more than that, then 24 hours later check your phosphate and then dose again accordingly. Always go slow each day and don’t drop your phosphate by more than 0.2 or else you’ll shock sensitive corals. For very sensitive corals, you wouldn’t want to drop it by more than 0.1 ppm per day.

 

[FreshSaltyGuy]

Yes that’s the one I use (the blue life phosphate rx). It comes exactly as shown in the pic with a dropper bottle. The key to using it correctly is you want to add the drops directly into your mechanical filtration area (if you’re using filter floss, drop it into the wettest area of the filter floss, or if you are using a fleece roller, drop it into the water inside the fleece roller.

for your first dosage , add only enough to drop your phosphate by 0.1-0.2, no more than that, then 24 hours later check your phosphate and then dose again accordingly. Always go slow each day and don’t drop your phosphate by more than 0.2 or else you’ll shock sensitive corals. For very sensitive corals, you wouldn’t want to drop it by more than 0.1 ppm per day.

Sounds good thank you for the help.

 

[RSNJReef]

No worries man. I was pretty much where you are 8-9 years ago, like a lot of the guys on here. Anything we can do to help, just keep asking and people will jump in as long as they see the thread. Keep us posted on how the tank goes man, I’m interested in what it becomes.

 

[RSNJReef]

Hey FreshSaltyGuy, just wanted to see how you’re doing with the tank. How’s it coming along?

 

[FreshSaltyGuy]

Hey FreshSaltyGuy, just wanted to see how you’re doing with the tank. How’s it coming along?

Things have been stable so been working on not stressing. My Phosphates are still higher but lower than what they were around .36 now still very high but you'd be surprised how nice everything is looking. I may eventually get to the Phos RX but trying to see what works still without chemicals.
On the good side my RBTA SPLIT!! I now have 2 and will wait for it to split on e more and then will start the pay it forwards.
I appreciate all of you and the help and guidance you've all given. You have all made it easier for sure to the point where I have this fever of wanting to get a 200+ gallon tank so I've been holding my inner jekyll in lol....though I don''t
know how much longer.

Thank you for checking in!

 

[RSNJReef]

Lol, yeah, welcome to reef life (I’ve changed tanks every 3 years at this point). Glad everything’s doing ok and great news on the BTA. Keep it up man!!!