newbie here

[tara_karan]

Thought I would say hi to everyone and that I am a newbie with a 1 month old 90 gallon Reef tank. I don't know how to type up all the "specs" of it but it does have MH and an aqua medic skimmer. The light hood is from PFO. So far I have a blackcap basslet, pygmy angel, emerald crabs, conches, hermit crabs, 3 green chromis, 2 ocellaris clowns and some snails. One of my fish has already died (royal gramma). All water tests are great!
I also have a mushroom coral. Wondering which corals would be good starter ones? Starting to develop coralline algae.
Thanks.

[dp122098]

How much live rock do you have in there? Can you post pics so we can all see?

[tara_karan]

I will try sometime to post pix but I am not the brightest with that. I know to use photobucket. I do have a digital camera. I have about 90 lb of live rock that was already cured when I started. I had a brief episode of crappy aiptasia but that is gone thanks to kalk and peppermint shrimp. I saw a few bristle worms though! :mad:

[OCCFan023]

I dont want you to take this the wrong way but I would say give it a little time before adding more corals. It may just be the conservative side of me speaking but personally I like to take things slow and let the tank situate before starting to fully stock.

How are all your fish doing so far? What king of other equipment do you have running (sump, powerheads for the LR, ect.)

glad that your tank is doing well

[sir_dudeguy]

bristle worms are good! dont worry about them. They're part of the cleanup and everything. If they are indeed bristleworms, that is...

as far as adding corals slowly...how old is the tank? since you got all cured rock, you wouldnt see any amonia/nitrite spikes really, unless there was a lot of die off from when you got it to your tank. So imo, the cycle is instantly done (by instantly i mean wait a few days or a week to make sure) and then you're ready for fish and corals...however i do think that if the tank is 1 month old like your sig says, then you added fish too fast, which may have killed the grama...i recomend only adding 1 fish, or a pair/group (like the clowns would be a pair, chromis would be a group) at a time...and i'd say to wait about 3 weeks in between each..maybe less..you have to constantly test to make sure everything is fine tho.

for corals tho, i dont really think they're like the fish..imo, you can add quite a few at a time.

some good starter ones would be

xenia
pretty much any polyp
zoos

just not an anemone or anything liek that.

go to liveaquaria.com and look thru their corals for one you like...post here to ask about it.

hth
mike

[tara_karan]

more on my tank
I am not offended about going slow on stocking as I have learned that so far. I have a 20 gallon aquarium as the sump and inside is filter material (charcoal and that blue stuff). I have quite a few powerheads (I have to look up the brands) and also have pvc pipe on the bottom with holes drilled hooked up to a powerhead for increased flow which I have heard is good for corals.
I have a kalk reactor collecting dust as it needs some parts but I know that I don't need to use it yet anyway.


__________________

[tara_karan]

The water quality has been checked weekly and has been looking stable. The gramma got bitten in the tail by one of the clowns (I think) and did not fare well. All the rest of the livestock look fine.
Thanks for the help with this.

[Sk8r]

Try a candycane coral: they're tough, multiply fast, and have interesting habits. It should survive most anything a reasonably careful newbie can do...

I do advise when you get any coral, get 3 kits: alkalinity, calcium, and magnesium, in that order of importance. I use Salifert. Get a jar of buffer, get a jar of calcium---I use Kent. Never mind a magnesium supplement, just do your weekly 10% water change. Get a notebook, and write in it daily for a while: test your temperature [run 2 thermometers: never trust just one], salinity [get a refractometer], and alk, cal, and mg. Keep your alk at 8.3-9, cal at 400-420, and mg. s/b 3x Cal. When you can maintain that water balance without effort, and you can skip a day between tests and have it remain stable, then is time to get your first coral, and it will thrive.

[sir_dudeguy]

ya i agree on the candycanes..forgot about those.

but why add buffer and calcium if the levels are fine already? (or did she already say they were bad? didnt see...)

[Fmellish]

I've had a candy cane coral for 8 months that hasn't grown at all.

My SPS corals and other LPS corals are all growing, but my candy cane coral has not changed one iota.

I personally would not recommend a candy cane coral. While they are easy to keep they do not ever grow and they do not appear to be an encrusting coral.

Josh

[tara_karan]

Here are the latest tests:
temp: 77 F
Sp Gravity: 1.023
pH= 8.0 (have had a terrible time raising it, never has been lower)
KH= 9
NO2= <0.3 mg/L
NO3= 0 ppm
Calcium 360 ppm (adding purple up)
NH3= 0 mg/l

Using salifert and tetra test kits.

[sir_dudeguy]

tests look ok

temps good
sg would be better at 1.025
pH is ok...try taking the hood off the tank and getting more surface agitation to get gas exchange..that will help raise pH.
not sure on KH...
calcium i think is good in the 400 range? idk...might be wrong.
and is NO2 nitrates? idk..i just call them nitrates...i dont know all the "scientific" names lol

[tara_karan]

Yes the nitrates and nitrites (NO3 and NO2) are 0. The calcium is not high enough. I have the top off the aquarium so agitation is not helping with raising the pH. It is an open top. I can raise the sp gravity no problem. The carbonate hardness (KH) I thought was in the okay range.