View Full Version : first coral, is this good or bad?
DylanE
08/17/2006, 10:15 PM
two days ago i dropped in my first coral, a green ricordea mushroom, since i only have the 64W aquapod. today i noticed that a few of the polyps have fallen off and under where they were looks like budding polyps. my theory is that maby some of the polyps died off or something during shipping and that it has ditched them and is growing new ones to replace. any idea if thats right or not? im afraid i dont have a calcium test, but the salt i use is instant ocean reef crystals, which says it has the nesseccary calcium.
Avast Marine
08/17/2006, 10:19 PM
What test kits do you have? And what do they read?
DylanE
08/17/2006, 10:21 PM
ammonia=0 nitrites=0 nitrates >30 ppm alk=8.5 ph=8.1
Avast Marine
08/17/2006, 10:30 PM
Shrooms are funny sometimes. Give it a few days. Since it is your first coral you are probably staring at it too much and overthinking it.
nmprisons
08/17/2006, 10:30 PM
your nitrates are pretty darn high ... i would do 3 things. first, water changes to get that down to a managable number (less then 10ppm, but 0 hopefully) and second, try and figure out why they are so high (overfeeding, poor source water, note enough live rock, etc.)
DylanE
08/17/2006, 10:32 PM
well the test only goes down to >30 ppm...
nmprisons
08/17/2006, 10:33 PM
i would get a new test that is designed for reef tanks (the one from red sea indicates 0, 5, 10, etc.)
DylanE
08/17/2006, 10:54 PM
yeah, i think im guna make a run to my LFS tommaro for that and a cal. test.
DylanE
08/17/2006, 10:59 PM
i just went up and checked on it and under my moon lights it appears to glow in the dark...im guessing its probally happy then?
IslandCrow
08/17/2006, 11:09 PM
You may want to give a little more info on your tank. Specifically, how long has it been up and running and what type of filtration do you have (protein skimmer, pounds of live rock, external bio-filtration, etc.). Those nitrates are a bit high. I just got my first ricordia about a month ago, and my tank's been up for a little while, so I'm not entirely sure how hardy they are in a less stable tank. I wouldn't worry too much about your calcium. It isn't as important for soft corals. My mushrooms and leathers seemed to do just fine using IO and no calcium supplements. When I brought my calcium levels up, I really didn't see any noticable changes in their growth. Excessive nitrates can definitely be a killer, though. Check out the stickies in the Reef Chemistry forum. I'm pretty sure there's an article in there about ways to lower your nitrates.
DylanE
08/17/2006, 11:22 PM
well its a 24g aquapod with 45 pounds of liverock. i have a HOB filter and a the stock AP filter, but i took out the sponge and put in liverock rubble. i have two powerheads each at about 300gph. i put in the rock about 6 weeks ago, and after 4 put in my cleaning crew and have been adding since then and currently have 3 featherdusters a false perc a royal gramma and a firefish. im actaully not sure on the nitrates, it just shows up as the lowest possible number on the test. ill go out tommaro and get a more exact test (i.e. one not from petco). i run the tank at a constant 79 with very little fluxuation.
kau_cinta_ku
08/18/2006, 02:06 AM
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7962631#post7962631 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by nmprisons
your nitrates are pretty darn high ... i would do 3 things. first, water changes to get that down to a managable number (less then 10ppm, but 0 hopefully) and second, try and figure out why they are so high (overfeeding, poor source water, note enough live rock, etc.)
i am almost positve the nitrates isn't the cause of his shroom prob. as my tank has 40ppm of nitrates and everything grows much faster and look much better then when my nitrates are at 0
which is why i leave them there but i also don't have sps or anemones in the tank.
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