Some general questions about equipment/salt/etc

[IHaveADegreeInMarineBioBut]

I'm kind of running on early 2010s practices of running a saltwater tank and I know things have changed; I've also never been this seriously into keeping corals. It would be greatly appreciated to have some recommendations:

 

1. What salt do you use? 

-Right now, I'm using Instant Ocean (Purple bag), but should I switch over to the Instant Ocean Reef (Orange bag)?

 

2. What is a good coral dip?

-And is there any home remedy solution that could be made from peroxide or something?

 

3. Frag glue?

-My urchin keeps making a mess.

 

3. How to combat GHA after adding a new light?

-I am still figuring out the photoperiod. The growth isn't HORRIBLE, but I definitely want to tackle it now. I don't have a large clean up crew and wanted to pick up some more snails. But how should I be treating it?

 

4. What is a good test kit?

-I've really been meaning to pick one up but just haven't. I've been using the API saltwater kit, but it 'expired' in 2015... oops.

 

5. I don't think this should be too much of a concern, but how do I know if I'm overcrowding a rock with coral? Especially if the frags are small.

-Right now, I only have 3 frags in the tank, but I do want to add just a couple more.

 

Thank you so much!!!

[FISHnChix]

1. I use fritz rpm but will be switching back to red seas blue bucket. The. consensus is choose a salt that has the parameters you want to keep and stick with it. IO is a good salt and people have been using it for years, imo reef crystals has too high of alkalinity . Takes too long to explain but there is a time when your corals can grow so rapidly that if your not dosing 2 part that those higher level salts serve a purpose..😉

 

2.if you want to use a home remedy for coral dip a lot of people use (I know it sounds crazy but Google it) a bayer pesticide mixture... 

 

3. Superglue gel works great. If you really want it to stick add the gel to the frag , then 2 part expoy,  then gel again  , then stick the frag on the rock

 

3 b??😉😉. There are lots of good tests kits. The main you will want now are . Calcium,  alkalinity, magnesium,  niatate,  phosphate.  Red sea is great but a little pricey, salfert is a good too and cheaper, and if you dont use hanna ulr for phosphate then it's really a waste of time imo 😊

 

4.this is a while other thread that involves tons of questions like. Water change schedule,  feeding, bio load, cuc, photoperiod, tank params including phos , types of filtration etc

 

5.this is all about research.  Look at the corals you have and corals you want. Main thing is to research which corals get along and place them around each other. Look up and see how long their sweepers are and take that into account. Dont forget about growth, leave room for them to grow..

 

 

Keep doing research and dont forget about the search function. New threads are great (and a good way to meet our fellow nano reefers🤙)but you only get a few views of those who choose to respond  . Most of these questions have been answered many times. If you also search for them you will see tons responses from a wider audience.  Stuff doesnt change that much 😊..Good luck.  Happy reefing!

[Clown79]

1. I use red sea blue bucket

 

2.  Coral RX or similar brand sold here. Mostly natural ingredients. 

 

3. I use gel super glue or polyp lab glue. As long as it's only ingredients is cyanoacrylate, it's safe.

 

3. I like hanna for phos and alk. 

 

I rarely test ca anymore but use api, salifert, or red sea.

 

Nitrate I use api or salifert

 

4. That's needs a lot of of questions and answers. 

 

5. All depends on the corals, its growth rate, warfare style, its needs etc

 

[IHaveADegreeInMarineBioBut]

Yes! 3(b) haha. My bad.

 

Thank you very much for taking the time to answer. I, admittedly, have not searched the forums as best as I can; I was just kind of rapid-firing whatever questions came to mind. This has given me even more to research.

 

Thank you again. 

[FISHnChix]

27 minutes ago, IHaveADegreeInMarineBioBut said:

Yes! 3(b) haha. My bad.

 

Thank you very much for taking the time to answer. I, admittedly, have not searched the forums as best as I can; I was just kind of rapid-firing whatever questions came to mind. This has given me even more to research.

 

Thank you again. 

Hey now it's totally ok to post the same questions we all do it☺. I was just saying that even though you get responses cm keeps all these old posts open bc there is tons of information in here. Personally I like to post questions and double check them against older posts just for more input... good stuff in here.. 🤙

[Joboo]

1. What salt do you use? 

-Reef Crystals.. throughout my 25 years in the hobby I've tried  few.Always go back to RC

 

2. What is a good coral dip?

-Not sure about this. When I cared for coral I never used it

 

3. Frag glue?

-Super Glue Gel

 

3. How to combat GHA after adding a new light?

-Hard to say. Sometimes in new tanks you just have to wait it out. But, when all else fails a Sea Hare will take care of it. Unfortunately they don't last long since they end up starving. Probably best to give back to LFS when you have it under control.

 

4. What is a good test kit?

-Salifert seems to be the best

 

5. I don't think this should be too much of a concern, but how do I know if I'm overcrowding a rock with coral? Especially if the frags are small.

-hard to say when you first add frags. And will be a good problem to have when your corals are growing like weeds! But when you do have the space problem you can always harvest, move/relocate corals.

[mcarroll]

On 12/28/2019 at 10:10 AM, IHaveADegreeInMarineBioBut said:

1. What salt do you use? 

-Right now, I'm using Instant Ocean (Purple bag), but should I switch over to the Instant Ocean Reef (Orange bag)?

You're fine.

 

On 12/29/2019 at 6:22 PM, Joboo said:

2. What is a good coral dip?

-Not sure about this. When I cared for coral I never used it

None.  Be hyper-selective and observant before bringing anything into your tank instead of being lazy up front and then being over-reliant on a dip that's as likely to hurt or be useless as it is to be a help.  Use a hand lens or jewler's loupe to examine frags before buying when possible if you're worried at all about the source. 

 

I'd hesitate to buy from someone that didn't let me examine first if I asked nicely....I'm not in as big a hurry as they are if that's the case so they'd be free to keep their coral and I'd keep my cash. 

 

But if you just can't examine before purchase for some reason, at minimum examine after purchase but before placing in-tank.  If you find anything then you can decide whether to dip or not, and what is the most appropriate dip for that.  (There is no universal dip....another trap I would take care not to fall into....our hobby loves magic bullets, but they don't really exist.)

 

On 12/28/2019 at 10:10 AM, IHaveADegreeInMarineBioBut said:

3. Frag glue?

-My urchin keeps making a mess.

Replace the urchin -- they mostly eat coralline and cause problems like this.   

 

Gel superglue is the holdfast answer.  (e.g.Seachems is excellent.  Others are out there too.)

 

Tunze also offers a nice set of glue options....one is like a gum/paste that stays a little flexible (unlike epoxy, which they also offer) and they also have superglue, but I haven't tried it yet.

 

On 12/28/2019 at 10:10 AM, IHaveADegreeInMarineBioBut said:

3. How to combat GHA after adding a new light?

-I am still figuring out the photoperiod. The growth isn't HORRIBLE, but I definitely want to tackle it now. I don't have a large clean up crew and wanted to pick up some more snails. But how should I be treating it?

Hand pulling to clean areas that have grown up.  Adding only herbivorous snails if your cleaned areas grow back.  Add only a few snails a a time with time in between as suggested until you get control.   You can have (up to) A LOT of snails, so be conservative but persistent with your additions while you're getting control.   Do not be lazy.....remember that you're the #1 member of your cleanup crew.

 

On 12/28/2019 at 10:10 AM, IHaveADegreeInMarineBioBut said:

4. What is a good test kit?

API is fine for most things. 

 

Salifert is more or less the standard.  Excellent.

 

Red Sea's new line seems comparable to Salifert, but some of Salifert's kits are a little simpler to use IMO.  If Red Sea was all I had locally available (ie no Salifert), I'd use em.

 

Hanna Instruments digital meters are excellent for some things too...mandatory if you're color blind....they offer meters for ca, alk, phosphates, pH and maybe one or two others.  They are all solid testers and they all work well.  The Ca meter of their product line is very hard to used compared to the others.  All of them are more complicated than the non-digital tests above.  Folks who shoot for "ultra low nutrients" like the phosphate meter in particular becuase low phosphate levels produce results in the ordinary test kits that are very hard to interpret:  e.g. "Is that very light blue?  Or is it very, very light blue?" The digital tester will make that determination much more easily than our eyeballs.  BUT do not fall into the trap of shooting for "ultra low nutrients".  You don't need their ultra low range meter as a result either, the regular one is fine.  (And it's possible to enhance the ordinary kits so they're more readable at low levels.)

 

On 12/28/2019 at 10:10 AM, IHaveADegreeInMarineBioBut said:

5. I don't think this should be too much of a concern, but how do I know if I'm overcrowding a rock with coral? Especially if the frags are small.

-Right now, I only have 3 frags in the tank, but I do want to add just a couple more.

Depends strongly on the types of coral we're talking about.

 

Can you be more specific?