Coral placement help!?

[Brock9999]

Was wondering if any one could give me advice on where to put these corals I just ordered

[Brock9999]

 This is my tank

[j.falk]

Wouldn't it have been wiser to start with a couple of cheap corals first to test the tank to make sure everything is okay?

 

I'd never dump $300 in corals in a new tank...even more so if I didn't know anything about the corals or where to put them.

[Tired]

Everything should go on the sandbed to start, then be moved gradually up the rockwork. Acans and shrooms probably want to stay on the bottom, zoas can go up a bit further. Montipora likes light, but encrusting montipora can be very invasive, so you'll want to consider placing it on the back wall instead of the rocks. 

 

Starting slower would probably have been a good idea, especially since the tank looks VERY new. But, if the corals are coming in anyway, you should read up on them (fast) and get some good ideas of what they like. 

 

What are your parameters? When was the tank started? Dry rock, I assume? 

[Brock9999]

On 9/26/2020 at 7:21 AM, j.falk said:

Wouldn't it have been wiser to start with a couple of cheap corals first to test the tank to make sure everything is okay?

 

I'd never dump $300 in corals in a new tank...even more so if I didn't know anything about the corals or where to put them.

It wasn’t 300 after I got a promo code from TRSC it was $250 ($250Free shipping at TRSC) after promo I have only been in the hobby for about 3 months and I did do some research into what I was buying my dad was really into the hobby a couple years back before a hurricane in Florida put the power out for a week and crashed his 55 gallon reef tank so I do have some help but I only spent that much because at my local fish store (top shelf aquatics) all the coral is twice the price and my dad has been going thru trsc for years

[Brock9999]

3 hours ago, Tired said:

Everything should go on the sandbed to start, then be moved gradually up the rockwork. Acans and shrooms probably want to stay on the bottom, zoas can go up a bit further. Montipora likes light, but encrusting montipora can be very invasive, so you'll want to consider placing it on the back wall instead of the rocks. 

 

Starting slower would probably have been a good idea, especially since the tank looks VERY new. But, if the corals are coming in anyway, you should read up on them (fast) and get some good ideas of what they like. 

 

What are your parameters? When was the tank started? Dry rock, I assume? 

the tank was started 3 months ago  I added more rock to my scape about 2 weeks ago and started with dry rock besides the piece in the middle  added copepods and phyto and bacteria at the beginning and a 3 weeks ago I added coralline algae and it’s already showing my parameters are 0 Nitrate, 0 phosphate, 11.8 dkh, salinity 1.024, 400ppm calcium, 0 ammonia, 8.1ph and have been consistent in the past weeks 

[Tired]

The coraline and the 0 ammonia is good, but you should test your nitrites. Also, your nutrients being zero is a very bad thing. Corals need nitrate to be healthy and grow, and they need phosphate to live. The most effective way to get those up is to dose them. If there are any animals in the tank, you could feed those more. 

 

...actually, now that I think of it, how did you cycle the tank? Have you been adding any ammonia sources? Because if not, lack of ammonia does not remotely mean that the tank is cycled.

 

And I don't believe the comment about how much you spent was about that exact amount of money. You have spent a fair bit of money on quite a few corals, for a tank that very possibly won't be able to support them well. The ideal thing to do would have been to buy something inexpensive from a local place, and see if that did well. That way, if it didn't do well, you would only have to worry about one coral. Now, if these don't do well, you have to worry about a lot of corals. The potential for loss is greater. 

[Brock9999]

5 minutes ago, Tired said:

The coraline and the 0 ammonia is good, but you should test your nitrites. Also, your nutrients being zero is a very bad thing. Corals need nitrate to be healthy and grow, and they need phosphate to live. The most effective way to get those up is to dose them. If there are any animals in the tank, you could feed those more. 

 

...actually, now that I think of it, how did you cycle the tank? Have you been adding any ammonia sources? Because if not, lack of ammonia does not remotely mean that the tank is cycled.

 

And I don't believe the comment about how much you spent was about that exact amount of money. You have spent a fair bit of money on quite a few corals, for a tank that very possibly won't be able to support them well. The ideal thing to do would have been to buy something inexpensive from a local place, and see if that did well. That way, if it didn't do well, you would only have to worry about one coral. Now, if these don't do well, you have to worry about a lot of corals. The potential for loss is greater. 

My nitrite is zero and my bad I get those two mixed up  my nitrate is 10ppm more or less and I cycled the tank with 2 clownfish after I put bacteria in the tank and let it run for about 3 days (I know I’m not good to cycle with fish) and I completely understand I did do research but not enough was an impulse buy but I’m very hands on person I throw my self into solving Problems and love the reward of finding out new solutions I don’t expect them all to get out alive but I surely want them too 

[Tired]

10ppm nitrate is good, 0 phosphate is very bad. Feed those clowns more heavily- as much good food as they'll eat, at least once a day. You need that phosphate up before the corals go into the tank. 

 

Expect a lot of algae. You're starting with dry rock, so you're going to get a pretty whopping ugly stage. Don't scrub your rocks, don't try to starve it out, don't add Vibrant or anything like that. Pull out long hair algae by hand, add appropriate cleanup crew (try ReefCleaners for recommendations, good prices, and great variety), and ride it out. Just keep it off the corals so it doesn't smother them, and it's a purely aesthetic issue that will eventually go away on its own. 

 

In reefkeeping, it's good to figure out potential problems ahead of time, then allow for them beforehand. The thing is, corals can actually take awhile to start reacting badly to something being amiss, and can then take a long time to recover even if conditions are made perfect. So, by the time the corals let you know something is going on, they're already damaged badly enough that they might just die no matter what. 

Also, don't take that approach with fish. It's OK (but not a good idea) to take with corals, because they're about as conscious as plants. There's no animal welfare issues with them. Fish, though, should never be put in an environment where you expect them to possibly die. Nor should crustaceans, which quite possibly feel pain. 

[Brock9999]

26 minutes ago, Tired said:

10ppm nitrate is good, 0 phosphate is very bad. Feed those clowns more heavily- as much good food as they'll eat, at least once a day. You need that phosphate up before the corals go into the tank. 

 

Expect a lot of algae. You're starting with dry rock, so you're going to get a pretty whopping ugly stage. Don't scrub your rocks, don't try to starve it out, don't add Vibrant or anything like that. Pull out long hair algae by hand, add appropriate cleanup crew (try ReefCleaners for recommendations, good prices, and great variety), and ride it out. Just keep it off the corals so it doesn't smother them, and it's a purely aesthetic issue that will eventually go away on its own. 

 

In reefkeeping, it's good to figure out potential problems ahead of time, then allow for them beforehand. The thing is, corals can actually take awhile to start reacting badly to something being amiss, and can then take a long time to recover even if conditions are made perfect. So, by the time the corals let you know something is going on, they're already damaged badly enough that they might just die no matter what. 

Also, don't take that approach with fish. It's OK (but not a good idea) to take with corals, because they're about as conscious as plants. There's no animal welfare issues with them. Fish, though, should never be put in an environment where you expect them to possibly die. Nor should crustaceans, which quite possibly feel pain. 

Thanks really appreciate the detail and the advice probably going to be the most useful advice I’ve gotten 

[Brock9999]

3 hours ago, Brock9999 said:

Thanks really appreciate the detail and the advice probably going to be the most useful advice I’ve gotten 

I bought this algae eater pack from reef cleaner and it says for a 10 gallon but looks a little much should I give some to friends 

[Tired]

ReefCleaners is very good at what they do. You shouldn't get cleanup crew now, they'll starve. Wait until the ugly stage starts up, then you can add cleanup crew. If you think that sounds like too many, you can always get fewer, but it seems reasonable for a tank with lots of algae going on. 

 

Edit: just noticed you said you already bought them. In that case, I would see if you can have a friend hold onto all of them for you, then get them back when your tank has more algae. The hermits, nassarius, and emerald crab will be OK if you directly target-feed them, the rest need algae. 

[j.falk]

You remind me of myself when I was young and naive.  I learned a lot of lessons the hard way because I thought I would just figure it out as I went along.

 

A lot of things died unnecessarily because of my ignorance and I wasted a lot of money because I wasn't willing to take the time to learn before attempting to keep something. These days you kids have the internet and vast information at your fingertips...back then all we had were a few books on saltwater and trial and error.  You have all the means of success at your fingertips, yet you aren't utilizing them...

 

[Brock9999]

On 9/29/2020 at 10:43 AM, Tired said:

ReefCleaners is very good at what they do. You shouldn't get cleanup crew now, they'll starve. Wait until the ugly stage starts up, then you can add cleanup crew. If you think that sounds like too many, you can always get fewer, but it seems reasonable for a tank with lots of algae going on. 

 

Edit: just noticed you said you already bought them. In that case, I would see if you can have a friend hold onto all of them for you, then get them back when your tank has more algae. The hermits, nassarius, and emerald crab will be OK if you directly target-feed them, the rest need algae. 

Yeah I forgot to say I have a friend who has a tank that can take some If there not needed 

[Brock9999]

Everything looks good beside my clowns got in a fight over the elegance and now has a white dot on his eye any tips on what to do can’t find a lot of info online about it 

[Tired]

Keep the water clean, continue to feed them as normal, and watch for any major signs of distress.

 

Everything looks good! All puffed up and nice. But I can now see that you have two hammer corals there, not candycane corals. Those have long sweepers, and are often very aggressive. Make sure nothing is downstream of them for at least 5-6 inches. 

[Brock9999]

5 hours ago, Tired said:

Keep the water clean, continue to feed them as normal, and watch for any major signs of distress.

 

Everything looks good! All puffed up and nice. But I can now see that you have two hammer corals there, not candycane corals. Those have long sweepers, and are often very aggressive. Make sure nothing is downstream of them for at least 5-6 inches. 

What will the candy cane coral do 

[Tired]

Whoops, got this one mixed up with another thread. The thing about candycane corals was suited to another thread, you don't have those. The frogspawn and hammer will very possibly attack each other, and almost definitely attack anything downstream of them. They're quite aggressive and can get fairly large. In other words, don't put those two next to each other.

[Brock9999]

On 10/1/2020 at 12:56 AM, Tired said:

Whoops, got this one mixed up with another thread. The thing about candycane corals was suited to another thread, you don't have those. The frogspawn and hammer will very possibly attack each other, and almost definitely attack anything downstream of them. They're quite aggressive and can get fairly large. In other words, don't put those two next to each other.

I thought they got along I’ve actually seen a number of videos saying they’ll do well 

[Tired]

Euphyllia corals of different types will sometimes get along with each other, for some amount of time. Eventually, though, a mixed-type garden will get riled up enough to attack each other. It's best not to mix different species of aggressive LPS in the same area- put them where their sweepers won't reach each other.