My 90g Almost 2 Years

[Gill again]

Hey just found your thread. Nice tank!
My tank has only been going for weeks so my advice is very limited from experience. I have been sticking with soft corals to begin with for the most part. Most of them feed off of light so care level is easy. Someone else will chime in I am sure but I would think you will need to watch the bio load with a large stock list of fish and corals?

Anyway I wont try to give direction as much as follow along here. Again Nice tank.

[Reeftanks6]

Thanks gill again. Yea i dont want to go to high on my bio-load i only thinking of one more fish or two depending on size of the fish i get.

[Reeftanks6]

Hey guys,

Just got back from LFS. They didnt have much in stock fish wise. But they did have a lot of corals so i decided to garb one. Its a Finger coral or a Kenya Tree i am not totally sure. I will get some pictures when i add it to the tank and when it opens up. What do you guys think?

[Padrino]

Looks like you are off to a good start. I would start with what Maroun C. mentioned. Its pretty much bang on. Getting a refugium establishes is also beneficial as it will later help feed your corals and fish. Like mentioned before it would be cheaper to run everything under the stand but having the luxury of all the room you could ask for in the basement is priceless. Honestly if the tang has been running for two years you should be stable and ready for corals,,,, I remember reading your old threads when you were dealing with the ICH. Take it slow and monitor each coral as time goes on. Also i find the best thing to do is surf reef central and read a lot of the build threads, TOTM are great but on a larger scale. i would stick to build threads that way you get a good idea whats working for others.

Good luck!

[Reeftanks6]

Originally Posted by Padrino

Looks like you are off to a good start. I would start with what Maroun C. mentioned. Its pretty much bang on. Getting a refugium establishes is also beneficial as it will later help feed your corals and fish. Like mentioned before it would be cheaper to run everything under the stand but having the luxury of all the room you could ask for in the basement is priceless. Honestly if the tang has been running for two years you should be stable and ready for corals,,,, I remember reading your old threads when you were dealing with the ICH. Take it slow and monitor each coral as time goes on. Also i find the best thing to do is surf reef central and read a lot of the build threads, TOTM are great but on a larger scale. i would stick to build threads that way you get a good idea whats working for others.

Good luck!

Thanks Padrino. Yes i am going to listen to everybody that contributes to the thread. Maroun C. and you have gave me great advice. I do have a well established fuge downstairs with everything. I mean the tank has been up for 2 years so i thought i should be pretty ready for corals but i wanted to do some research since i dont have much experince. I am going to post some pictures of my new coral i just recently bought. Hope i can keep it thriving. Padrio i do look at a lot of peoples threads and it has helped me a lot i will just have to keep doing. Stay on the thread!

Thanks

[Reeftanks6]

Here are the pictures of the new coral
[IMG][/IMG]
[IMG][/IMG]

I decided to now start taking pictures about every month of the whole tank to show progress of things every month. What do you think?

[sunnyday]

Originally Posted by Reeftanks6

Here are the pictures of the new coral
[IMG][/IMG]
[IMG][/IMG]

I decided to now start taking pictures about every month of the whole tank to show progress of things every month. What do you think?

Looks good so far, reeftanks.
Where in PA are you? Anywhere near north east MD? I ask because if you are nearby I will hook you up with some freebies.

Sunny

[Phillybean]

My biggest advice is plan for the future. Decide what type of Reef you want and make it happen. I decided I just wanted a full reef and now that my SPS fill that, my LPS have killed 2 corals, and I am pruning Xenia on a weekly basis. Be careful what you add to the tank. Plan for long term.

[melev]

With your tank established for two years, this will help in going a long way to keeping new corals happy. Things to consider:

Every coral you get needs to be put in quarantine, and dipped then inspected closely before being introduced into your reef. The last thing you want to do is add a pest that will eat the corals you love to see.

Water parameters are very important for SPS corals, so you are going to need test kits that can measure the various types we watch:

Test Type ---- Recommended Parameters matching Natural Sea Water (NSW)
pH 7.9 to 8.3 - this varies from tank to tank; testing with a Pinpoint Meter is best
Temperature 78° F to 84° F - average reef temperature tends to be 81° F
Alkalinity 8 to 11 dKH -or- 2.86 to 3.89 meq/L
Calcium 390 to 450 ppm
Magnesium 1350 - 1400 ppm (or 3x Calcium levels)
Phosphate .03 ppm - leading cause of nuisance algae in your tank
Ammonia 0 - anything higher is toxic
Nitrite 0 - anything higher is toxic
Nitrate 10 ppm or less - huge water changes bring down nitrates

Flow is critical for corals. You have a couple of powerheads in there now, but may very likely need more.

Compatibility between corals is important too. If you put in known antagonists, coral growth will be dismal. That coral you posted above, what is it? If it is a Sinularia, this is a coral that is toxic to some SPS. If it isn't, no worries. Always try to find out what is incompatible. Or run a species only tank, like acropora sp only. You can't really go wrong with that method. I run a mixed reef, so I run carbon in a Phosban reactor and change it regularly. This helps with the coral toxicity.

Lighting is another area not to short change. What lights do you have now, and how old are the bulbs?

[Reeftanks6]

Originally Posted by Phillybean

My biggest advice is plan for the future. Decide what type of Reef you want and make it happen. I decided I just wanted a full reef and now that my SPS fill that, my LPS have killed 2 corals, and I am pruning Xenia on a weekly basis. Be careful what you add to the tank. Plan for long term.

Thanks Phillybean. I mainly want to do LPS. Why? Because i dont think my T5's will be able to keep my SPS in the best shape. I might be wrong though. Please tell me if i am. I would like to mainly LPS maybe with some SPS if all possible.

[Reeftanks6]

Originally Posted by melev

With your tank established for two years, this will help in going a long way to keeping new corals happy. Things to consider:

Every coral you get needs to be put in quarantine, and dipped then inspected closely before being introduced into your reef. The last thing you want to do is add a pest that will eat the corals you love to see.

Water parameters are very important for SPS corals, so you are going to need test kits that can measure the various types we watch:

Test Type ---- Recommended Parameters matching Natural Sea Water (NSW)
pH 7.9 to 8.3 - this varies from tank to tank; testing with a Pinpoint Meter is best
Temperature 78° F to 84° F - average reef temperature tends to be 81° F
Alkalinity 8 to 11 dKH -or- 2.86 to 3.89 meq/L
Calcium 390 to 450 ppm
Magnesium 1350 - 1400 ppm (or 3x Calcium levels)
Phosphate .03 ppm - leading cause of nuisance algae in your tank
Ammonia 0 - anything higher is toxic
Nitrite 0 - anything higher is toxic
Nitrate 10 ppm or less - huge water changes bring down nitrates

Flow is critical for corals. You have a couple of powerheads in there now, but may very likely need more.

Compatibility between corals is important too. If you put in known antagonists, coral growth will be dismal. That coral you posted above, what is it? If it is a Sinularia, this is a coral that is toxic to some SPS. If it isn't, no worries. Always try to find out what is incompatible. Or run a species only tank, like acropora sp only. You can't really go wrong with that method. I run a mixed reef, so I run carbon in a Phosban reactor and change it regularly. This helps with the coral toxicity.

Lighting is another area not to short change. What lights do you have now, and how old are the bulbs?

Thanks for the response melev. Yea i am going to have to buy some more test kits to really test my water for the calcium and things like that. The flow in my tank is pretty good with those two powerheads. But if i have to change them i will. The coral is a Kenya tree which to my research isnt a Sinularia so thats good. I would like to SPS but i dont think my lights will hold them to the best ability. The fixture is a Nova Extreme T5 bulbs 8x54. The bulbs are about a year old. So i will have to change them soon. If i cant go with the SPS i do like LPS as well so thats good. But from what i seen the SPS are a lot better looking.

[Reeftanks6]

Originally Posted by sunnyday

Looks good so far, reeftanks.
Where in PA are you? Anywhere near north east MD? I ask because if you are nearby I will hook you up with some freebies.

Sunny

Thanks Sunny. I am close to the Philadelphia area. How about you?

[fishybudguy]

sweet post if you came this far then a reef is just around the corner....hopefully i will be doing my 110 build in the next couple of weeks and this helps get me motivated..........good job

[Reeftanks6]

Originally Posted by fishybudguy

sweet post if you came this far then a reef is just around the corner....hopefully i will be doing my 110 build in the next couple of weeks and this helps get me motivated..........good job

Thank you very much. Keep us posted with your build. Hopefully i can help motivate

[sunnyday]

Originally Posted by Reeftanks6

Thanks Sunny. I am close to the Philadelphia area. How about you?

I live just under 30 minutes from the Delaware Memorial Bridge. About an hour from Philly depending on which way you go.

I have some established, hardy/easy sps and softy frags ranging from small to large if you would like to try them. I have duncans that will soon be ready to frag as well. I usually sell them back to my LFS when I get a good stock together but I am in no hurry. I can hold onto them until you are sure of your water chemistry and it is consistent and you've decided on a stocking wish list. Phillybean is right, plan your tank. It will take time and patience but you will be glad you did.

Listen to melev, he is the master.

Need to echo a few of melev's points and add my $0.02 FWIW from my 15+ years of reefing:

Buy a pH meter. Learn how to use it and calibrate it once a month. Hanna makes a halfway decent one for a reasonable amount of money and since it is waterproof it will survive being dropped into the tank/sump.

Buy a refractometer and keep it calibrated. Marine Depot sells a decent budget one for around $40.

Keep Mg and Ca at consistent levels (Mg = 3x Ca). This could take some time to get consistent week by week but worth it 'cause your corals will reward your efforts.

Buy a turkey baster if you haven't already. I "baste" my rockwork every other day and use it to stir my sand once a week. I also use it to keep my sump really clean. Doing this will keep detritus from building up and therefore keeps your nitrates down. It also makes your sand look nice and white.

Don't be lazy with your water changes. Do them faithfully and your corals will reward you.

I don't recall whether I saw an ATO but if you are still topping off manually, now is a good time to automate.

And did I mention to listen to melev. He is the master. Visit his website if you haven't already. You can't help but be inspired. I have seen many TOTM winners show some beautiful tanks just to be taken down a few years later. Then there's melev - consistently great reefing.

Keep us posted and PM me if/when you want some frags.

Sunny

[maroun.c]

You would still be able to have SPS under T5s.
I'm not familiar with T5 fixtures but with 4-5 T5 bulbs with individual reflectors you get decent lighting usually.
As I said I would start with some of the easier SPS and then if these thrive in your tnak then get a few accros and others...

[melev]

With your current lighting, you can do SPS. And Sunny's advice is sound, so if you are able to follow all these pointers, you'll have a pretty tank in the months to come.

[sunnyday]

Originally Posted by melev

With your current lighting, you can do SPS. And Sunny's advice is sound, so if you are able to follow all these pointers, you'll have a pretty tank in the months to come.

Yes, it can be done. I have a NEP 6x54 and ATI bulbs over a 24" tall tank (65g). I grow SPS all over the tank including the sandbed. My 6" derasa clam sits at sandbed level and has grown 1/4" in the last 4 months. My shrooms on the bottom would burn and shrivel up if I didn't shade them. They are the only livestock I have that wasn't thrilled with the T-5 upgrade.

[Reeftanks6]

Originally Posted by sunnyday

I live just under 30 minutes from the Delaware Memorial Bridge. About an hour from Philly depending on which way you go.

I have some established, hardy/easy sps and softy frags ranging from small to large if you would like to try them. I have duncans that will soon be ready to frag as well. I usually sell them back to my LFS when I get a good stock together but I am in no hurry. I can hold onto them until you are sure of your water chemistry and it is consistent and you've decided on a stocking wish list. Phillybean is right, plan your tank. It will take time and patience but you will be glad you did.

Listen to melev, he is the master.

Need to echo a few of melev's points and add my $0.02 FWIW from my 15+ years of reefing:

Buy a pH meter. Learn how to use it and calibrate it once a month. Hanna makes a halfway decent one for a reasonable amount of money and since it is waterproof it will survive being dropped into the tank/sump.

Buy a refractometer and keep it calibrated. Marine Depot sells a decent budget one for around $40.

Keep Mg and Ca at consistent levels (Mg = 3x Ca). This could take some time to get consistent week by week but worth it 'cause your corals will reward your efforts.

Buy a turkey baster if you haven't already. I "baste" my rockwork every other day and use it to stir my sand once a week. I also use it to keep my sump really clean. Doing this will keep detritus from building up and therefore keeps your nitrates down. It also makes your sand look nice and white.

Don't be lazy with your water changes. Do them faithfully and your corals will reward you.

I don't recall whether I saw an ATO but if you are still topping off manually, now is a good time to automate.

And did I mention to listen to melev. He is the master. Visit his website if you haven't already. You can't help but be inspired. I have seen many TOTM winners show some beautiful tanks just to be taken down a few years later. Then there's melev - consistently great reefing.

Keep us posted and PM me if/when you want some frags.

Sunny

Thank you for the response. I will let you know about the coral fragging when i do some testing of my water. I will look into the ph meter and refractometer. I think i really need to get some things to test my water before i do any changes with more corals. I am ears open to all you great reefers and i thank you very much.

[Reeftanks6]

Originally Posted by maroun.c

You would still be able to have SPS under T5s.
I'm not familiar with T5 fixtures but with 4-5 T5 bulbs with individual reflectors you get decent lighting usually.
As I said I would start with some of the easier SPS and then if these thrive in your tnak then get a few accros and others...

Thanks maroun.c. That is good to hear that i could keep sps. Now its just a matter of what i am going to go with a mixed or a mainly LPS or SPS tank. They do have some great power T5's. I will start off with really easy SPS if i do start to go that direction. Thanks maroun.c

[Reeftanks6]

Originally Posted by melev

With your current lighting, you can do SPS. And Sunny's advice is sound, so if you are able to follow all these pointers, you'll have a pretty tank in the months to come.

Thanks melev i am hoping to accomplish this in a couple moths if all possible.

[Reeftanks6]

Originally Posted by sunnyday

Yes, it can be done. I have a NEP 6x54 and ATI bulbs over a 24" tall tank (65g). I grow SPS all over the tank including the sandbed. My 6" derasa clam sits at sandbed level and has grown 1/4" in the last 4 months. My shrooms on the bottom would burn and shrivel up if I didn't shade them. They are the only livestock I have that wasn't thrilled with the T-5 upgrade.

Thanks sunnyday. Great to hear you had success with the T5. Hopefully i can acheive this

[Reeftanks6]

Hey there everyone. This weekend i did just about nothing with the tank. Here in philly we got hit hard with the snow storm. We got like 23 inches or something around there. There was a lot of things to do this weekend especially witht he holiday coming up. Had to go out and shovel some driveways for some money.

But everything is doing great. So far the coral is doing awesome. Polyps are out and everything all the time. Blue throat trigger is also doing great to.

[Reeftanks6]

Hello guys,

Not much going on right know with the tank. But the coral is doing great. Right know it is thriving. I will have to take some new pictures with my new camera i got or xmas.

[Reeftanks6]

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Everything is doing great. I think the coral is starting to grow a little or just really liking the tank. I will update some pictures in a couple of days