Blog Comments

Galaxea...thanks! Yes, reading up on this coral it sounds like it is poorly placed in my tank. Its in an area that I plan to fill in with nicer "show piece" corals. So far, I haven't seen it sending out tentacles at night but I'm going to have to look into moving it. Hopefully I can figure out how to do this...at least it is on an easily moveable rock so maybe I can take a tile saw and slice that chunk off. Then I could isolate it on one of the back ledges of my rock wall. This is a pic from when I first moved the rock to my tank and the polyps were still closed



I have three types of zooanthids that came with my rock. These orange-centered polyps are acting healthiest.



Then I've got the ones that are in the back ground of the Galaxea photo. Finally, there are some smaller polyps that have only recently begun to open up, but are still mostly closed so I haven't gotten a good look at them.

The last pic looks like a frilly mushroom. Be careful because it will spread and try to take over. I also see some attractive zoanthids to the left.

Depending on how much of this Foam, and Lacerock material you used. You could have some issue with that. adding a few pieces of virgin material would be no big deal, but adding say 25% and up of new material compared to your rock volume could give you some issues.

Your opinion is sound - I've already switched everything but NH3, NO2 and pH to Salifert!

Everything but NO3 looked okay to good tonight. NO3 is still around 25ppm. I have a slow RO unit so I'm stockpiling water for the weekend to do a single 40g change. That is about 25% of total water volume so it will only drop NO3 a little. I could temporarily take out another ~30g from the sump (that I replinish slowly next week) to drop NO3 more. What do you think? Good strategy or potentially too drastic of a change in water quality?

If I were you, Id wait to set up the reactor. Regular WC's should be adequate in keeping up with demands for a quite a while. When you start adding SPS corals you'll start to need it.
Nitrates at 25-50 isnt OK for most corals. Id assume at this point that its the end of the initial cycle. Nothing a big WC cant take care of.

Also I see your starting, but IMO you should get rid of the red sea test kit ASAP. Switch to Salifert or Elos.

Mushroom corals will do that anytime they're unhappy. Touch them inadvertantly, pffft, move their rock to try and reaquascape, pfft. It's more of a defensive action than a waste removal thing... Good on you for noticing the small changes that take place in your tank, though.

Just checking, didn't want you to start off on the wrong foot.... MMoore0324 is right, I've seen some of mine do this before.

Here is a picture of the coral this morning. It is on the right side of the photo and is a different species than the mushrooms on the left because it has a bumpier texture (Ricordia-like). It was lying flat prior to the white guts popping out.

Good thought, but I'm using three thermometers - a digital and two traditional (whatever the red "mercury substitute" is) in different locations and I can feel that the water isn't 80f (I have freshwater discus that like it hot). All thermometers are reading the same temp. Also, I've got one other non-submersible heater (very weak) that I added and it is going like crazy.

Originally Posted by Trido

Looks like you've started with a pretty good set up and are doing your homework. Thats the way to get into reefing.
Ive set up a couple tanks with no noticable cycle. Looks like your numbers were/are pretty stable, so far.

Are you positive the heaters are both wrong as opposed to one temperature monitor?. Some of the less expensive temperature have been known to be wrong right out of the box.

Anyway. good luck

No, it was pure white and mostly receeded soon after the post. This morning I see that the coral looks like it might be trying to move? Rather than laying flat, the disk is now raised up on a stalk that is a little less than a quarter inch. This coral is near the bottom of my tank and my photoperiod is 11.5 hrs (MH and acitinic togther). These corals came with the liverock I bought and were previously in a smaller, shallower tank with T5 bulbs. If you read my previous post then you'll see that none of my water parameters are perfect but they aren't horrible either.

Originally Posted by MMoore0324

Was this substance reddish brown and stringy? If so it was most likely zooxanthellae; which is the symbiotic algae that gives the coral its energy. This can happen due to stress and sometimes from over light exposure. This is a normal phenomena. What is your photo period right now?

Understood - I got A LOT of beginner type corals as hitchhikers on the liverock that I bought from a local reefer's teardown - see my previous blog entry for details. They are in a tank with most of the liverock directly transferred from the previous tank and I'm monitoring daily.

Originally Posted by MeVsTheWorld

Not to bash you, but what are you doing with coral after only being setup for 4 days?

Looks like you've started with a pretty good set up and are doing your homework. Thats the way to get into reefing.
Ive set up a couple tanks with no noticable cycle. Looks like your numbers were/are pretty stable, so far.

Are you positive the heaters are both wrong as opposed to one temperature monitor?. Some of the less expensive temperature have been known to be wrong right out of the box.

Anyway. good luck

Was this substance reddish brown and stringy? If so it was most likely zooxanthellae; which is the symbiotic algae that gives the coral its energy. This can happen due to stress and sometimes from over light exposure. This is a normal phenomena. What is your photo period right now?

Congrats, and I love the snorkel pic....Classic!!!!!

Not to bash you, but what are you doing with coral after only being setup for 4 days?

Congratulations! Even though this isn't the optimal way to start a reef, I think that you are doing an outstanding job! Don't worry so much about the temperature. If the tank is at 74 for a week.. It's ok. Things to watch for is the quick swings of temp. Bring it from 74 to 78-79 via a weeks time.. not all in one day. Good luck with everything and welcome to reefing!

Congratulations ! welcome to the reefing family... let us know if you have any questions. we are always happy to help.