A plethora of newbie questions

Willieo101587 · 03-24-2006, 09:48 PM

Hi, I'm William, and I'm pretty new to reefing. By more luck than anything, I've managed to keep two coral alive and growing slowly for a little over a month. They have survived a tank move (55 gal w/ yellow tang, occellaris clownfish, and four blue damsels by the way) and are not yet anchored to any rock despite my best efforts to glue one and let the other one sit in place. I have a tree coral (the scientific name escapes me) and an unidentified sps, and I am trying to use deep sand bed filtration. I have a Prizm Pro Skimmer which I am not using right since my tang, snails and hermit crabs need algae to eat. I have a Current Nova T 5 with 2 regular and 2 actinic lights.

All that said, here come my questions:
What should I use to anchor my corals?
I have been told that stony corals will not work well under this lighting system. Is this true?
Phytoplankton: Yes or no? If so, how much?
The moved aquarium has been up for a week. No visible fatalities, but the nitrate spiked. How long until I can buy more coral?
When should I sart up the skimmer again?

That's all I can think of for now...thanks in advance for any advice you could give me!

ragc · 03-24-2006, 10:53 PM

To attach hard coral and rocks I use the clay-like epoxy they sell at LFSs. You knead it to mix the two parts and then attach the epoxy to the base of the coral by forming it around it, and to the rock by pressing into an irregularity. It sets in five minutes, so plan ahead. It is reef-safe.

I wish I knew enough to help with your other questions, but I am a newbie myself.

Willieo101587 · 03-24-2006, 11:16 PM

I did use that epoxy on my tree coral -- but it fell off in a day or two. The rock I was attaching it to may have had too much debris, but now the tree coral is stuck to a big piece of dried epoxy. I could even leave it there, since it seems to be hanging in there, but I may give it another go tomorrow.

coral reefer · 03-25-2006, 05:17 AM

Welcome to 3reef first of all!
As far as your protein skimmer is concerned, you want to run it almost all the time. Really, the only time I stop my skimmer is to allow my corals to feed on the phyto and zoo plankton I add to the tank. Otherwise it is on constantly!!!!Don't worry about your fish going hungry. They have food to pick on also do you supplement with some kind of frozen food or dried seaweed? That would help(brine shrimp, clam, formula one, prime reef etc.) and for your corals, alittle(rotifers, cyclops, phytoplankton and zooplankton).
Your candy cane coral(caulastrea), zoos, stars, and acro will do ok. The only thing is your Acro may turn brown due to low light intensity. There are a few sps and lps that will live in your tank with subdued lighting. In addition to your candy cane, you may try (Euphylia)hammer,torch and forgspawn, as well as (Pierogyra)Bubble coral. You can grow Montipora Digitata, however without sufficient lighting requirements, your Montipora will turn a brownish color, along with your Acropora.
As for the name of your tree coral-it i probably either Capnella(Kenyon tree coral), Lemnalia or Nephthea. Hopefully you don't have Dendronephthya, as it is very difficult to keep.
good luck and any more questions just ask!

Willieo101587 · 03-25-2006, 12:01 PM

Thanks for the lighting and skimmer info! I have another question about feeding. I've put Seaweed Selects Dried Red Marine Algae from Ocean Nutriton a couple of times primarily for the tang, but he avoids it like the plague. He just eats flake food - which I know can't be great for him - and grazes on the algae in the tank, but the skimmer wipes it all out. Is he spoiled from the natural algae, or is he afraid of the veggie clip I am using, or is this not the right food for him? I know I'm asking a lot of questions here so any leads would be greatly appreciated.

coral reefer · 03-25-2006, 01:53 PM

Shut your protein skimmer off for a hour or two while feeding your fish, inverts and corals. Then start it up again. Maybe try soaking the seaweed in a cup with brine shrimp etc. so the seaweed soaks up the liquid and try feeding that way. May want to try another color of seaweed. There is green, red, brown and purple, which are all very beneficial!!!!!Keep me updated!

telman2010 · 03-25-2006, 05:43 PM

As far as attaching corals to rocks I never used anything except a rubberband. Its always worked for me. Band it down and leave it alone and whatever coral I am messing with has attached. Just my way of doing things I'm sure other people have used other stuff and worked out great for them. I'm just a little leery of putting anything in my tank like glues and epoxies.

Eric

Willieo101587 · 03-25-2006, 07:12 PM

Well, I tried the epoxy again, and it was failing, so I strapped it to a rock via rubberband. I don't know if it will stay there or live, since I had to handle it so much, but it's better than sitting on the bottom of my tank like it was before. We'll see what happens. I also got my protein skimmer running again.

I thought of another question - how much water movement do I need? I currently have three Maxi-Jet 1200, one on all the time, and two on a wave timer on only during the day. I notice places where stuff collects on rocks and doesn't seem to move; this can't be ok.