when to add corals?

[surgeon67]

I have an 8 month old tank. I've had some fish issues, but eventually want to add corals to the tank. Can they be added anytime, or ( as I had presumed) do you need to wait until the fish/bioload is stable before adding?

I want to add a mixture of soft and hard corals, and a clam, if possible.

current residents... regal tang, banggai cardinal, purple firefish
planned additions: yellow tang, powder blue tang, firefish, clown gobies, ocellaris clowns, and a lawnmower blenny

any coral compatibility issues here?

[on_fire_8]

current residents... regal tang, banggai cardinal, purple firefish
planned additions: yellow tang, powder blue tang, firefish, clown gobies, ocellaris clowns, and a lawnmower blenny

All these fish are reef safe, however I would upgrade to a tank over 300 gallons to house three tangs. Due to the depth of your tank and the length, you might want to add 2 400watt mh. I would say your lighting would be ok for mushrooms , polyps, anthelia and leathers. Your power compacts are probably penetrating into your tank about 18 inches. 400 MH will reach to the bottom of your tank. As long as you add the corals that I mentioned i would say you could add them when ever you wanted.

[BigFish]

A article I read said to add coral b4 fish. so anytime now is ok probably.

[surgeon67]

coral before fish? Hmmmm I guess I was misinformed... I had thought the fish bioload needed to stabilize because of the nitrate levels. Guess I need to do some coral shopping then....

[Pineapple House]

Some fish seem to be much more Hardy than any coral. I don't think it's much of a matter to make sure your fish are fine and settled in, before you start adding corals. FME, You go slow with both. You could start adding some of your fish, and inbetween, start adding a few starter corals, and moving on from there.

I would also not buy anything until you get the halides on that tank. I would go with 2, 400wt Halides. There's many choices as to what halide will do you best, so you could do some searches to find out what would fit you the best.

Graham

[surgeon67]

Hmmm ok well here's another spot where I obviously need more education/better information. I was told that the 96w PC's had 2 bulbs each at 96 (1 actinic and 1 daylight-each unit has 4 bulbs which I assume are 2 u-shaped tubes). With three of these I was told (by the same LFS of green brittle fame-see missing fish mystery) that that would be fine for anything I wanted to grow. Now, I'll have to re-read dilbeek, but I thought that went along with what they said also. Someone here commented on the PC's not reaching deeper than about 18"... is that about right?

MH... might be difficult because of the tank cover... will that melt the acrylic top? Guess I shoulda gone glass.....


:roll: :oops:

[Zack]

hey no it should not mine has not, how thick? and i have a 400 wtt mh fans help!!

[surgeon67]

The acrylic is about 5/8" I think. The PC lights are mounted over the removable lids, and woulnd't be easy to move because of the way the canopy is constructed. I guess I'm surprised that I need MH in addition to the PC's for corals. I know the whole watts per gallon idea is losing favor, but I'm in the range , for that measurement anyway (3.38 wpg), and the PC's heat the aquarium enough that I have to have a chiller even in winter. The AC in my waiting room can barely keep up with the heat (had to have the AC dealer add an additional air return and vent to even come close). To think about adding to that another 800w of MH.... :roll:

Is there a light meter that is available to check how much of certain wavelengths is reaching various levels in the tank? If I don't have enough light I may have to forgo the planned coral and clam.


:?

[HoopsGuru]

I'm missing how 3 96w PC fixtures each have 2 96w bulbs in them (4 "tubes" total). This would make them 192w fixtures? Can you check the actual fixture and see just how many bulbs each one has, I have never heard of such a thing.

[surgeon67]

As I was told, each tube is 96w (I freely admit I could have been told wrong, although I had the LFS check with the supplier twice), so 2 tubes per unit with 3 units = 6X96=576w
The bulbs appear as altenating actinic and daylight( blue/white/blue/white), in two u-shaped tubes
Here is the info printed on the unit:

Power Compact(TM) 96w
quad smart lamp
twin tube 10Q Base
Custom Sea Life, Inc

I'm going to check with the manufacturer directly in the meantime.

here's a pic:

[HoopsGuru]

That a single Powerquad unit, and it has 96w TOTAL, two tubes are 10k and 2 are actinic but it is ONE unit. Your LFS is either terribly misinformed or flat out lied to you. If you have 3 fixtures, you have a total of 288w. I'd be raising hell somewhere right now. :wink: I have first hand experience with this fixture, good light though!

[surgeon67]

Mine is not the face of a happy man.

:evil:

[surgeon67]

update:

talked to custom sealife a few minutes ago. They are in fact single 96w bulbs, for 288w

I done been lied to.

The cust service agt said I could prolly do ok with corals up top on the rockwork, but down low not so good.

actually she said they *Miiiight* survive; but since mere survival isn't what I'm up for, no-go.

As for MH, I'm wary of placing a 400w MH only 6" above an acrylic cover. Maybe not justified in my concern, but there it is. Besides, I still have the heat problem. Any more heat in the room and I'll just have to put in shelves and bake cookies against the walls.... :mrgreen:

[Chryocon]

Did you consider T5 Lighting yet?

[surgeon67]

no, hadn't looked into that yet. read your post... looks intriguing tho..

[Chryocon]

talk to corrado170, he is selling them, he seems to have the best price around and he is a fellow reeflounge member...

[HoopsGuru]

The bottom could always consist of some shrooms or other low light corals. Heck, tubastrae would make a nice additions and doesn't require any light. Might as well make lemonade since you bought them, I have seen the quads punch deep into a 55g which I realize isn't as deep as you got. But with some placement and research, you could still have stunning display.

[surgeon67]

Well, that's what I'm looking at now-just what WILL work (dusted off the books as soon as I got home). I'd still like to find a meter of some type to check just how much light is getting to the bottom, so I can be sure of what will be safe down low.

Now I'm just wonering where else I've been mislead... first the green brittle star, now the lights.... :roll:

[HoopsGuru]

You don't have a baby shark in there do ya. :wink: :D

Lux meters are readily available online, they only run about $50. Do a search for "lux meter" on Google and it will yield a bunch of different models.

[surgeon67]

Not unless the shark was a hitchhiker on the LR!

The research continues about the corals for my light situation. I had planned for indo-pacific area species, so that narrows the list a bit. I guess I'll have to focus on deep water species.

[HoopsGuru]

I'll attempt to dig out my books and see if I can't shoot you some suggestions I find. I still think the tank can be stunning, and no one will be the wiser as to how "light-loving = spectacular" the livestock is. :wink:

[Chryocon]

LOL, take agood look at you LR there cous easily be a maturing shark egg in it......

[surgeon67]

hoops, thanks, I've got my books out too. I agree that I can still pull off a nice tank, but I just gotta change gears from what I had planned.

Chryocon... was that a cello I heard in the background? (jaws theme)

:mrgreen:

[BigFish]

LOL, take agood look at you LR there cous easily be a maturing shark egg in it......

Not likely but why do you say lol (laugh out loud) did that happen to you? It would be kinda cool and a great way to make some $ if you had a baby shark.


I saw a thing on sharks and at the begining of the movie/documentary they opened a can that said live sharks on it and there were like 10 really small baby sharks in the can and they somehow were all alive. It looked kinda like a anchovie can one of the ones with the roll back top. I am sure it was real (it was A discovery channel thing). But that part looked like it might have been a little older. It would be cool to buy a can of live sharks I wonder how long they would live I think they would be pretty stressed out though and they would have to be packaged and sold right away

dont get me wrong I think it is a form of animal crulity. I dont think these are made anymore either the film was made recently but the begining was just a short collection of movie clips and that one looked like it was old however it was still in color.