Adding Coral

[Nolein99]

My tank has been up and running for about 2 months now. I just added a skimmer two weeks ago and all my levels are good. I'm ready to add corals now, so I was wondering what is the proper way to acclimate them and then set them up in the tank. I've heard that you need to use epoxy to glue them to the LR. Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

[Ben1]

Seems like you need to do alot of reading. There are different ways to attach unmounted frags. Most the corals you might buy at the LFS will already be attached and just need placement according to what type of coral it is. For example acroporas need much different placement in the current and light then say mushrooms or zooanthids.

WHat are the specifics on your tank setup and what type of coral are you looking at?

 

[Ben1]

BTW Welcome

 

[Nolein99]

Sorry I wasn't so specific. Here are my tank specs:

29 gallon tank
double flourescent with one actinic blue and one 10000k
fluval 104 canister filter
prizm protein skimmer
30 lbs of lalo LR
2" crushed coral substrate

I was going to get the beginner coral pack from liveaquaria.com since i'm new to keeping coral. It contains:

Bullseye mushroom coral
Button polyp
Hairy Mushroom coral
Colony polyp, yellow

 

[Anonymous]

yes..the liveaquaria beginner pack has some hardy softies...i think its a wise choice and those corals should do find under NO (normal output) lighting such as your flourescents...I would recommend in the near future to upgrade to at least PC lights(power compact) that will allow you to keep some sps corals....you may also want to go with a refugium or a sump instead of a fluval...That can be sometime down the road..I have a 20 gal with a custom build power compact light system with a 120 watts...i have four lights..two 12000k and two daybrights...to give you an idea

 

[g.mcclean]

Another suggestion is to buy or borrow Eric Borneman's book on corals. It spells out all the care requirements for almost any coral you might want to keep.

 

[Ben1]

29 gallon tank
double flourescent with one actinic blue and one 10000k
fluval 104 canister filter
prizm protein skimmer
30 lbs of lalo LR
2" crushed coral substrate

Ditch the fluval, and remove the crushed coral substate would be my advice. The skimmer is fine but the CC will trap detritus and cause nitrate problems. Use a much finer sand like oolite or the like. You may wnat to upgrade lighting as already mentioned and you can get complete hoods and PC lighting fixtures from www.ahsupply.com The corals you mention seem ok for your current set up as zooanthinds and mushrooms will be easy to care for. They dont require much in the way of current or feeding and will spread out for you.

I have never used liveaqauria.com but you may also want to ask about they service others have received from them before ordering.

HTH