Help with corals!!!

[herpencounter]

Here are the corals I have picked out.

LPS
Candy Cane Coral (Caulastrea furcata)
Trumpet Coral (Caulastrea curvata)
Open Brain Coral (Trachyphyllia geoffroyi)
Plate Coral, Short Tentacle (Fungia repanda)
Bubble Coral, White (Plerogyra sinuosa)
Brain Coral, Pineapple (Favites spp.)

Mushrooms
Green Striped Mushroom (Actinodiscus sp.)

Colony Polyps
Glove Polyp (Clavularia sp.)
How would you remove "Polyps" from an area that you don’t want them?

How do you supplement Iodine, Strontium and Trace Elements (and if you can test for them some how vary new to corals)? (check)
Also what is a good Calcium supplement? (check)

Do you need to acclimate the corals to the water? (check)

Iv been reading up on plankton...
Micro-plankton is not one type of plankton (so when a site says feed micro-plankton what is it talking about?). (check)
Phytoplankton is a plant (corals are carnivores right?). (check)

Thanks for any help I get!

 

[fungia]

candy cane can grow fast. it can double in a few months. brain, favites, and plate corals are slower, maybe 1-2 years to double in size.

what do you mean by remove polyps? most of the corals you list are one big polyp

i use bionic, that's it. for more calcium i will drip kalkwasser.

it is safer to acclimite all livestock including corals.

micro plankton just means small plankton, it can be animal or phytoplankton. it means to feed small particle sizes like dt phytonplankton or rotifeast. but for bigger polyp corals like the ones you asked about, you can feed bigger foods like mysis. feeding corals makes most grow faster.

 

[herpencounter]

Polyps- Colony Polyps, Mushroom Corals ets. Sorry.

What's bionic?

 

[Anonymous]

I think you might be able to Joe's Juice mushrooms etc, like you would do aiptasia. Is there anything on the rock you want to keep/can't transfer to another rock? Because one other option is selling them off/trading them in for credit or a clean rock at the LFS.

 

[herpencounter]

How do you supplement Iodine, Strontium and Trace Elements (and if you can test for them some how vary new to corals)?
Also what is a good Calcium supplement?

What you think of these???

Iodine

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/P ... 2004&Nty=1

Strontium

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/P ... 2004&Nty=1

Trace Elements

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/P ... 2004&Nty=1

Calcium

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/P ... 2004&Nty=1

 

[mr_X]

herp's.... i don't think you'll need to add much iodine, calcium, strontium...if you are doing regular water changes.
i don't add anything and my corals(even stony's) are showing regular growth.
i added ca/iodine/strontium for a short while, and noticed my shrimp would molt once a week!
i think you'll get most of what you need from your sea salt. unless you want a tank full of stony's. then the need for calcium would be greater.

btw- b-ionic:
http://www.marineandreef.com/shoppro/tr ... ts_esv.htm

 

[herpencounter]

I use...

Red Sea Salt

Calcium:
The calcium content of Coral Reef Red Sea Salt has been formulated such that after dissolving in normal tap water it will produce a solution that contains 380-425 ppm (dependent on the level of calcium present in the tap water) of calcium, without precipitation and the consequent loss of trace elements.

You use IO if I am correct, red sea & IO are around the same cal.

 

[Anonymous]

Forget the trace elements and such, they're a huge waste of money. Do water changes with sea water as mentioned above and you're good to go.

 

[mr_X]

yes, instant ocean, and my calcium level is usually about 420-450. :wink:

 

[herpencounter]

OK tyvm!

What is a good calcium test?

 

[mr_X]

btw- my favorites are the favia, and the trumpets. you can feed them some misis shrimp- but you have to keep an eye one them because shrimp and fish will steal their food before they take it all the way in.
i love the favia the best. i have 3 colonies.
i think i like anything that does something- eats, moves..something. :wink:

 

[mr_X]

salifert seems to be the popular vote around here:
http://www.marinedepot.com/aquarium_tes ... C=standard

 

[mr_X]

btw- i drip acclimate my corals the same as i would fish.
anotherwords, put them in a bucket beside the tank, tie a knot in a piece of air line tubing, and start a siphon, and let it drip in until the water has more than doubled or so..

 

[herpencounter]

Purple Fungia is my favorite (on the list) .

I’m good on food but I do have some questions on it.

I think this is my last question (other then some filter food) should I dip the corals (I wasn’t going to but if I should I will )?

 

[herpencounter]

Filter food!!!

I’m good on solid food and the type of filter food (but I like to know brands ).

You see kents stuff every where that’s why I picked these.

Phytoplankton
This
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/P ... 2004&Nty=1

or this.
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/P ... 2004&Nty=1

This is for the trumpet coral (Zooplankton).
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/p ... &N=0&Nty=1

I like a variety in diet no matter what animal (this is just the filter food ).

 

[herpencounter]

How is the red sea cal test?

 

[mr_X]

i don't know about the red sea testing kits.

i target feed my corals a mixture of misis and phytofeast
http://www.reefnutrition.com/phytofeast/index.htm

or DT's-
http://www.marinedepot.com/aquarium_add ... sp?CartId=

 

[herpencounter]

I don’t think I have ever seen that in a store (have not really looked), is kents stuff no good (its always there if I ever need it)?

 

[mr_X]

those items i mentioned are "live" phytoplankton. you'll find them in the refrigerated section of your LFS. i'm not sure those kent products are live.
i believe the dt's and phytofeast, along with cyclopeeze(http://www.cyclop-eeze.com/) are the majority vote for coral foods.

 

[herpencounter]

The site you showed me had phytofeast & phytofeast-live. One is live other is not .
Are they both refrigerated?

Also do you use zooplankton and what type if you do?