Keys to really nice corals

Nice write up Craig.

 

I would add patience!!!!!

 

Nice, thanks for the informatuon. As a new reefer I enjoy learning as much as I can

 

Information* auto correct failed me

 

I would add a controller to that list.

 

Very nice Craig ..Thanks

 

Stable and sufficient Alk and ample flow seem to be the 2 biggest things I notice great tanks have in common.

 

Yep I think you nailed it man.

 

The one thing I would add is random flow. I had a tank that did not have a controller for the pumps. Everything seemed fine in there but once I added a controller and and some random flow things looked REALLY good.

Agree with everything you said craig. I like how you left out lighting, additives or other equipment. Doesnt matter what you use to stablilize things as long as you are consistent. Using a Calcium reactor? Make sure you maintain it.. Using 2 part dosing with dosers? Make sure you do it and check it.. Using manual dosing? Make sure you do it.. Water changes I agree have helped my reef.

I am also becoming a fan of Carbon. I try to keep it realistic and not just stuff a bunch in there. If I make some frags on a certain day I will make sure i have fresh carbon in the tank just to capture anything the corals may have released into the water.

Fish needed in the reef is also a big one. I have setup a tank with no fish and really the corals did not look good at all. I tried spot feeding which seemed to help a bit but once I had fish in there everything came around.

 

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This is obviously a newbie question but I have trouble believing the absence of lighting. If I have a basement tank with no windows and only a single T5-bulb are you telling me 1-6 above is sufficient to "makes corals look really good"?

You did not specify which corals, like ones with high lighting demands, so I can only assume this process will work for the low light ones.

 

I think what he meant is that you don't need the newest and best lighting to keep coral and that the 6 things he mentioned are the biggest factors for success. Plenty of good SPS/LPS heavy tanks use older tech like T-5, Metal Halide, and VHO. I don't think he meant its ok to not use sufficient lighting, just that having the newest LED when youre running a 10 year old t-5 and MH setup has far less impact than achieving the 6 goals listed.

 

Yes, you do need "correct" lighting, but people always believe that there is some magical "x watts per gallon" formula and if you don't have that, nothing will grow. This seems go come up less frequently now, but it was touted all of the time when I started in the hobby. The reality is that you can grow coral under a lot of different lighting setups and sometimes less is actually more. What is "correct lighting" depends entirely on what your goals are. Coral growth is overrated anyway, especially in SPS tanks.

And for the record, LED's aren't necessarily better from a light quality standpoint, so you can certainly grow just as well if not better under MH or T5. However, LED's are much more eco-friendly and a lot easier on the pocket book over the long term.

 

I will say one thing. I have had a tank setup for about 6 months with LEDs over it. THe corals looked ok but I was not getting much growth. Now the light I used is the same light as someone I know who has been very successful with the same light. Mine just did not look good at all. Not sure why but I decided to swap out the LEDs and put a T5 light over the tank.... Wow.. Stuff blew up... LPS are nice and puffy.. a ACAN recovered, chalices look better and zoas are opening nicely..

This is literally the only thing I changed.

I dont fully understand it as my smaller tank has LEDs over it and stuff grows fine in there. The only difference is this light does not have optics

 

Craig, once again you have put together a great post. I don't know the process for getting them there but this post should be saved in the Reefer's Q&A.

 

While it's not in the big 6, IMO lighting gets very complicated. I have had good luck growing corals under T-5's and plan to keep using them. About 3 months ago I got an LED fixture and the results have been mixed. I believe it's me and not the lights. The first dumb thing I did (this time) was to just turn the lights on over the tank. Needless to say the lights had reset to 100% and I pretty much fried several corals. Still experimenting with light intensity and height of corals in the tank but right now I keep turning the intensity down and that has greatly helped. It's a 120 tall and my acans are quite happy on the bottom so I probably need to keep turning the intenstiy down. I also have a nem that won't go up more than 2/3's of the way to the top which is another indicator. Some of the SPS are happy up high but others not so much. I'm also trying out different blue vs. white combinations and hope that will make a difference.
Bottom line - each tank is different in the big 6 and other variables that Craig listed and it takes a while and careful attention to balance. Of course when you add the next impulse buy from Frag Fest or your LFS you get to start over! LOL