Coral Quarantine Tank-Need Some Reassurance

[Squishie89]

So I set up my 40B coral/invert quarantine tank a few months ago. It has: 1 gyre x-130 set on alternating, 1 aquaclear HOB with 2 sponges and carbon, 1 Aquamaxx HOB-1 skimmer (broken in and working very well), 1 200w heater (long story, don't ask, temp is stable), 2 Kessil A360s, 10lbs of rock, a bit of live sand (from bag, not from a tank).

 

The tank was fine until fragfest where then it re-cycled, everything I got from fragfest died except a duncan coral. I waited a few weeks, added bacteria. On 8/8/15 I got some corals from King of Corals, and they have been doing fantastic, much better response from them than the corals from FF. I have been doing weekly 50% water changes for 2 weeks now. Dosing bacteria daily and feeding the corals every so often (feeding the corals and keeping nutrients relatively high is key to my quarantine procedure so any nasties make themselves known sooner rather than later). I got a diatom bloom that was heck to deal with, but a few days ago it died down.

 

So right now I have: 1 duncan (FF), 1 pocillopora (KoC), 1 stylo (KoC), 1 octospawn (KoC), 1 slipper coral (KoC), 1 trumpet/candy cane (KoC), 1 zoas (KoC), 1 favia (IC), 1 blasto (IC) and 1 blue ridge coral (local member).

 

All corals are doing fantastic, except possibly the favia, this one seems to be constantly P.O. The duncan has been growing, already grew a new head, stylo and poci. have had beautiful polyps, zoas seem good, has skirts out, slipper I think has been growing, very voracious eater.

 

I want to make sure this tank is ready for MACNA. Obviously no one can know if everything I get will be happy in the tank or how the tank may react. But I could use some reassurance that I am on the right track or some suggestions so I don't kill hundreds, possibly thousands of dollars in corals.

 

Here are some photos taken today.

[sethsolomon]

seems fine to me

[Squishie89]

seems fine to me

Thank you for taking the time to read/look and get back to me, I really appreciate it.

[WheresTheReef]

The corals are the best indicators, but just my 2 cents... Looks like those corals are photosynthetic and don't really need heavy feedings. Lots of light, and maybe some light feedings are good enough. Large water changes can lead to large fluctuations in water parameters so use some caution there. Stability in parameters is important, especially if you decide to buy some more sensitive SPS. Testing the water parameters will go a long way also.

[HgrReefs]

Having a 20g coral quarantine in my basement that is used to house acros for 6-8 weeks at a time, I think you'll be fine. My quarantine gets inundated with pieces on a semi regular basis, and during the off times, has very few pieces in it (it runs constantly, not torn down and rebuilt when needed). With that said, I get algal blooms generally about 3 weeks in after placing a large number of pieces in it (I'm guessing due to a quick increase in bio load) nothing overwhelming though so don't be alarmed if this happens.

 

I think the issues you experienced may be partially due to the nature of what frag fest is. Colonies are chopped up, bagged up, and handed out. Once you take them home and place them in a smaller water volume system, if one lets go, it tends to have a cascade effect throughout the tank. I have fragged a colony while still in the 20g and that stress caused 1frag to go, then another, and another...next thing you know, other pieces are being effected.

 

While I have been to frag fest, I have never brought anything home for that reason. If I were to place them directly into the 120, chances for survival would certainly increase, but I just don't operate that way based off past experiences (not related to frag fest) so into the 20g quarantine they would go, where things can go wrong much more quickly. End result, I believe you will be fine with what you have setup there. Personally, I'm a believer that your animals should be fed, and I know that's up for debate. Just keep in mind that what you put in, must come out in some form, be it water changes, refugium, heavy skimming, etc. I think paying extra attention to the favia, that isn't doing well, with extra feedings may bring it back.

 

Hopefully my anecdotal droning on will give you a bit of piece of mind.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Edited August 30, 2015 by HgrReefs

[Squishie89]

Having a 20g coral quarantine in my basement that is used to house acros for 6-8 weeks at a time, I think you'll be fine. My quarantine gets inundated with pieces on a semi regular basis, and during the off times, has very few pieces in it (it runs constantly, not torn down and rebuilt when needed). With that said, I get algal blooms generally about 3 weeks in after placing a large number of pieces in it (I'm guessing due to a quick increase in bio load) nothing overwhelming though so don't be alarmed if this happens.

 

I think the issues you experienced may be partially due to the nature of what frag fest is. Colonies are chopped up, bagged up, and handed out. Once you take them home and place them in a smaller water volume system, if one lets go, it tends to have a cascade effect throughout the tank. I have fragged a colony while still in the 20g and that stress caused 1frag to go, then another, and another...next thing you know, other pieces are being effected.

 

While I have been to frag fest, I have never brought anything home for that reason. If I were to place them directly into the 120, chances for survival would certainly increase, but I just don't operate that way based off past experiences (not related to frag fest) so into the 20g quarantine they would go, where things can go wrong much more quickly. End result, I believe you will be fine with what you have setup there. Personally, I'm a believer that your animals should be fed, and I know that's up for debate. Just keep in mind that what you put in, must come out in some form, be it water changes, refugium, heavy skimming, etc. I think paying extra attention to the favia, that isn't doing well, with extra feedings may bring it back.

 

Hopefully my anecdotal droning on will give you a bit of piece of mind.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The corals are the best indicators, but just my 2 cents... Looks like those corals are photosynthetic and don't really need heavy feedings. Lots of light, and maybe some light feedings are good enough. Large water changes can lead to large fluctuations in water parameters so use some caution there. Stability in parameters is important, especially if you decide to buy some more sensitive SPS. Testing the water parameters will go a long way also.

Thank you both SO much. Some really great advice you guys gave that I had not considered. Glad to hear I am on the right track, just need to tweak some things and continue to be observant.

[matt]

You might consider a single fish... damsel or clown maybe... never hurts to feed the fish and have fish waste feed the coral (in small degrees)  

[Squishie89]

You might consider a single fish... damsel or clown maybe... never hurts to feed the fish and have fish waste feed the coral (in small degrees)

A fish is in the works, I plan on keeping an angler in there. Will eventually add more rock for hiding places (and bacteria). I figure an angler is a good choice because: I want one and love them, they are a predator fish so that means high nutrients (lots of coral and pest food) and they don't seem to care about corals. Just waiting to get the species I want which doesn't come in so often. We shall see what happens, but totally agree with you there should be at least one fish in there. Thanks!!!