My jump into SPS !!!

[Hugo’s_reef]

So after my tank had been running for about 6 months with literally nothing in it i finally made the jump and purchased my last piece of important equipment , my gen3 radion pro .My plan for this tank is to have minimal fish get some experience and stock with mostly sps , and apparently some zoas since i couldnt resist.I made a few purchases at reef-a-palooza and im to a rough start after i dipped all my coral and it looks like my surf and turf and other sps didnt make it :/. On a good note it looks like all other coral and fish are doing well.


List of equipment:
lights=radion pro gen 3
return pump = tunze 1073.08
sump/refuge= advanced acrylics 30g (i beleive )
skimmer = seaside aquatics cs5.5
heater=eheim jager
chiller=jbj artica 1/10 hp
pumps=Hydor Koralia Evolution 1050gph x2 with wave maker
reactor= brs deluxe reactor with gfo and carbon (thinking of removing it )
[video]http://i380.photobucket.com/albums/oo243/gimmiks/junuru9y.jpg[/video]

 

[Hugo’s_reef]

 

[Hugo’s_reef]

 

[Hugo’s_reef]

Let me know what you guys think im opened to any advise thanks ....

 

[Justkeepswimming]

Care to explain your procedure for dipping and acclimating your sps? Some pieces can be VERY temperamental, maybe we can help you eliminate costly mistakes that we have done in the past... Best advice i can give is
A) Keep your parameters as stable as physically possible (obviously)
B) make any changes snail pace slow with sps

Good luck!

 

[Hugo’s_reef]

No problem ,I placed a small bowl with new salt water and added two caps of coral Rx placed the corals in there for about 8-10 minutes dipped them in RODi water to remove the dip then back in the container and water the came with after that I proceeded with the drip acclimation method . I drip acclimated them for about 1.5 hours then placed them in the tank . I also turned the lights off for the rest of that day and they didn't come on till the next morning .im running my radions at 40% on acclimation mode 14k

 

[Hugo’s_reef]

I did resist from buying a lot of coral from reef-a-palooza for this reason and good thing I did

 

[noobreefer]

Nice scape. Im looking to get into sps too so goodluck

 

[Hugo’s_reef]

Nice scape. Im looking to get into sps too so goodluck

Thank you ...I took me a while but I finally took the plunge

 

[e92Monster]

nice, nothing like a nice colored up piece of sps coral:rockon:

 

[stryker]

No problem ,I placed a small bowl with new salt water and added two caps of coral Rx placed the corals in there for about 8-10 minutes dipped them in RODi water to remove the dip then back in the container and water the came with after that I proceeded with the drip acclimation method . I drip acclimated them for about 1.5 hours then placed them in the tank . I also turned the lights off for the rest of that day and they didn't come on till the next morning .im running my radions at 40% on acclimation mode 14k

Great to see your dipping everything! I do see a couple red lights... The coral is being stressed 3x in this procedure. Once, when it goes from container water to newly mixed sw with dip. Then from dip to 0 salinity rodi rinse water. Then again back into the container water.

I would recommend your drip acclimation first, then use tank water with meds for dip, then rinse with tank water and into the quarantine tank or display. I also use a pipette to blast the coral during the dip and inspect what comes off. Hope this makes sense.

 

[Hugo’s_reef]

Great to see your dipping everything! I do see a couple red lights... The coral is being stressed 3x in this procedure. Once, when it goes from container water to newly mixed sw with dip. Then from dip to 0 salinity rodi rinse water. Then again back into the container water.

I would recommend your drip acclimation first, then use tank water with meds for dip, then rinse with tank water and into the quarantine tank or display. I also use a pipette to blast the coral during the dip and inspect what comes off. Hope this makes sense.

Thank you for the advice ...thinking about it now it makes a lot of sense.i guess I was a little exited to get my first pieces of coral in the tank . I'll probably pick up a couple more pieces this week just to try it ...

Do the two bleached sps look like they are at a point of no return ???

 

[Smite]

yeah putting your frags back in the water they came with eliminates the whole dip process. Your killing the potential pest only to put the frag back in the same water.

RO dips are great as long as you match your temperature and ph to you display. This would be after the drip and dip. I usually only swish it around for a few seconds before it goes back in the tank.

I'm also going to be trying Bayer's advanced for my future dips. I've dipped corals for 15+ minutes in coral RX and still had little bugs seem to live, although the FW dip seem to stun them off.

 

[Hugo’s_reef]

yeah putting your frags back in the water they came with eliminates the whole dip process. Your killing the potential pest only to put the frag back in the same water.

RO dips are great as long as you match your temperature and ph to you display. This would be after the drip and dip. I usually only swish it around for a few seconds before it goes back in the tank.

I'm also going to be trying Bayer's advanced for my future dips. I've dipped corals for 15+ minutes in coral RX and still had little bugs seem to live, although the FW dip seem to stun them off.

Ok looks like next time I'll drip with tank water dip in tank water with coral Rx/bayer's
Then rinse once again in tank water and into the tank .will see how that goes .ima see if I can find some good priced frags experimenting with 20$ frags can get expensive haha

 

[Tangwich]

congrats on having what most of us in this hobby don't have...patience to wait almost 6 months without adding five tangs and countless other fish. lol. i think with the solid advice above and your patience, you're tank is going to do great. keep up the good work.

 

[Justkeepswimming]

No problem ,I placed a small bowl with new salt water and added two caps of coral Rx placed the corals in there for about 8-10 minutes dipped them in RODi water to remove the dip then back in the container and water the came with after that I proceeded with the drip acclimation method . I drip acclimated them for about 1.5 hours then placed them in the tank . I also turned the lights off for the rest of that day and they didn't come on till the next morning .im running my radions at 40% on acclimation mode 14k

This is exactly what i was expecting and wanted to prevent... I know someone below already told you the mistakes. I would recommend looking up the bayer advanced dip and not using rodi water to rinse. Acclimate the corals correctly, drip acclimate them in a container with tank water. Then use that bucket of water they are already use to with a powerhead to dip them. Use a clean bucket of tank water to rinse them, and if you want to be extra careful you can use one more bucket of tank water for added protection rinse . I have used this method in my tanks and had GREAT SUCCESS!
GOOD LUCK!

 

[watchguy123]

RO/DI water can be lethal to many sps. Drip acclimation is great but I've never been patient enough. I use frag water and add Bayer to it. Rinse in a container of tank water and then into quarantine tank if you have it, otherwise into display

 

[BeanMachine]

RO/DI water can be lethal to many sps. Drip acclimation is great but I've never been patient enough. I use frag water and add Bayer to it. Rinse in a container of tank water and then into quarantine tank if you have it, otherwise into display

Yep say no to RODI unless its for your top off water... or dipping a fish.

 

[Hugo’s_reef]

Thanks for the advise I'll try it out pretty soon ...Any one here using radions ??? I have them at about 40% right now 9" above water line and wondering if I should ramp it up ??

 

[Justkeepswimming]

Thanks for the advise I'll try it out pretty soon ...Any one here using radions ??? I have them at about 40% right now 9" above water line and wondering if I should ramp it up ??

I am using two gen2s, They are set around 90 percent a foot or so off the water line. I did this over a couple of weeks so take your time. I would start around 50 with the corals on the bottom and go up from there.