Need help caring for coral....!!

P

pwee_1

Hey so my question is this....what do I need to dose and how often with my current corals.....sun coral....frogspawn (3 heads).....finger leather...... a combo rock with some star polyps people eaters and blues clues.

I currently add 5ml of Iodine every two weeks and feed every other day.
 
Hi

With what you have, a good water change schedule will probably maitain your critical levels. I suggest tracking your Ca/Alk/Mg levels for a few weeks, if they start to fall out side of NSW levels then start with a good 2-part to maintain the levels. With tracking over a few weeks you will know how much your tank is using and you will already have your dosage. I really doubt you will need to dose(if your levels are in balance already). :wink:

Cheers,
 
A good rule is "Never dose anything you can't test". Go get a test kit and see if you need it before you just go randomly adding things to the tank (iodine included).
 
With that suncoral you need to target feed it brine/mysis shrimp every few days at night time when it's fully open.
 
I have all of the corals you listed in your OP and I do not dose anything, though I do change my water at least once (usually twice) per week. I used to dose Iodine for my softies and macros in the sump, but with the more strict water changing regimen, I decided that I didn't need to do it any more and stopped with no appreciable ill-effects.

I do agree that dosing anything for which you do not regularly test is risky. Sprcifically, regarding Iodine, if I remember correctly, there is some evidence that absent certain Nitrate-based enzymes, Iodine I2 (found in lugols and others) will lead to an accumulation of Iodate (IO3-) which could be toxic in heavy quatities. Since we strive to rid our tanks of as much nitrate as possible, some folks claim that Iodate doesn't have enough of the enzyme available to convert the IO3- into I- (Iodide--the most bioavailable form of Iodine) which is beneficial or at the very least harmless. I'm sure there are some more chemistry-savvy folks on the board that can speak to that issue if necessary.
 
So this is the confusing part....I know that your LFS tell you much more than you should probably really do considering they make money from recomending products that must be used for success. I do 15g sometime 20g changes at least every other week sometimes I will go one week, depending on parameters.

I test for pH, Alkalinity, Phosphate, Nitrite, Calcium, and Nitrate.

So if I am going to continue to add corals and keep the current ones now what tests should I pick up? and why?
 
thats where the sun coral is and yes that is a banded cat he has been around since the begining he was only like 6 in or so and now almost a foot. :)
 
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