Patience is the best thing that you can practice. The biological environment just takes time to mature as things come and go and get replaced by other things. In the meantime just work on your testing and maintenance practices while slowly adding fish and corals.
No, I don’t know how long it was there unfortunately. They had a really large selection in several very large “tanks” (more like giant ponds with filtration and whatnot) in a room to get it from. I assume it would’ve been in there for at least several weeks or months because I can’t see their store having that much volume for it to constantly be purchased. I may be wrong, though.
You could definitely throw in a mushroom, but I would get a rhodactis, discosoma, or richordea florida. Stay away from richordea yuma for now, they require higher light and flow and are generally more picky. The only reason I ended up getting yumas is because I didn't understand the difference. Also mushrooms, especially discosoma grow and reproduce very fast, make sure to keep them isolated from your main rock work.
I’ve had my eye on the richordea Florida since I started looking at different types. If I provide some coral food for them, would that be enough to keep them alive or would the food sway the balance of my tank? I haven’t been feeding the Duncan I have because I saw where it can get the majority of its nourishment from the tank lights.
The only thing on that list even remotely not invasive is the Florida. I honestly wish (nothing personal) shrooms and other invasive softies were not the default suggestion for new reef keepers. Easy, sure but a nightmare in a mixed reef once they take hold.
Feeding is not necessary for these corals, but I feed every coral in my tank. It's like the difference between eating two meals a day and eating three meals a day, will you survive? Yes Will you go to bed hungry? Yes. Corals that are fed grow much faster. I've gotten a new polyp almost every week from my goniapora since I started feeding it. You can broadcast feed something like red sea ab+ or spot feed with frozen foods. Lps and softies aren't picky they will also accept fish pellets.
Yes, that's why I told op to separate them from the main rock. Also removal isn't all that hard with this method https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/safe-and-easy-diy-way-to-remove-nems.861213/
For stony corals:
Sorry, but I have a tank full of them and 20+ years of dealing with them in my tank and numerous club members tanks that would disagree. They by no means stay put on a rock and are not easy to remove by any stretch of the imagination…. At least from where I sit
So by this standard, my phosphates are currently high at .25. What would possibly cause that?
Don't even worry about it right now. First off its not too high. I have tanks I have to dose NO3 and PO4 occasionally to stay above 0. Another tank runs NO3 10-15 and PO4 over 0.3. I much rather have higher numbers vs too low. I would let the tank mature and see where things settle on their own in a few month. Trying to tweak things to early has a very good chance of creating problems later.
Agreed 100%
Thank you for providing this insight! I appreciate all the feedback I’ve received on this forum. When google can’t, R2R can! for now, I think I’ll pull the trigger on a couple Florida shrooms. If they don’t fare well, then at least I’ve learned something from the process. I think I am vigilant enough to keep them alive, though, hopefully lol. I’ve kept at least 40 houseplants alive and free of parasites for about half a decade now. I know aquatic plants are a different story but perhaps the houseplants have earned me enough of a green thumb to move to something more challenging like corals and mushrooms
Don't worry about your phosphates you'll likely do more harm trying to lower them. 0.25 is perfectly fine for lps
Thanks, that is what most if us are here for, even though we don’t all agree on everything. Conversations make us all smarter.
