Newbie - Duncan Coral Lover

Ashby

New Member
I have a 60 gallon reef aquarium - no sand. New to the experience. Have lost a few fish, lately 2 gorgeous anemone, too hard to keep during water changes maybe, and they smell so terrible when they are coming out dead. May not even try again on those? My favorite creature is Mr Duncan coral. He has been in the tank a long time, gets shy for a while I think when growing new stalks. But one of my favorites. He is happy in a rock mid tank, and only eats the brine shrimp left in the water from whenothers, when it floats his way. Would love any tips on the whole adventure. As a newbie, I messed up and have 3 clowns, but so far so good, an amazing blue tang, a rainbow wrasse, a peppermint shrimp, and a cardinal fish black and white. Seems like the open swimmers have done well. Having fun, and would love input. The duncan we just got to liven up things at first, now I realize it is a real jewel. Has doubled in 6 months.
 

meknudson2

Active Member
Welcome to the forum. :) How long have you had your tank up? What are your water readings like Salinity, Nitrites, Nitrates, Ammonia, phosphates, Calcium, Magnesium and alkalinity. I also recommend a refractometer for salinity that sure made a difference with my corals.
 

soco

Well-Known Member
First off welcome to RS! Second... sounds like you need to slow down for a bit lol. You said your new to the hobby. How long does that mean? Meknudson2 is right. You need to check all your parameters.
You say you have no sand. Why?
I'm not gunna preach but please stop buying anemones. Most people you talk to who keep them long term and happy. Will tell you that your tank should be "stable" for at least 6 months. That means your tanks should be 9 months to a year old.
What fish did you lose and do you know how?
There are a lot of fish in your tank. did you add everything at the begging? If so that's probably why your losing stuff. if you add to much bio-load at once you can get problems. Your adding a lot of stuff, you also add, more food=more poop= more nitrates=dead anmenone=ammonia=dead other stuff.
As for the duncans good choice on favorite coral! It one of my favorites also. I have had one in every tank. It is always one of my first pieces, I love to watch it grow and branch.
Duncans are not particularly "shy" as you described. If your duncans are being shy, its not happy.
Do you have test kits? If not go to you lfs with some water and ask them to test it. that's the first place you have to start. Next is waters changes. Water changes are a good bandaid until you pinpoint your real issues.

Also do you have any pics??? WE LOVE PICS lol
You should also start a tank chronicle thread. That way you can keep track of things and get infro from others as you go.
Hope this helps
 

Ashby

New Member
First off welcome to RS! Second... sounds like you need to slow down for a bit lol. You said your new to the hobby. How long does that mean? Meknudson2 is right. You need to check all your parameters.
You say you have no sand. Why?
I'm not gunna preach but please stop buying anemones. Most people you talk to who keep them long term and happy. Will tell you that your tank should be "stable" for at least 6 months. That means your tanks should be 9 months to a year old.
What fish did you lose and do you know how?
There are a lot of fish in your tank. did you add everything at the begging? If so that's probably why your losing stuff. if you add to much bio-load at once you can get problems. Your adding a lot of stuff, you also add, more food=more poop= more nitrates=dead anmenone=ammonia=dead other stuff.
As for the duncans good choice on favorite coral! It one of my favorites also. I have had one in every tank. It is always one of my first pieces, I love to watch it grow and branch.
Duncans are not particularly "shy" as you described. If your duncans are being shy, its not happy.
Do you have test kits? If not go to you lfs with some water and ask them to test it. that's the first place you have to start. Next is waters changes. Water changes are a good bandaid until you pinpoint your real issues.

Also do you have any pics??? WE LOVE PICS lol
You should also start a tank chronicle thread. That way you can keep track of things and get infro from others as you go.
Hope this helps
There are many reason I don't use sand. I said I am new to the current reef aquarium, but not to salt water tanks in general. Current tank has been running with live rock and bare bottom. For almost a year. Started only with rock for several months. Then some small fish. I prefer bare bottom tank. It allows me better control of biology in tank. I clean 10 to 20 percent of water per week. Have a high flow and excellent filtration. In my experience the benefit of bacteria from sand also causes problems when cleaning. Any nutrients the sand may provide I add with feeding and nutrient rich salt. I started this tank with my ASD son as a good project for us. He loves it. We had a power outage from storm that is what got my anemone? I am really not sure. It was sad for us. But while teaching my son to clean and care for this tank. No way sand is an option. The fish I have and duncan coral have been with us 6 months.
 

soco

Well-Known Member
There are many reason I don't use sand. I said I am new to the current reef aquarium, but not to salt water tanks in general. Current tank has been running with live rock and bare bottom. For almost a year. Started only with rock for several months. Then some small fish. I prefer bare bottom tank. It allows me better control of biology in tank. I clean 10 to 20 percent of water per week. Have a high flow and excellent filtration. In my experience the benefit of bacteria from sand also causes problems when cleaning. Any nutrients the sand may provide I add with feeding and nutrient rich salt. I started this tank with my ASD son as a good project for us. He loves it. We had a power outage from storm that is what got my anemone? I am really not sure. It was sad for us. But while teaching my son to clean and care for this tank. No way sand is an option. The fish I have and duncan coral have been with us 6 months.
I wasn't criticizing for the bare bottom I was just curious to your reasoning since I thought u were new to the hobby. Many people have no sand and love it.

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nanoreefing4fun

Well-Known Member
RS STAFF
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to ReefSanctuary, a real Sanctuary of reef forums, with lots of very nice members

Start a tank thread & share your tank with us so we can follow along, we love pics
 
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