good online sites to buy corals from

[EricTheRed]

My tank is a biocube 29 with the led retrofit. i got it from fishbeard a few months back, ammonia 0 nitrite 0 nitrate 10 Ca 400 SG 1.025 Ph 8.0 temp 80.5

Well, I'll tell you that you probably should save your money on sps until you get your nitrates down a little more. You didn't mention your phosphates but if your nitrates are at 10ppm then there's a chance your phosphates are elevated too, and sps and phosphates don't mix. You'll want to get and keep your nitrates below 5ppm. (zero is best)

Another important factor is stability. Try to minimize pH and temp swings, if possible.

As far as the coral you have now, there's very little that can be done to such a small frag once it gets rtn, sorry. As you said, there's nothing to break off and save.

 

[cromag09]

Well, I'll tell you that you probably should save your money on sps until you get your nitrates down a little more. You didn't mention your phosphates but if your nitrates are at 10ppm then there's a chance your phosphates are elevated too, and sps and phosphates don't mix. You'll want to get and keep your nitrates below 5ppm. (zero is best)

Another important factor is stability. Try to minimize pH and temp swings, if possible.

As far as the coral you have now, there's very little that can be done to such a small frag once it gets rtn, sorry. As you said, there's nothing to break off and save.

thank you for the advise! how can i go about decreasing the nitrates and phosphates?

 

[Herbie]

thank you for the advise! how can i go about decreasing the nitrates and phosphates?

Are you running any sort of refugium and/or chemical filtration? test for it first, but a hob reactor can help with your limited space and volume.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

 

[saltymike]

Has anyone ever ordered from saltcritters.com? I ordered from them a few times and have had really good luck. This guy has a setup at home somewhere in Indiana and is always offering pretty good deals. He'll put on 24 hr sales for occasions like his dogs b-day. LOL!

Other then that site, I would try to get frags from local people. You will almost always get a better deal.

 

[PufferMan]

You should definitely check out frag swaps too. There is one coming up in northern wisconsin actually 3/17 in rhinelander.

 

[Tbonekilla]

There is Hidden Reef on the corner of Wadsworth and Green Bay Rd. They have a coral tank.

Sent from my EVO 3D

 

[hansnfrans]

Some of the boldest colors on sps come out in higher nitrate tanks. There was an RC thread a while ago that showed off higher nitrate sps tanks. It is the phosphates that are a concern. You'll know when both are present b/c of algae growth.

 

[Douggie-Style]

Have you ever been to Midwest Coral Farms?

Look them up....well worth it!!!!.....a great staff to help you through any questions or issues as well

 

[cromag09]

thanks everyone for the good info! i have been to MCF i love that store! so it looks like LFS are the place to buy corals and that most people dont buy from online sites!

 

[EricTheRed]

Some of the boldest colors on sps come out in higher nitrate tanks. There was an RC thread a while ago that showed off higher nitrate sps tanks. It is the phosphates that are a concern. You'll know when both are present b/c of algae growth.

How high were the nitrates in these tanks? Do they define high nitrates as 3ppm...5pmm...40ppm...?

Red Sea did actual research on this. They found that sps in tanks with 1-2ppm nitrates and phosphates of 0.1ppm had the most explosive growth due to the increased zooxanthellae that provided additional energy for growth. They also found that nitrates with 0.25ppm nitrate and phosphates of 0.002ppm reduced the level of the zooxanthellae and produced the best color.

I would be very curious to see how people with high nitrates would have great color when high nitrates increases zooxanthellae which causes a brownish tint....? How did these people get around the natural physiological properties of zooxanthellae?

I've personally bought sps from people with elevated nitrates and watched them become beautiful in my zero nitrate system.

Nitrates and phosphates both increase zooxanthellae. Do these high nitrate tanks have low phosphates? I'm just trying to figure out how it can happen.