Going to get first coral

What chemicals should I start checking in my tank and make sure are good before I get one and put it in.
BTW im probably gonna get a hammer coral as a host for my two 5 month old clowns.

 

What kind of clowns are they? If they're occelaris/false perc, they probably won't host easily, if at all.

Have test kits for calcium, alkalinity and magnesium. Get calcium at 450+, alk at 9 dkh or 2.8meq/l (test kits read that in different units), and magnesium at 1400+ before you put in the coral. Nitrates need to be <10, preferably <5.

 

Right now my dkh is about 12. I dont know the other two. I will find out. The nitrates should be 0

 

Get test kits for the other two then.

And don't ever rely on "it should be"...

 

You'll want to get a balance with between calcium and alk. At 11dkh the balanced calcium is 439ppm. Balanced levels of those two are much easier to maintain if your Mg. is 1450-1500ppm. You'll want to know your phosphate levels as well. Target levels for n03 and p04 are 0.

 

i have a a torch that my two false percs host and a gbta that my other two host but yes with a hammer you need to keep calcium above 420 and watch your ph nitrates should stay at 0 and phosphates 0 if u acclimate right you will se growth in like 2 months... i bought 1 head of a yellow tip torch and it has allready split it now has 4 heads growing fast also my candycane has another head allmost split threw what are you running for lights

 

Hmm. I really like the torches. I will look into those