New to the hobby and 3Reef!

Welcome to 3reef good luck I hope the corals make it!

 

@ Starfish2217 - Thanks! I'll do my best to save them, I will do what I can.

@ Corailline - I have a smaller lighting system that is for a 10 gallon, so hopefully that will be perfect when I buy a 10g tonight to put them in. It's got dual Actinic bulbs and dual daylight bulbs. I think 40 watts each?? I also have another semi-powerful daylight lamp I use for painting, but maybe that will be too much light? My plan is to cycle my main tank with some live rock and a fish or two, and put the coral back in later, so I don't think they'll have to worry about ammonia or nitrite right? Some of the frags have sizeable rocks they're attached to, so for a 10g tank, I'm guessing they might cycle anyway?? So maybe I should watch out for ammonia.

 

I am not a lighting guru, but I am pretty sure you are going to have to upgrade the lighting to grow and keep corals. Hopefully someone else will chime in on the specifics. You will do better with PC or T5 if want to keep corals.

All you need to cycle the main tank is some rock and a pieces of table shrimp. Personally I do not like to see fish have to go through the cycle with the ammonia levels, it's a toxin so you do not have to expose fish to it.

Yes you are correct the live rock that comes with the frags will help to seed the tank.

Yes watch your ammonia and nitrite and nitrate levels during the cycle, it will give you some idea has to where you are in the cycle.

 

Ok thanks, I am certain I'll need a more powerful lighting system for my 29g, hopefully what I have will be ok on a 10G but yea, if someone knows better, please chime in. What do you think about an LED system, I think that's what I'd like to with the long life and low energy input.

So just buy some raw shrimp at the grocery store and toss them in there? If so, how many for a 29g and should I put in some cleaners to at least eat some of it?

 

One table shrimp will be more than enough, just let it decay, it may get a little smelly after a day or two, put it in a nylon stocking, like a knee high or something to contain it should it smell too much after a few days, you can than remove it.

I have kept that type of tank, I have used power compacts with good results, T5 with good results and metal halide, never just LEDs though. Plenty of threads with information about LEDs' though.

I would not add any live stock until the tank cycles. The shrimp decays, the decay creates ammonia, beneficial bacteria convert that ammonia to nitrite ( still toxic) another type of beneficial bacteria convert the nitrite to nitrate ( not toxic) you export the nitrates through water changes, skimming or growing macro algae. Once you start to have no detectable values for ammonia or nitrite you can slowly stock the tank. Each time you add something the beneficial bacteria (biological filter) adjust and grows. If you add animals too quickly or too soon the biological filter is not developed enough to handle the load and things die or become stressed and disease may set in.

 

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