[Future]

My 36gal. has been doing great for the past few months w/ only a slight algae issue because I hadn't been able to do my normal water changes. (12hr. Long work days)

Now I'll be doing a 30% water change in the next few days, but a friend offered me some pumping zenia's from his tank because they are growing fast in his tank. This is where I run into my questions about the coral.

Bio-Load question:
Yes I have a lot of coraline on the LR, the livestock are doing great and even the starfish are growing faster than I thought, but how will adding a small polyp colony affect my bioload? Will I need to do a few water changes through the week to keep it balanced? or will the initial water change be enough?

Care Question:
Pumping Zenia's I know are photosynthetic and like currents. However where would best placement be when using 96watt T5 lighting? Also there are different results on iodine for the zenia. Should it be a big factor or are trace elements enough?


I've had horrible luck with coral in the past and figured before I jump into it again I'll ask some questions.

Here are the tank spec's as of 2 days ago prior to a top-off

36gal. bowfront
40lbs LR
2in CC bed
1 yellowtail blue damsel
2 green chromis
1 queen conch (1 inch)
3 snails (I could probably use a few more)
temp: 78degrees
PH: 8.4
Calc: 442
Amonia: 0
Trates: 0
Trites: 0.25
Sal/SG: 1.028/36
phosphate: 1

[scubadude]

how long has your tank been up and running? You appear to have a low bioload but that is relative to other things that are unknown right now....My first concern would be your nitrite level showing @ .25 it should be zero if your tank has been cycled. I personally would wait until you get this @ zero first. What type of lighting do you have and what is your photoperiod? If you do regular w/c's then you shouldnt even have to worry about trace elements such as iodine....especially since you dont have any corals yet.

[Future]

Trites aren't an issue, I hadn't done the w/c when I tested. I was checking parm's before I messed with the w/c so I could calculate my w/c schedule. I did my w/c right after I posted this and they are all where they need to be (trites = 0)

The tank has been established for over a year, but if we get into the details and all, the tank is over 10 years old.

Lighting is 96watt T5HO set on a timer as follows...
8am-10am = on
10am-2pm = off
2pm-430pm = on
Natural unfiltered sunlight 4:30pm-5:15pm
5:25pm-7pm = on
7pm-8am = off

I know it sounds kind of stupid to have a schedule like that, but the coraline has been spreading. Soon I'll be cutting the light time down because natural sunlight is a bit more prevelant lately.