Hello

Hey welcome Elizabth.

There are few of us from the Muscatine area. I am origionally from Wapello so I am one of the few who knows where fruitland is.

 

Hello Elizabeth
Welome to Saltwater life
We have some candy cane corals up for sale
we live in Winfield but we go up towards Muscatine quite abit to visit friends there
if you would like some Candy Cane coral let us know
it is $10 for a frag
When we get corals from people we usually just add them to our tank and they seem to do fine
but everyone has there own opinions
in the end it is your decision on what you prefer to do
Shaun

 

Welcome to the club Elizabeth!

 

Sounds like you have already taken good precautions in your choices so far. I do think it is a good idea to at least dip your corals, but i never QT them for long periods of time. Best way to start adding corals is definately from fellow reefers. You get a diverse assortment for a small cost, and it will eventually grow. Typically things you buy from your fellow hobbiest are much much healthier, especially if you meet them here =)

Have you looked into proper lighting (VHO, Halide, T-5, sand PC) type of salt, RO water versus declorinated water, water test kits and proper paramaters?- such as nitrate, amonia, ph, nitrite, calcium and more. How much life rock you've added and amount of sand/crushed coral... before you get too far into it, try to be sure you've made the right steps from the start. Its sometimes crazy how the little things end up mattering a lot!

Best of luck and welcome to the addiction!

 

Welcome Elizabeth. You have plenty of space to play around with on a 125! Nice.

I've been told (and practice) to be careful with all corals no matter the source. Some people can have issues that they don't even know about. I was talking to another member of the club the other day and he was telling me about how he purchased a coral from a fellow reefer, took it home and dipped it and lo and behold, flatworms fell off the coral during the dip. When he called the person that he purchased it from to inform them, they had no idea. Remember that everything that you add to your tank carries with it a degree of risk to everything else in your tank. That being said, corals from the wild carry a higher risk of introducing pests than corals from a local fellow reefer. I dip new corals. It's quick, easy, and if it reduces my risk of killing everything else even by 5%, it's definitely time well spent.

I only have two fish in my tank and I don't (but should) have a QT tank set up for fish. That will be something I will have to add in the future.

--AJ

 

Welcome Elizabeth! I'm here in Muscatine so if you ever need any thing don't be afraid to ask!

Sounds like you have a good start, what lighting do you have?

What kind of corals are you wanting for your tank, softies, sps, lps?

 

-Rick-