There are a number of best practices for reefkeeping and one of the bigger ones in my book is to try and minimize the amount of time I put my hands in the tank. I consider myself a perfectionist and when I started to keep reefs I was always looking at my tanks and tinkering with the rocks or corals to achieve a “better” look.
I would buy a new coral and spend a lot of time trying to place it just right, moving it from spot to spot. This stressed out the coral and made it tough for it to establish itself in its new environment. What I learned over time is that Mother Nature needs to take over and do her thing.
Put the coral in a spot and just let it be. Well, what if a frag tips over? Not to worry. I have seen some hobbyists intentionally glue a frag horizontally to a plug to allow multiple branches to spring up vertically. A healthy frag or coral will find its way when left alone. The constant touching will not only cause stress but it will also introduce oils from your skin and upset the delicate balance of the tank.
Properly aquascaping a tank with rock when setting up a reef is very important since it will really help minimize the amount of time one has to fuss with corals down the road. Create a stable structure that looks natural and has a lot of shelves to place corals. An avalanche of rocks is the last thing you want to have happen when your reef starts to mature. If you really like to get your hands wet over and over again, then do it at this point to make sure you have a solid foundation. You won’t be doing much harm since the reef is very young. You can find more aquascaping tips in my Blog. Until next time, resist the urge to submerge!
Additional Resources
If you would like some help with a new tank build, including help designing a custom aquarium, or help re-configuring your current setup then you can visit this page for more information. And if you are looking to add some equipment, I do sell GHL, Pax Bellum, Reef Octopus Calcium and Kalk Reactors and Royal Exclusiv products, including Dreamboxes, which is the equipment I use and recommend. I also sell Reef Brite metal halide and LED fixtures as well as Maxspect & IceCap Gyres.
As for additional insights and information, please explore my many other reef tank and SPS related articles as well as my YouTube channel. For an even deeper dive into reef tank care you can check out my Reef Keeping Master Class. This online course is an immersive and one of a kind educational tool designed to help reef aquarium hobbyists build and maintain a beautiful SPS reef tank. The course is a series of video presentations with some supplemental video from my YouTube channel. There are also quizzes to help students retain and understand the information presented in the course.
Need some frags…..I can help with that as well 🙂 Please visit my SPS Frag store to see what is available.
