I initially used red sea coral pro for my first mix but realized its nutrients were too high for my new tank from people commenting, observation, and hours of research what parameters really mean for a tank. I waited till my corals absorbed the alk, calcium and mag to a relative similar level to Instant Ocean and started using that salt mix instead. Its also a lot cheaper on the wallet. If my coral ever turn into colonies where their intake is substantially higher, I will probably go back to red sea coral pro.
One thing I initially did when I started my tank 4 months ago was to give plenty of nutrients to speed up the new tank syndrome. So feeding extra pellets, dropping 5-10drops of marine phytoplankton a week because of filter feeders and introducing 10-20k copepods every 2-3 weeks. It was aesthetically unpleasing but knowing how fast I wanted to add coral, I figured it was worth the short term eye sore. But keep in mind my tank is a 200G so it was a lot more forgiving of my overfeeding, and essentially, nutrient dumping. After I stopped adding coral and fish, I slowly stopped overfeeding and it has probably matured my tank incredibly quick. I had cyano for a month and half and in the last 2 weeks of changing nothing but what I fed, my cyano completely disappeared. My tank glass needs a cleaning maybe 1-2 times a week, and never had a coral die, yet. Even my gold tipped elegance thats deemed extremely hard to keep has survived which Im pretty surprised. I was sure it was dying at one point.
One thing I 100% would monitor everyday was ammonia. Making absolute sure it was 0 or untraceable at all times. Whenever I recorded .01 or anything, I would not feed that day/do a water change. When it was back 0, I continued my routine. Alk, mag, and calcium every 2 days for first 2 months and now once a month. Nitrates remained at 5-10 and I eventually stopped testing it 2months in because to me, if nitrates are under 15, it really doesnt matter. With all this being said, Im curious to why you run gfo/carbon and all those other things that take out nutrients and particles that can help your new tank establish and mature.
I am definitely down to experiment. That is my favorite part about science. Ill take your shriveled hammer and give you a bicolor hammer? Purple tip and green tentacle. Not sure what color your hammer is from your picture. I can also give you zoas or mushrooms if you want some tougher corals.
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