hey just joined wanted some feed back

[doorag1]

well hello all i am to manhattan reef was considering moving up to a reef tank. have had my fowlr up and running for a bit more than a year. was curious as to what corals would be right for me. ive never kept any coral. was trying to keep this as "inexpensive" as possible figure if i mess it up and kill the lil critter at least ill hurt me not the wallet. any advice would help and thankyou all in advance

 

[thirty6]

Welcome

Hard to answer the question without some insight as to what equip you currently have or are considering to buy to support the reef. (lighting, skimmer, ro unit, power heads for flow, ECt) also what fish/live stock do you have currently as some may not be reef safe

 

[NL146]

Welcome to MR! It really depends on what your goals and budget are. You're at the right place to do research (check out the site search function - there's a wealth of information here), plus lots of info on the web. What equipment do you already have? What size is your tank? What fish do you already have? Some fish are not reef safe. Tell us more about your setup and where you'd like to go.

 

[NL146]

Yeah, what he said lol!

 

[doorag1]

well i got a 55 gal tank with 2 koralia 600 pumps, current compact fluoresent light running 2 65w dual actinic 420/460 and 2 65w dual day light 6700k/10,000k, a chiller my basement gets hot in the summer, in my 30 gal diy sump a hang on red sea prizm skimmer, aqueon power filter with just carbon, coral life turbo twist uv sterilizer 3x that friend gave me he swears by them said he had ich once some guy told him to uv he never had ich again so i figured it couldn't hurt and i've never had ich so who knows,and a phos reactor.oh yeah and an ATO over the last year or so i added a few snails some hermit crabs and of course some fish some with success others not not so successful.the snail and hermits are find oh yeah an 1 peppermint shrimp. as far as fish i've tried to keep it all reef safe fish cause a reef was my intention i have a pajama cardinal , yellow tang , chalk basslet , and a firefish. i had a clown die on me, a coral banded shrimp but i think the shrimp was a acclimation issues.as far as water quality ammonia =0 nitrite=0 nirtates= 0-10 alk= 8-10 dkh salinity=1.023-1.028 phosphates=0.8-0.11 temp=78-79 ph=8.0-8.2 i have hanna checkers for alk and phos recently got the one for calcium when i test it tells me 540-570ppm dont know if im messing up the test or what that seem high from what ive heard

 

[doorag1]

and i have an ro/di unit hope i gave you everything lol

 

[Mansped]

Try starting with star polyps

 

[DSNYshellback]

Keep a eye on the pep shrimp,
I have heard mixed reviews on them nipping at corals and others dont have a problem.

Either way good Luck and welocome
Sent from my ADR6400L using Reefs