First time coral keeper

[Jpizzle]

Hi, I'm new to these forums but have been keeping FW and SW fish-only tanks for a while now. I frequent the WWM forums so yes, this is the same Jpizzle. But onto the real issue.

Equipment for my 29 gal. tank: prizm skimmer, 2 powerheads ~250 gph. 70 lbs of LR and 3-4 in. DSB. 50/50 55 watt retrofit kit via coralife.

All readings are optimal except my calcium level, bought test kit yesterday and I'm at about 350 ppm and am adding small doses of kent marine liquid calcium daily to slowly bring it up.

Current inhabitants: 1 false perc, 1 royal gramma, 2 neon gobies. 3 peppermint shrimp, 1 fire shrimp, 2 cleaners (I know it's a lot, they all get along just fine and are molting regularly, I recently downsized from my 55 gal. FOWLR to afford low-cost and low-wattage reef lighting :? ) Few astrea snails, buncha red-leg and blue-legged hermits) Few olive snails that do a great job in burrowing and mixing the sand bed.

First question is about the olive snails, I've tried researching info and reading books on them, and I've read they aren't reef safe. I never see my olive snails off the substrate and have never ever seen them on the rockwork. When my calcium levels are 400-450 I will introduce corals, which ones are my next question, and with the amount of LR I have you can imagine it's stacked up high close to the lights, and I will be placing corals close to the lights because of the low wattage I have. Anyone have experience with olive snails? are they not reef safe?

Next question is about my coral stocking possibilities. I know my wattage is quite low. Here's my wish list and please advise me whether this is feasible. Zoanthids and mushrooms for now... I was hoping for Xenia, green star polyps, and frogspawn placed real close to the lights up on the rock work. I will only try zoos and shrooms for now due to my inexperience with corals.. but will I have to upgrade lighting in order to keep the other stuff?

I have a 20 gal long that's not in use that's the same hood as the 29... so in the distant future I'm probably going to upgrade my lighting anyways along with a new skimmer (probably CPR bakpak) and put the prizm and old hood with the 50/50 lighting on the 20 long... but not until I get some solid experience with corals and more money

 

[melanotaenia1]

You can get a cheap power compact hood that would fit the 29 or the 20 long and supply light for mushrooms, polyps, and some xenia and even some soft corals, but the real question is if you are willing to plop down the money for these live animals, surely you can afford to upgrade the lighting first, I know patience is essential. I would go with two power compact lights at 55 or 65 watts each and that should give you sufficient light to keep what you have described except for the frogspawn. Try ebay for some cheap retrofits or aluminum power compact hoods which could run you under 100 bucks and save you a ton in the long run in terms of livestock.

I have kept many species alive with power compacts and have had excellent results, and your live rock will benefit from the added light too. I would probably remove some of the LR however unless you can successfully stack it so that you can achieve a reef look while still leaving room for corals. Possibly consider a hang on tank refug to put the extra rock in and some of your live sand to hatch some copepods and macroalgaes etc. I have a couple olive snails in my under tank refug with no problems but none in the main setup, I would think that if they ever become a problem they could always be moved into a refugium of some sort so you can keep them without having them destroy your reef

Good Luck.

 

[Mikef1]

As far as mushrooms go you would be ok, but I wouldnt place a frogspawn under that lighting.