Some help for a newb

[mattyp]

Well I've had my tank going for about 6 months now and everything is going pretty good. So I want to start adding some corals....Currently my setup is a 35 gallon hex. I have about 4 inchs of Live sand on bottom, 15 lbs fiji. I plan on adding more live rock as I just put the rock towards the back of the tank. The tank has very limited space... As for lighting I have a 20" orbit with 10k/6700 dual and 420nm/460nm Actinic with 2 lunar lights. I have 1 Maxijet 1200 and another pw that is pretty useless.

I let the tank cycle for about a month or so and added a Damsel(test fish :roll: ) and then a percula clown.
Temp: 81
Ph: 8.0 - 8.1
Nitrate : 0
Amm: 0
AK/ Cal : Picking up the testers tomorrow

My only Question is what type of corals will I be able to keep? From my searching I didn't find any answers(hex tank depth a problem?)

Anyways I just figured I'd give out all the info so there's no questions..I just want a pretty coral or 2.

Oh I have 4 Nassarius snails a 6 mexican turbos for cleanup.
I don't want to jump right in and kill any corals so I've been taking it slow...

 

[Anonymous]

Mushroom Corals are the perfect starter coral. There are lots of pretty onces and they are hardy enough to survive the occational mistake.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Mattyp.
I'll be excited to see the replies to this thread, as I'm in the same situation as you!

Good luck!

Anne

 

[Anonymous]

Like guy said, mushrooms are great to start with. 'Twas my first coral!

Xenia would be a good one as well.

You could add some finger leather (sinularia), preferably up high once you get more rock, but I would increase your current with another MJ1200 before doing so.

 

[mattyp]

Thank you very much for the replies! I Just ordered the MJ1200 from Marine Depot and I think I may pick up 20lbs of fiji this Friday if everything goes well this week.

I'll be researching mushrooms and xenia corals as well.
Thank you for all the info!

 

[mattyp]

Oh as for Mushrooms and Xenia are there any specific kinds I should be looking into? Anyone have a link?

 

[mattyp]

I was looking Zomania and came across Hell's Gate Zoanthids and was wondering about them? Any personal experiances with them?

I was looking at them because I saw in this thread that they were pretty easy to car for.

 

[Anonymous]

matty,
Zoas need more light. Some need as much as sps corals. Stay with mushrooms, leathers and xenia. You'll have a very beatiful tank with those. 8)

 

[cjsrch]

i did what your doing on rc and asked what can i have... and sadly i jumped into it too fast and lost my entire tank EXCEPT THAT ONE EVIL DANMSUL!!! ( and i actualy love the danmsuls i have 3 that i kept from old tank) research the coral . dont trust any one on this site or anyother unless they are "an expert" how to decide who is and who isnt.. well i mean profesinols. books biologist and so on

still remember take your time.
everytime you add anything ( ESPECIALY LR ) to the tank it will go throu a nother cycle. so i say cure the lr else where or add slowly. ( less then a pound a week)

rememebr no such thing as precured

 

[Anonymous]

Oh as for Mushrooms and Xenia are there any specific kinds I should be looking into? Anyone have a link?

Any Discosoma sp. mushrooms will do well. Any Xenia as well.

As for xenia, I would try and find it locally if you can, it has been my experience that it really gets stressed by shipping and can take a while to "come around" once you get it in the tank.

Once established however, it is quite hardy. I did very well with my first tank that had xenia, it grew so nicely I was harvesting it twice a month to trade for other corals at the fish store.

 

[mattyp]

Awesome thank you very much for all you're replies!

 

[mattyp]

Now I need an ID on this pesky little critter... :lol:

 

[Anonymous]

Looks like a parasite

 

[tazdevil]

That's known as the you won't get any sleep now, or when I'm a teenager, isopod. They're very dangerous, and known to multiply every few years. Extreme measures are required to prevent this.

 

[ChrisRD]

:lol:

 

[mattyp]

hahahha I get plenty of sleep now! She's been sleeping through the night since she was 2 weeks old. Now at 3 months she doesn't stop smiling :lol:

 

[Sula]

Possible future causes of parental sleep deprivation:
Teething
Nightmares
The flu
Slumber parties
Ringing telephones
Dates with older boys
Prom

Get that sleep now while you can :lol:

 

[SnowManSnow]

Can I suggest somthing for shrooms? Place them in such a way that they CAN be taken out if wanted. Although they are a good starter coral, they can take over a tank over a period of time. It isn't anything that's going to happen overnight.. just be aware.

Zoas are also pretty simple to keep and aren't extreamly light hungry.

B.

 

[Anonymous]

I am in the exact same situation as you, I have the same orbit light, the same parameters, but I have about 25 pounds of Marshall Island rock. These guys are pretty much right on, I have mushrooms, and my tank is only 4 months old, and they are doing fine, also being sorta of a newbie, I did a reef 7 years ago ( its a lot easier now!), I have other "easy" corals in there. These are all frags, so they are pretty small, Zoanthids, really do great under that orbit, I have had mine for one week and already I have 4 new polyps coming off of the original, my green star polyps are doing great, but sometimes people think they are weeds, but if you are a beginner like me, they are great. I also have a bubble coral which is a stony, it is doing fine with the orbit, in fact it has grown 1 cm in the past 2 weeks...So to make it short, get some small frags, my local lfs just gave me the zoas, of the above they are big confidence builders, then go with some thing more difficult. hope that helps a bit