Coral selection, clam, starfish

[Rlumenator]

I have a 155 tank, live rock, hippo tang,rainford goby, tiger goby, hermit crabs, and snails. What would be good beginner corals for me? 79 degrees.Also,we would like a clam down the road and colorful starfish. What combos would work best?

 

[liquid]

Hi Dawn!

First off, what lighting do you have? The lighting you have is going to ultimately dictate what coral species you can keep. If you're interested in clams, you're going to probably need at least 250 watts of metal halide lighting. The corals you decide to keep may need more or less than this amount depending on what you want in your tank.

Shane

 

[Rlumenator]

Shane, 8 compact VHO 965 w. each or 520 w. (4) of the eight are actinic, and they are on timers. 12 hrs they are all on, and for one hour prior and one hour after, (2) actinic only are on. The lighting is fine, it's just that the aquar. is new, and I want to make hardy, yet colorful selections

 

[liquid]

If you have VHO's then you're pretty much set for keeping soft corals and some LPS. SPS like Acropora, Hynophora, etc are probably out tho. You *might* be able to keep a Deresa clam w/ VHO and if I were to attempt it, I'd place it high on the rocks to get it close to the lights. Do you have any specific coral species in mind that you are wondering about? I know that Green Star Polyps, mushrooms, Xenia, leathers, Zoanthids, Capnella, Nephthea, etc will all do well under your lighting.

Shane

 

[Rlumenator]

What is LPS and SPS? I am open to ideas. as to types. Thank you.

 

[Anonymous]

Musrooms are a good starter but are not really corals. They come in many different colors and most just need low to moderate light. I had one that I could feed small pieces of fish. Real cool to watch it eat.

 

[liquid]

What is LPS and SPS? I am open to ideas. as to types. Thank you.

Ah. Probably the best thing I can recommend at this point would be to obtain a copy of Borneman's Aquarium Corals book ( http://reefs.org/library/reading/corals/coral.html ) as it's probably the most thorough book out there at the present time for hobbyists. You can either purchase one from any of our sponsors (linked above) or you can get it on interlibrary loan from your local library.

LPS = Long Polyped Stony corals. These would include bubble coral, frogspawn, lobophyllia, trachyphilia, etc.

SPS = Small Polyped Stony corals. These would include Acropora, Pocillopora, Porites, etc.

Most beginner corals I recommend are soft corals and any of the above mentioned soft corals (see previous post) would do fine. If you are interested in seeing what some of them look like, head over to our sponsors' websites and take a look around at the different species.

hth

Shane

 

[Anonymous]

Dawn
I have seen people sucessfully keep Clams under VHO but it would probably be wise to add MH's along with the VHO's...


8)

 

[Anonymous]

Oh another thing Dawn, starfish, Later on a Blue Linckia might be good but i would definitelly go with any of the serpent stars...Check out Liveaquaria.com and you can get an idea of the stars and corals...they have an excellent selection of starter packs for beginners