anyone have coral advice?

[jaydm93teg]

Ok i have an 80 gallon tank with 8 T5's on it.......currently just LR and LS and 3 green chromis in there...............here is what its going to have.....

2 maroon and gold clowns
1 dwarf ebili angel
1 bar goby
1 fire fish
1 Dori (regal tang) i think is the name


my question is this........do you guys have any recommendations or advice on what corals to add first or how fast to add them.........i dont currently have a sump not or anything just your typical AGA with HOB filter and HOB skimmer..........i love the look of zooas and frogspawn and hammer coral and anemones all that stuff i guess when it comes down to it i like softies i would love to have some hard coral but want to start with soft as they seem to be a little easier to care for???

please if you have any input or suggestions that would be great, also at this time i dont have the option to drill and have a sump that will come later on, as im just getting set up in the bigger tank and getting a real feel for corals

 

[slayer]

how long has the tank been up?...most people start with softies in their tank,, but you have lights that are good enough to keep the things you mentioned alive...go slow, adding one or two corals at time then build from there.. lps are generally more easier to keep then sps,,, a hammer or frogspawn would be a great way to start out,,,

 

[jaydm93teg]

tank has been set up for probably 6 weeks now..........i have some frogspawn and one little colonyh of zoas in my 12 gallon nano and they are doing great under PC's.............so like adding one or two frags every 2 weeks??

what about xenia good or bad?

i love the look of coral filled tanks hard and soft but just dont know anything about anything when it comes to the corals

 

[gwhiz]

Stay with easy to care for softies for now...Kenya tree, xenia, gsp...you've got enough lighting for SPS, but not enough filtration. You'll need to stay on top of water changes.

Do you have powerheads for flow, or just the HOB filter?

 

[jaydm93teg]

well i am breaking down my 29 gallon i have 2 MJ 400's but was looking for a couple of MJ, 900's or 1200's to replace the 400's with.......I have been offered the upgrade wave maker kits for the 400's said it makes them put out some good flow??

 

[jaydm93teg]

like i see all these frag for sale threads with blastos and digi and tort and all that and i really have no clue what to put dibs on??? i mean i dont want to buy something before someone else that wants it just because i saw the thread before them i would rather it live in their tank than die in mine but i want to start learning and getting into corals

 

[slayer]

not to bust your bubble or anything, a 6 week old tank wont support sps. You'll prob stuggle to keep lps alive also. im surprised the fish are doing well, did you use existing rock/ livesand from your 29 gall? i would wait a little longer before throwing in more expensive coral.. not to say you cant do it, but you might not be happy with the results... sps and lps require a more mature tank to trive (note i didnt say survive)

 

[jaydm93teg]

yeah all the rock came from established tanks some from my 29 some from a guy off craigslist that broke down his 90 also the sand half was new sand and the other half was from my 29 gallon..............the tank itslef cycled for 6 weeks with just LR and LS and i used that jump start cycle buffer stuff from the LFS.......i just put the 3 chromis in there about 3 days ago and they have done perfect eating swimming everything....i was gonna wait about another week and add my bar goby from my 29.....then wait another week and add my ebili angel from my 29....then wait another week and add the firefish from my 29..........all the while i was gonna try and add a frag at a time so the first frag would go in i guess a week or two from now so the tank wouldve been up for 10 weeks..................and yeah i knwo ur not busting my bubble but thats why i started this thread i wanted to knwo which coral i should add first


and i dont know what SPS and LPS mean.......i knwo they are small polyp and large polyp stonies but i couldnt tell u what that means........im just being honest even if i sound dumb

 

[gwhiz]

Do your research and keep a list. Get a good coral book or check on line. For example, check on those three right now and see if they might be a fit for your tank and write down the ones that are. Then when they come up again you'll know that blasto's might be a yes, where the other two probably aren't at this point.

Buying something without understanding its needs is a bad idea....

(FYI--Blastos are an LPS, digi's and torts are SPS.)

 

[jaydm93teg]

o i absolutly agree i was just hoping u guys could tell me a few hints as to what to start my research on so im not looking at all this advanced and good looking coral when i shoudl be looking at stuff that nobody really post for sale because they are beginner coral and nobody buys them u know..........dont get me wrong im not looking for someone to tell me how to run my tank but just a few pointers like he said kenya tree xenia i will look into those.....what about shrooms any good beginner shrooms i should begin to research??

 

[slayer]

this is what the site is for...no dumb questions here,,

lps corals have a more fleshly tissue and retract into a skeleton
sps corals have very tiny polyps, hance their name..

give it time, you'll have it down.. a hammer and frogspawn is still prob what you want to add first, if your in a hurry,, but remember one of the golden reefing rules - "nothing good happens quickly in reefing"

 

[ralph atl]

you'll have to maintain all these parems within range 24-7 for a few months of stability before you should put any stonies in your tank.

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/index.php">http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/index.php</a>


here's some more info:

[IMG]http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=102605">http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=102605</a>

 

[jaydm93teg]

so really i need a saltwater test kit as well as an alkalinity test kit and a calcium test kit?

is there one kit that comes with everything i will need to monitor the params of my water?

i have just been taking a sample to the LFS but i dont think t hey test for all this for me

 

[ralph atl]

you would need to make sure you have a supplemental system for Calcium & Alk, etc. There are a few choices from dosing the "2 Part", Kalkwasser, Calcium Reactor, etc. Test kits would be another investment. You could get by with API on most measurements, however, I would recommend Elos for Calcium, Magnesium, Nitrates, & DD Merck for phosphates.

 

[jaydm93teg]

what do u mean supplemental system? Like I can't just test for it and dose as needed. R u saying I need more hardware for the tank when I say hardware Im referring to skimmer and filter etc.

 

[gwhiz]

He's saying that you'll need to be able to maintain Calc and Alk levels--LPS and SPS require higher Calc and Alk levels than softies due--they need the calcium to grow. You can maintain them either by dosing (his reference to 2-part) or by adding hardware...i.e. Kalk reactor, calcium reactor, etc.

Lots of people just dose to maintain those levels--as you get more LPS/SPS you end up dosing higher amounts and moving to a reactor as it's more cost effective. I started by dosing, then moved to a Kalk reactor. I suspect a calcium reactor is in my future.