Coral starting help

C

Captainfester

Master of the Sea
Hey ct people.

I have my tank up and running for a couple weeks went fowler as I was working with pc lighting. I upgraded to a 4 bulb t5 setup with led moonlights and now want to move to a reef setup.

However I have no idea where to start or what to look for. Thoughts advice tips on what to get and where to get a deal.

Thanks!
 
Well your tank won't be completely cycled in two weeks. Did you decide to cycle it with the LR?

What are your current parameters?

My suggestion would be to start with one fish and something like Kenya Tree- I will happily give you a piece of it- once your nitrites are at 0.
 
Sould have been more clear. Couple weeks meant since end of may. Tank was totally live sand and rock and I have quite the bio load in there already.
 
Do you have any fish or corals in there yet? If you are at 0 nitrates and know your tank is cycled then I would start with some easy softie corals such as candy cane, frogspawn or hammer coral or the xenia like Insane said. Zoas/palys are good too. Decide what kind of reef you want and then start with some small frags.

Usually our board is really good about offering up frags for newcomers. Even if they are for sale they will be much cheaper than buying them in the LFS. And then if they don't make it you didn't spend a lot.
 
personally, i wouldnt put any kenya tree in there, but its a matter of preference...

i agree you should post your paramters and what kind of corals you are looking to keep... sps, lps, softies and zoas/palys only? mixed reef? lets start with what interest you, can then we can advise...

i would be more than happy to lend my thoughts if it might help you at :)
 
+1 for making sure your tanks cycled before adding livestock. A lil raw shrimp or fish food and some bacterial additives will speed things up but I've seen some one add a few corals and keep them alive as they had very low no3 levels at that time. when you do start adding things go slow. As your tank matures with more live stock and bio load you can most likely expect a couple algae cycles that should pass as time goes on as your tank comes to a balance. A qt holding/set up may save some serious heart ache and wallet pains also. Not preaching in any way and I'm also unaware of your experience level, these are all mistakes I am guilty of making (woops) and have learned from some of them. A small tank and two weeks proactive copper takes care of most fish and I cross my fingers as I dip any new corals.

That being said when your nitrates hit 0-5ppm hit me up, send me a pm, I can give you a couple frags to get you going. I have some hammer and a couple nice :) palys for you. I might be a little ride but it would be worth it and they should do well for you. I had some very cool club members hook me up and would like to "pay it forward". As for fish puppy center, fintastic, and krystle clear (in mass) are my choices.
Have you joined up w the club yet? They are a great bunch and endless source of info, contacts, and "reef friends".
 
Tank cycled in less than a week. Everything came from a running tank. I have in there some clowns chromis flame angel watchmen goby pj cardinals and cuc.

Here's the thing I don't know much about coral and which types are what. I'll do a test of the water and post up current levels tonight.
 
What kind of T5 set-up? Does it have individual reflectors for each bulb? What bulbs did you get? The lighting will help dictate the best corals and where to place them in the tank.

I would suggest doing some research on corals you may want. Like Pallobi said, some folks like Kenya Trees while others find them more of a nuisance. Based on your lighting, I would develop a scheme; even draw it out if you are a visual person.
 
Doesn't say anything about the reflectors in the link. But you definitely would be able to keep softies, LPS, zoas etc. Probably some SPS and clams high up in the tank. I kept a clam with the stock RSM lights. Those weren't even real T5 bulbs either. But that's besides the point:lol2:

I don't like xenia myself but some people do. Some corals can get out of control like xenia, green star polyps and some mushrooms. If you do get those you might want to put them on an "island" so you can contain them. Look through Live Aquaria at the descriptions and pictures. You can get an idea of what you like. My very first coral in all my tanks was either a frogspawn or hammer coral. Some people say you shouldn't mix a softie tank with SPS. I have a little of both. Maybe others can chime in on this subject.
 
thanks!

can someone give me a breakdown of easiest to hardest to keep types... sps vs sps / zoas... etc

i dont want to go out and spend money on something i shouldnt that will just die + some of these things are rare and shouldnt be taken home and killed willy nilly
 
icycoral said:
+1 for making sure your tanks cycled before adding livestock. A lil raw shrimp or fish food and some bacterial additives will speed things up but I've seen some one add a few corals and keep them alive as they had very low no3 levels at that time. when you do start adding things go slow. As your tank matures with more live stock and bio load you can most likely expect a couple algae cycles that should pass as time goes on as your tank comes to a balance. A qt holding/set up may save some serious heart ache and wallet pains also. Not preaching in any way and I'm also unaware of your experience level, these are all mistakes I am guilty of making (woops) and have learned from some of them. A small tank and two weeks proactive copper takes care of most fish and I cross my fingers as I dip any new corals.

That being said when your nitrates hit 0-5ppm hit me up, send me a pm, I can give you a couple frags to get you going. I have some hammer and a couple nice :) palys for you. I might be a little ride but it would be worth it and they should do well for you. I had some very cool club members hook me up and would like to "pay it forward". As for fish puppy center, fintastic, and krystle clear (in mass) are my choices.
Have you joined up w the club yet? They are a great bunch and endless source of info, contacts, and "reef friends".
Click to expand...


that is very nice of you. i have not joined the club yet as i got into the hobby just after the last meeting and am just waiting for the next one to show up to and join.

had a few mini cycles along the way as you indicated above but all seems well and pretty well balanced. i will do a test and post tonight full param
 
awesome! I hear there's a bbq coming up ;)
yeah some of the stuff I started with was xenia brown button palys and couple others. I finally managed to kill off almost all of them lol. but they were good to start with as bullets wouldn't stop them. then I tried a few pieces of lps which did well and moved up to sps when I got my first halide. I always did my home work before adding something and keep progressing to harder to keep and more exotic sps. I keep a pretty mixed reef(sps,lps,zoa/paly's,and even a couple gorgonians) and find its not easy to keep everything happy in such a small tank. but very rewarding when you do. my experience has been not to drive yourself crazy seeking specific tank params but to maintain consistency.

some good beginner stuff would be mushrooms,lps, and softies. with the shrooms be careful they can spread and irritate sps corals. zoas and palys, get the nice one's. if they start to grow onto your rocks and you decide you dont like them they can be pita to remove. For lps hammer, frog spawn, torch, and the rest in that family can be easy to keep and are pretty cool. Also plate corals, tongues, brains, and favias are easy to keep and fun to feed. I have not had any good luck with acans and haven't found one I cant kill :( but they may do good for you. my biggest suggestions are, see whats available, read up on it, and if its something you like, go for it. Add things slowly over time, don't place a large order online all at once. going from no demand on your system to having to keep a full tank content could lead to trouble for you.
 
I have also been helped with new stocking. I have some softies, Eric, Icycoral, would probably able to guide you on what I might be able to frag to help you. Eric has seen my tanks that is why I defer to him. P.S. thanks, Eric:wave: Please keep in mind not to overload your tank at one time. I will be there so dont worry about getting to me first.
 
more to the point of your question. with softies, mushrooms , kenya, xenia, leathers, zoas and palys you wont need to really worry about supplementing any calc or alk. they are photosynthetic and don't need to be fed. With lps you will see a demand for calc and alk and prolly have to start supplementing those. Lps are also photosynthetic but will feed, some folks feed theirs some don't. With sps you will need very clean, low nutrient water, high flow areas, high light and good stability in your tank. I would say that is the statistical order of difficulty with a few exceptions here and there.
 
Awesome, that's a good start man! You are def going to want to invest in good tests for alk calc and maybe mag, here's why. Alk should be maintained religiously imho. If your alk swings wildly it can irritate and even kill some animals. If it drops too low your ph will fall. Calc is used in the building of coral skeletons coraline algea and inverts like clams and crabs. I used to be real picky about calc levels but now am happy w anything over 360ppm. Mag works like a buffer between calc and alk. With higher mag levels you can keep more calcium in solution with lower alk. Ie if you want a calc level of 420 ppm and a alk of 7dkh, close to nsw, you may need a mag level of 1350-1450 to get your calcium that high. Also phosphates cause calc to precipitate so if you have good mag and alk and low calc that could be something to look at.
I don't think you need to run out and drop a stack on a slew of test kits right away, but over time something to collect. For kits I like elos and the new series of redsea kits. I used API for alk for about two years and still keep it on hand to double check results. Take a sample to a lfs or "reef buddies" house and find out where you are at with these levels. You won't need to be checking these all the time, more often in the beginning and when making changes, less as you start to get a feel for what your tank needs.
I'm no reef chemistry expert this is just what I've picked up over time. If I am incorrect with any info hopefully some others will chime in and correct me. You may want to look up threads and posts by Randy Holmes-Farley. He is a reef chemistry guru and well known on RC for his insight into reef chemistry and can resolve questions with answers simple enough for paris Hilton to follow or with enough complexity to nessesitate a doctorate in organic chemistry to understand.
Hope this doesnt seem to overwhelming, after you get the swing of it it's like riding a bike. Gas, clutch, hold on, easy right. But riding a bike doesn't make me crazy like when a hermit crab dumps your new expensive zoa in the sand upside down while your at work grrr. Sorry for the terrible grammar and hope this is helpful.
GL
 
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