Corals for my office pico

[ryeguyy84]

Good morning all, I'm looking to fill up my pico with some hearty corals. I have some green star polyps and purple mushrooms I can cut from my main tank . What are some other lower light hearty corals for a 4 gallon tank?

It's an innovative marine 4 with stock lighting.

Thanks!

 

[davidadelp]

Any soft coral is hardy and will hold up well. I personally like the Zoas there are so many different colors its unreal!

 

[ryeguyy84]

I've never had luck with zoas. I put them in, they spread to nearby rocks, then one day like 6 months later they close up or only open half way. Happens every time it drives me nuts

 

[tommer725]

Try zoas one more time. Very hardy corals that grow easily: kenya tree,xenia,finger leathers or leathers of any kind,and montipora grows crazy in established tank with proper calcium. I have all of these and they are very hardy for a office tank. Man if I was closer I would sell you some easy ones. I could ship them to if you want, but you sound like you want something local.

 

[ryeguyy84]

I appreciate the suggestions I will give zoas a third try because they do look awesome. I bought some green shrooms, a dunkin, trumpet, and a hammer. The store didn't have any zoas that caught my eye just brown and green.

 

[ryeguyy84]

Tommer do you have any blue Zoas?

 

[tommer725]

I will in a week

 

[tommer725]

If you are interested in anything, the nano forum is not the selling forum! But pm me if interested in anything, I have all sorts of stuff that is easy to keep

 

[FishNutty]

Not a coral, but maxi mini carpet nems are really nice, once they find a spot they like they don't really move, and you can keep them in lower light than most other nems, especially if you feed them mysis once a week or so. I've got mine on a little rock island by itself in my 12 gallon and it's worked out really well.

Be careful about dropping a ton of money on xenia, it's hit or miss for a lot of people, so if you're on a limited budget, try to find a single stalk and test it. I've tried it several times, and can't get it to grow even a little, much less thrive :/

 

[ryeguyy84]

I did a little drawing, what does everyone think of my new plan?

Also, the more I look at the coral on the bottom left the more I think it's not a trumpet. Can anyone confirm? :hmm3:

 

[ryeguyy84]

Not a coral, but maxi mini carpet nems are really nice, once they find a spot they like they don't really move, and you can keep them in lower light than most other nems, especially if you feed them mysis once a week or so. I've got mine on a little rock island by itself in my 12 gallon and it's worked out really well.

Be careful about dropping a ton of money on xenia, it's hit or miss for a lot of people, so if you're on a limited budget, try to find a single stalk and test it. I've tried it several times, and can't get it to grow even a little, much less thrive :/

hmm once the tank ages a little I'm going to have to look into these. they would be perfect for sexy shrimp. I'm only 2 or 3 weeks in but it was mostly seeded from my other tank so the cycle was practically non-existant.

I'm still wondering if the lighting on the tank would be sufficient? I'm still not 100% sold that three 1W LEDs are enough, but I'm resisting the urge to make something (like two or three 3W leds).