Getting some LPS - Have a few questions

[zmazza]

I'm getting ready to purchase a few small frags for my 29 gallon tank. It's got about 50 lbs of live rock, 20 lbs of live reef sand, a maxijet 600, and an empty RENA XP2 for flow with the spraybar. It's got 192 watts of 6700k bulbs. I probably won't have actinic and 10,000k until Christmas.

It's got two ocellaris clownfish, a yellow watchman goby, and for the time being, two small yellowtail damsels. These are going to be going back, more than likely.

0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, about 20 or so nitrate.

I'm looking into getting a few small frags of Brain Coral, Hammer Coral, Goniopora, and possibly frogspawn.

Are these corals easy to take care of? Does it require the addition of certain supplements? If i'm looking for the easiest corals, are these going to be them? I heard the zooanthids are the most poisonous corals.... are any of these corals dangerous or harmful to work with? Will these corals do well in my tank?

I'm currently running tap water until June, and then I will have my RO filter. It's hard, alkaline water. About 8.3 out of the tap. Could I have corals using this water? or would it be best to get the RO filter first? The nitrates seem to be running very low because of the small number of fish.

Thanks for humoring my questions. I look forward to the replies!

If you know of any other corals that would be easy and beautiful in the aquarium, let me know. I love the zooanthids, and they have to be one of my favorite corals, but I just don't feel comfortable working with something so poisonous. I'm afraid I will forget to wash my hands or something, lol. Better safe than sorry.

P.S. Something I forgot to add.... I'm getting ready to split the shipping costs with a friend on an order from Drsfostersmith.com. I just found a small candy cane coral for 24 bucks. These corals are extremely beautiful. Would I be able to put one in my system right now? My nitrates are in check and what not... tank is cycled. Still relatively new though.

I'd be ordering the small 2-3" one. As far as trace elements and feeding go... what is recommended? Do they grow quickly? Are they easy to propagate? Are they toxic?

Thanks again!!

 

[David Grigor]

You may get by with tap-water. I personally would never recommend it. Once algae starts to take over it can be a challenge over many months to get rid of. Using RO/DI water for all topoff and water changes will help minimize the addition of nitrate and equally important phosphates/silicates.

With good water changes schedules you shouldn't need any trace element additives. However, you will need to monitor and supplement for ALK and CA. Salifert brand test kits for both ALK and CA are highly recommended and pretty much set the standard. There are many methods of maintaining your ALK and CA level so need to do some research and find what best suits you. For a small tank the 2 part solutions may be a good fit for now. Need to target 7DKH minimum for your ALK and 380ppm for CA as a minimum.


Skip the Goniopora. They have special feeding requirements that your probably not ready for yet. All the others should do okay and can spot feed them occasionally with mysis or krill shrimp.

People have been known to have allegic type reactions to zoanthids, however for most they pose no real danger. Just wash your hands after handling them.

 

[zmazza]

A person at a saltwater only store told me that if I handled them and then ate something without washing my hands that it would kill me. That kind of worries me. I may forget to wash my hands or something.

It's amazing with my tap water because I haven't had the least bit of trouble with algae. I added two snails and two hermit crabs early, and I haven't seen any signs of algae.

When you say two part solution... are there any that you recommend?

So the brain coral, hammer coral or frogspawn should be OK to add? They should be fine until I get my RO unit?

 

[Jacob D]

Most likely you will have success with the LPS you listed, other than the goni, as David already stated. Many soft corals are very hardy as well. The thing with zoanthids gets a little blown out of proportion.

It's probably good practice to always wash your hands after they've been in the tank but if you don't the chances you'll die are very slim. There is a certain zoanthid (a palythoa actually) from a certain geographical location that is known to contain a very toxic substance called palytoxin. There are lots of other nasty things in your tank that I'm sure will make you very ill (...waiting for someone to post the link to the exlpoding thumb) and I wuould be more concerned with washing my hands (and not having open wounds) because of these.

 

[zmazza]

I wash my hands after sticking them in the tank. It always makes my arms feel really sticky, the saltwater and all. I'm leaning towards the brain coral and candy cane coral. They have both at drsfostersmith for a really good price. Do they grow fast? I'm looking for something easy that I can propagate a lot.

Would both of those do well under 192 watts of 6700k lighting?

 

[zmazza]

Wow! I just found a great looking coral... The fluorescent green mushroom coral. Are those easy to take care of? They really look great in the pictures. I'm thoroughly impressed. It says they will form a carpet on your rocks and sand. Will they attack other corals? Like the frogspawn, hammer, or brain corals?

Does the mushroom grow quickly?