I got my first corals! Pictures + ID's + recommendations

CoreyK

New member
Hello,
I have been in the process of setting up a 20g as my first endeavor into reefkeeping. I'm just planning on some basic, hardy corals, and a small fish or two, as a sort of budget introduction to the hobby.
Anyway, as the tank finished cycling a week or two ago, I did a 25% PWC and set off to the LFS to pick up my first corals.
I came home with these guys -
Zoas:
FirstCorals.JPG

FirstCorals1.JPG


and a blue mushroom:
FirstCorals2.JPG

FirstCorals3.JPG


And a FTS:
FirstCorals4.JPG


Questions -

1) Can anyone ID these corals for me? I think the mushroom is a discosoma species?
2) How does the placement of the corals look? My lighting is a 65w 50/50 PC, so I'm a little over 3wpg.
Please note that the mushroom has been moving quite a bit.
FirstCorals5.JPG

I first placed it on the ledge to the upper right in this picture, which it promptly base-jumped off of and has since moved into the shade. I'm assuming it will acclimate to the light and perhaps move out into it in the future.

3) Should I give the mushroom a small piece of LR to attach to, or is it okay to be on the substrate?
4) Should I give the Zoas some direct flow? They don't have much right now.
5) I'm not dosing anything into the tank. Are these corals going to need anything?

I apologize for the noob questions.
Any input is appreciated,
Thanks!
 
Nice looking tank. I'm a noob as well, but in my experience so far, the mushrooms prefer direct light, yours looks like it might be in a shadow. The corals also do need supplements, I'm currently using a Reef Pack, so twice a week they get Reef Complete, Reef Carbonate and Reef Plus. Every second day they get some Reef Iodide. You need to make sure that your calcium is around 400-450ppm.
This is what I have learnt so far, if I am wrong or if someone has other information, please let me know.
BTW, what sort of shrimp is that?
 
those corals don't need any extra supplimenting. but keeping your alk. mag. and cal. within good levels will help with coraline alage and diff. corals later on.

remember only add to your tank things you can test for. if you can't test for it, then no need to add it, as you could be overdosing which is alot worse.
 
Looks nice so far. Id get the shroom out of the shade and get it to attach to a piece of live rock. There are different ways to do this. You can use fishing line and "sew" it to the rock.(use a needle and put the line through the mushroom and then tie it to the rock. I have used the netting from a bag of onions, cut it and wrapped the mushroom and the rock, left it there for about 10 days and it attaches. You might be able to directly glue it to a rock with superglue as well. You can also put a small piece of rubble in a cup, put the mushroom in there and with no flow it will attach to the rock. You can then epoxy the piece of rubble where you want it.
 
Thanks for the replies.
I didn't think I needed to dose anything for these soft corals, just wanted to make sure.
Salty - this may seem like a stupid question, but I'm assuming there's a reason that the mushroom moved to the shade? Couldn't attaching it and moving it into light be bad for it? I was just gonna let it acclimate to the tank and see if it moves out on its own.
 
Back
Top