Mighty Quinn
New member
Greetings Everyone,
This is a long thread, so I will start with the main question that I have for you: Assuming someone gives you a very well established (5+ years), 25 gallon tank with 192 Watts of PC lighting, live rock, DSB and no corals other than lots of fast growing Xenia, and a few shrooms ...What corals would you stock this tank with?
Still interested in helping? Then please read on....
I have a 25 gallon CPR LT3 tank that has been setup with live rock and a DSB since April 2003. Details of this tank are given below. The tank is basically the home to two fish, a bunch of Xenia and Halimeda that require frequent harvesting, and anything that came in on the live rock that has survived this long. There are also a couple shroom polyps, but nothing to write home about.
I had always meant to turn this into a beautiful reef tank, but really never got around to it. For the most part it has been a FOWTR tank that I treated like a reef tank. The Xenia and Shrooms were added early on as foundation species (and as a mechanism for nutrient export in the case of the Xenia), but I never added any other corals.
I think that at this point, the tank can be considered well established. I have no measurable nitrates or phosphates. Xenia, Halimeda and Coraline algae all grow rapidly. I have a few small patches of algae in the back of the tank, but nothing that a quick 5 minute clean up every couple of weeks doesn't take care of.
For various reasons, my interest has recently been renewed in the hobby and I now believe it is time to actually start buying some nice corals. So, I am looking for some advice on good strategies. I am thinking of either going with an SPS dominated tank, or a soft coral/shroom dominated tank. What I don't want to do is buy 20 miscellaneous corals that are going to grow into each other and constantly do battle. I would like to do this right the first time and buy 6-8 different corals that are going to do well together in the long run.
I know this is asking a lot, but I would really love it if you would review my tank specs below, and then recommend 6-8 different corals that you think would work well in my tank.
On caveat: you will notice from my tank specs that I do not use a skimmer or GAC. I have been skimmerless for several years and have no intention of going back; however, I will consider using GAC if needed to combat chemical warfare between the corals.
Thanks again everyone. I really look forward to reading your advice.
Tank Details and Specifications:
Tank: 25 gallon CPR LT3 with the following modifications:
Skimmer removed
Dividing wall modified to accommodate two MaxiJet 1200 power heads for increased water flow
Lighting: Standard CPR LT3 hood modified to accommodate two Sunpac 96 Watt quad compact fluorescent fixtures (192 W total)
Water parameters (as of 6/29/09):
Calcium: 530 ppm
Alkalinity: 4.4 meq/l (12.3 dKH)
Magnesium: 1440 ppm
Nitrate: <0.25 ppm (LaMotte)
Phosphate: <0.05 (LaMotte)
Salinity: 1.025 (refractometer)
Safety backups:
Secondary temperature controller
UPS battery backup, 8+ hours (power heads only)
Fish:
Oscellaris clown: 5+ years
Lawnmower blenny: 4+ years
Clean-up Crew:
one Lysmata grabhami (Caribbean scarlet cleaner shrimp): added June 2009
one hermit crab (unknown species): 5+ years
one Cypraea tigris (Tiger cowrie): 2+ years (Note: I thought this guy had died, but recently saw him cruising the glass at night)
one Strombus alatus (Fighting conch): 2+ years
one small (~2 cm diameter), nocturnal, unknown snail (live rock hitchhiker): 5+ years
Corals:
Xenia
Miscellaneous mushrooms (about 10 total polyps)
Macroalgea:
Halimeda
Other:
Live rock
Deep sand bed
Supplements:
B-ionic
Magnesium
Food:
Homemade, blender-style food based on Formula 1, Cyclop-eez, Vibragro, Selcon, krill, shrimp and clams
Water changes: typically very infrequent: ~25% every three to four months
History: The tank has been setup since April 2003. It has been through three major crashes, two of which occurred as a result of power outages in the middle of the summer while I was out of town. The third crash occurred due to overheating of a malfunctioning heater. Some live rock and live sand was replaced after each crash.
This is a long thread, so I will start with the main question that I have for you: Assuming someone gives you a very well established (5+ years), 25 gallon tank with 192 Watts of PC lighting, live rock, DSB and no corals other than lots of fast growing Xenia, and a few shrooms ...What corals would you stock this tank with?
Still interested in helping? Then please read on....
I have a 25 gallon CPR LT3 tank that has been setup with live rock and a DSB since April 2003. Details of this tank are given below. The tank is basically the home to two fish, a bunch of Xenia and Halimeda that require frequent harvesting, and anything that came in on the live rock that has survived this long. There are also a couple shroom polyps, but nothing to write home about.
I had always meant to turn this into a beautiful reef tank, but really never got around to it. For the most part it has been a FOWTR tank that I treated like a reef tank. The Xenia and Shrooms were added early on as foundation species (and as a mechanism for nutrient export in the case of the Xenia), but I never added any other corals.
I think that at this point, the tank can be considered well established. I have no measurable nitrates or phosphates. Xenia, Halimeda and Coraline algae all grow rapidly. I have a few small patches of algae in the back of the tank, but nothing that a quick 5 minute clean up every couple of weeks doesn't take care of.
For various reasons, my interest has recently been renewed in the hobby and I now believe it is time to actually start buying some nice corals. So, I am looking for some advice on good strategies. I am thinking of either going with an SPS dominated tank, or a soft coral/shroom dominated tank. What I don't want to do is buy 20 miscellaneous corals that are going to grow into each other and constantly do battle. I would like to do this right the first time and buy 6-8 different corals that are going to do well together in the long run.
I know this is asking a lot, but I would really love it if you would review my tank specs below, and then recommend 6-8 different corals that you think would work well in my tank.
On caveat: you will notice from my tank specs that I do not use a skimmer or GAC. I have been skimmerless for several years and have no intention of going back; however, I will consider using GAC if needed to combat chemical warfare between the corals.
Thanks again everyone. I really look forward to reading your advice.
Tank Details and Specifications:
Tank: 25 gallon CPR LT3 with the following modifications:
Skimmer removed
Dividing wall modified to accommodate two MaxiJet 1200 power heads for increased water flow
Lighting: Standard CPR LT3 hood modified to accommodate two Sunpac 96 Watt quad compact fluorescent fixtures (192 W total)
Water parameters (as of 6/29/09):
Calcium: 530 ppm
Alkalinity: 4.4 meq/l (12.3 dKH)
Magnesium: 1440 ppm
Nitrate: <0.25 ppm (LaMotte)
Phosphate: <0.05 (LaMotte)
Salinity: 1.025 (refractometer)
Safety backups:
Secondary temperature controller
UPS battery backup, 8+ hours (power heads only)
Fish:
Oscellaris clown: 5+ years
Lawnmower blenny: 4+ years
Clean-up Crew:
one Lysmata grabhami (Caribbean scarlet cleaner shrimp): added June 2009
one hermit crab (unknown species): 5+ years
one Cypraea tigris (Tiger cowrie): 2+ years (Note: I thought this guy had died, but recently saw him cruising the glass at night)
one Strombus alatus (Fighting conch): 2+ years
one small (~2 cm diameter), nocturnal, unknown snail (live rock hitchhiker): 5+ years
Corals:
Xenia
Miscellaneous mushrooms (about 10 total polyps)
Macroalgea:
Halimeda
Other:
Live rock
Deep sand bed
Supplements:
B-ionic
Magnesium
Food:
Homemade, blender-style food based on Formula 1, Cyclop-eez, Vibragro, Selcon, krill, shrimp and clams
Water changes: typically very infrequent: ~25% every three to four months
History: The tank has been setup since April 2003. It has been through three major crashes, two of which occurred as a result of power outages in the middle of the summer while I was out of town. The third crash occurred due to overheating of a malfunctioning heater. Some live rock and live sand was replaced after each crash.
