LPS advices for my tank

[Surykor]

Hi there,
I got some SPS frags from friend, unknown acro , monti confusa and stylophora. I try keep them on top of rockwork. Monti is fast growing but is browned maybe not getting enough light.

So i decided to put some colorfull LPS corals on bottom of the tank.
I have sand bed, tank is about 40gal. water collumn about 13 inches. Lighting 3x 39w T5HO, Flow 2x 2800l/h streams. And some params:
KH 9dKH No3- 0,5ppm, phosphate 0,02 (measured by friend with hanna phos chkr) only my PH is low 7,7 just before lights go off. Not measuring ca mg -> weekly 10% WC with red sea coral pro is enough i guess
SO FINALLY MY QUESTION: what LPS can i keep on middle of reef or directly on sand bed? only LPS that i have right now is little 3head caulastrea frag . its on sand bed. been fed once per week. Doing and looking good. stony corals are such expensive so i dont want to make a mistake with coral that would need really low light so when I put him in my tank it dies from light stress
Thanks for advices guys

 

[Art13]

open brains, acans, torches, frogspawn, duncans, hammers would all do fine on the sandbed, the only one more sensitive to light would be acans but i haven't had a problem, i do have a deeper tank though.

 

[Almondsaz]

I have a 40 and I would agree with Art13, the only thing I would add would be some blastos. I have a lot of acans and it depends on the acan itself as to its tolerance for light. I have some (iron man) that are towards the top of the tank getting fairly strong light and then i have others (grinch) that are on the sand bed and thriving. Not sure why, but they all seem to be trial and error so I don't permanently affix them to anything until they have been tried out.

 

[Reef Bass]

Hi there,
Not measuring ca mg -> weekly 10% WC with red sea coral pro is enough i guess

In the long run, if you're planning on keeping stony corals, I would strongly recommend getting and using calcium and magnesium test kits. IMHO, alkalinity, ca and mg are very important parameters for healthy, growing stony corals.

You may be ok for now with water changes replenishing ca and mag, but if your corals grow or you get more of them, water changes won't be able to keep up, and being aware of your levels will let you know when it is time to start dosing alk, ca and mag supplements.

 

[Surykor]

Thx for tips. I'll check my lfs and see what i can afford and what they have.
Good point with waiting to glue lps on spot they like.
Well I'm dosing kalk via ATO so i only chck alkalinity now. Sure i will get some supplements and test kits as soon as I feel I need them. thats not that big deal.

 

[Art13]

I would test all three, my tank is not heavily stocked and i thought weekly water changes were enough, but its not even close.