New to SPS

[ewaldm]

I'm finishing my senior year of highschool, and like a good deal of people my age, next fall I will be off to college. I'm probably luckier than most, as I'll have an apartment rather than a dorm room, but the situation looks dismal in terms of keeping my 35g aggresive reef tank.

I'm unwilling to simply stop keeping saltwater fish. Yesterday I took a 2.5g hex tank and started cycling it in hopes that I'd be able to aquire some frags this summer as I'm unsure the area I'm moving too even has a saltwater fish store. (South Dakota Black Hills)

My plan is to use my current lighting system which consists of 2 55watt power compact bulbs. Obviously, the proportion of the bulbs make it difficult to gauge how much light is entering the aquarium, but my intuition is that I'll be able to keep some of the lower light sps corals such as montipora, porcillapora, and hopefully a couple of acropora frags. This seems fine to me because these are the easiest sps corals for a beginner like myself.

I really have two questions.

1. Although the goal will be sps corals, IMO, you just can't have a fishtank without...well...fish. The only choice I can think of that would be able to reside in an aquarium would be a clown goby. I'm familiar with their habits, and I'm concerned that they will irritate my sps corals to much.

2. My other thought was to forgo a fish, and buy a copperbanded shrimp. How do they fair with sps corals.

Thank you all
I'm looking forward to your responses.

 

[twon8]

i assume you mean coral banded shrimp?
if so they are fine with corals. they tend to only come out at night, so you may not see it much.
as to fish, a goby would be good as they stay smal

 

[jobob]

i really dont think u will be able to keep the wate stable enough to keep sps, u mite be able to keep soft corals. my lfs sell 2.5gal reef tanks, but once every 2weeks u have to come back and get a gallon of his water for water changes. as a college student i understand ur position. but good luck.

 

[ewaldm]

Whoops, it is a coral banded shrimp I was thinking of.

I'm not too concerned about water changes in all honesty. I had planned to make it a daily part of my mantinence routine. I've always thought nano-tanks were actually easier to mantain, because it's very easy to simply replace a couple of cups of water a day.

Any other opinions on clown goby behavior. I'm just concerned that in a 2.5 gallon tank, I won't be able to have a large amount of frags for the fish to perch on, making the irritation more intense. I'd rather have the goby than the shrimp, but I'd like some more opinions.

Thanks all