Newbie questions on adding corals.. real beginner

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yankeeslover

New member
You guys have been great in helping me setup my tank.. I had some more questions.. once again 46 gallon bow front.. has not been setup all that long... i have roughly 60 pounds or so in liverock... 2 clown fish and multiple snails and hermit crabs.. I also have the Coralife two bulb setup with one being a T5 HO light.. I have a skimmer running... tested water last night.. no amonia, no nitrites and nitrates are under 5ppm...
I want to eventually add somekind of simple mushrooms/corals just so im not staring at live rock... so im looking for very easy to care species that will be more forgivng.. Someone on craigslist is giving away coral for free... from reseaching these species i have found they are all soft and easy to care for... he is giving away, Green Star Polyps.. ZOA corals, Pumping zenia, cult coral and devils hand coral... I am not obvioussly gonna get samples of all of these, but of the ones mentioned here, what are the most forgiving and easier ones for a beginner and knowing my light setup? I do like the look of zoas.. and if i was to take a bunch of these, can i take a small frag of each one? and just put one of each on a seperate live rock? whats the worse that will happen? will it destroy my tank and fish, or will the frag die? im so sorry, just so new to all this... thanks for reading...
 
Green star polyps are by far the easiest coral IMO to have just place them on a rock and they'll colonize fairly quickly you can place a little gap between the rock you place them on and the next rock to keep them from spreading too much. Zoa's are another easy coral however they can melt away if they don't like were they are, ex: to little to much flow, parameters. Zoa's will also let you know if your lights are good or bad you'll see them stretch higher for the light if its too low and if its too much you see them almost become smaller and bunch closer together. Mushroom are also very very good beginner coral as they require less light then the Zoa's but if you get Mushrooms i recommend getting some colors that you really like as they can also start to take over and if there standard brownish light green ones you might not be too happy
 
Zoas are a great place to start. GSP and Zenia can overrun a tank and many people think of them as a nuisance. To each their own. Devils hand leathers are pretty hardy too. Just make sure you have lighting to handle your future additions.
Just a side note, when fragging Zoas, be VERY carefully. They have a nasty toxin called Polytoxin that can be dangerous to us. I would let someone with more experience do the fragging for you.
 
will i be getting in over my head with being so new? I was gonna wait a few months, but since he is giving away for free, i figured it wont hurt to try some easy ones now.... maybe I am wrong.. but free is free...whats worse that will happen? and also the Zoas, are they all poisonous? if he frags it, how do i put in my tank? is that dangerous? can i wear gloves?
 
Polytoxin is secreted when zoa's are messed with really bad like in fragging however its not absorbed through the skin, but if you have cuts or get cut when messing with zoa's then it can be bad, its always recommended to wear gloves and clear safety glasses when working with any corals out of the water i got pink eye once from a coral squirting when i cut into it. But if the other guy is fragging it for you, let him do it however he feels comfortable for you
 
Like ndrwater said , watch for GSP and Pulsing Xenia as they are encrusting corals that can overtake a tank ! Those basic corals can thrive in dirty or un-matured tanks easily. Wear eye protection and clean your hands after you handle the zoo's

I would suggest you put them on the sand bed and if you want to propagate them just put LR rubble around them and they will eventually cover it , You can then split them with a razor blade and start trading for new corals :)

Best of luck to you !
 
Thank you all for your information... What happens now if my tank is too new? its all cycled but honestly i have not had it setup all that long..being a soft coral, will they be more forgiving for a new tank? I just dont want to kill the clown fish that are thriving in there.
 
This is my current setup

This is my current setup

all my liverock is attached...will the corals all spread like wildfire on this live rock?
IMG_20150625_213115215.jpg
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the corals that you are picking... Yes....but a overgrown tank of softies is something to be admired also.
this is your first reef tank not your last, learn how to grow softies , then rebuild after a couple years. It's a never ending hobby
 
NJAB said:
Polytoxin is secreted when zoa's are messed with really bad like in fragging however its not absorbed through the skin, but if you have cuts or get cut when messing with zoa's then it can be bad, its always recommended to wear gloves and clear safety glasses when working with any corals out of the water i got pink eye once from a coral squirting when i cut into it. But if the other guy is fragging it for you, let him do it however he feels comfortable for you
Click to expand...

while it may or may not be absorbed through the skin, it is very much capable of causing contact and non contact dermatitis, up to and including severe blistering.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1858696

countless other threads about the subject as well. i remember seeing one person who brushed up against them while cleaning their tank, and their entire arm blistered up badly.

needless to say i've long since removed all Zoas and Palys from my reef. not worth it in my opinion.
 
question

question

heathlindner25 said:
the corals that you are picking... Yes....but a overgrown tank of softies is something to be admired also.
this is your first reef tank not your last, learn how to grow softies , then rebuild after a couple years. It's a never ending hobby
Click to expand...
If the softies overrun the tank, what does that mean as far as the fish are concerened? do corals add to bioload and dimish the amount of fish i can add? i want to add a few more fish then the clowns i have..i just have not decided which ones yet... My daughter loves purple fish..i was thinking maybe royal gammas or something else like that.
 
Get a test kit for alkalinity, calcium, magnesium---balance is in my sig line. I use Salifert. Avoid multitest kits---they run out at different times. You test alk every few days when starting out, magnesium once in a month.

Don't let any of these onto your structural rock or you may end up having to sell rock to get rid of it. These easily become very, very, very prolific, as in, crawling up the side glass, in a well-balanced tank with decent lighting and some thrive in low light.

I'd go for some discosoma mushrooms, the green-stripe, the purple, the reds and browns---they're nearly as prolific, but a mushroom rock is easier to trade off than a rock encased in green star, IME.
 
yankeeslover said:
If the softies overrun the tank, what does that mean as far as the fish are concerened? do corals add to bioload and dimish the amount of fish i can add?
Click to expand...

They won't affect the fish in any way and as far as I know they don't add to the bioload. The food that you feed your fish and the fish waste will feed your soft corals. Overgrown softies have a certain wild appeal especially xenia and GSP which can and will grow on the back glass of your tank if you let them.
 
so maybe i should just get the zoas and cult coral and devils hand... not sure i want to deal with the green star and xenia growing all over my glass... even though they both look cool... i hate to have it overgrow my tank and force me to rebuild in two months.
 
You SHOULD, with that lighting (someone correct me, but it's my impression T5's can even handle low-light sps like montipora) be able to grow zoas, palys, and buttons, which grow more slowly, are more valued, and are pretty neat---some glow green in actinic light, and make a coral branch something really pretty. You really should wear nitrile exam gloves while working in your tank---nicer for your corals, and for you.
 
actually, as dumb as this may sound.. because free is good.. This guy only has green star, pulsing zenia and some peachy color zoas left. I have decided to purchase some zoa frags instead from the LFS... $5-10 per frag and they offer multiple colors. I think for now i may just start off with 1 or 2 zoa frags and go from there... im sure with time small frags will grow... I dont really want the others to overrun my tank yet.. not sure im ready for that at this point... my live rock is a peach color right now so i really dont want peach color zoas, rather some other colors...
 
Your live rock will "darken" or turn colors based on coralline algae growth as your tank matures. You'll get an algae bloom of sorts which will eventually give way to purple, pink, and sometimes green coralline algae. It's quite fascinating to observe the variety of organisms we host in our DTs.
 
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