newbie seeking advice on coral selection

revenge53142

revenge53142

New member
Hello, I'm new to the hobby and would like some advice on what corals would thrive in my tank. I currently only have mushrooms and would like to try some more stuff. My tank is five months old. I really would like suggestions because there are so many corals out there. I know with my set-up i shouldn't do SPS but what would do well and what type of feeding/supplements would I need???
SETUP:
AG 30L (36x13x18?)
fluval 404
seaclone 150
192w coralife lunar
AC 305 powerhead

STOCK:
alot of liverock,arag sand botttom
20 or so various shrooms
2-tankraised Nemos
1-BG chromis
1-yellow clown goby
1-fire shrimp
12-turbos
20-blue leg reef crabs

I may add a few more SMALL fish but I would like the focus to be the corals.

ANY SUGGESTIONS/FEEDBACK GREATLY APPRECIATED!
Thanks, Revenge
 
Bubble coral would work very well: it prefers low light. Mind, it has 6" long sweepers when it feeds. Give it room. You may get torch, hammer, and frogspawn to do ok. Hammer and frog can touch, not so the others. Suncoral is non-photosynthetic and lives in caves upside down: but you have to feed it phytoplankton or it dies. But tree sponge thrives on that diet, too, and so do a lot of sponges: they can look like corals,a nd they're colorful. Look into them. Just do NOT expose sponge to air, or it dies. Some gorgonians will do fine in that kind of heavy feeding, and your mushrooms won't turn it down either. And don't neglect creatures like coco worms and fancy featherdusters, which can add some variety to a tank, and are all filter-feeders. HTH and gives you some directions that might work.
 
I would definately stay away from any corals you have to hand-feed daily, like the sun corals or gorgonions. Softies, leathers, zoanthids are good for starters. I'd go thru the forums & read all you can. Lots of good info at Marine Depot too.
 
A lot of Zoas (zoos) don't require too much light and would do fine in your tank. Xenia, leather coral, ricordea should all do fine in the setup you have.
Try to trade with people because if it did fine in somebody's tank that has simmilar conditions to yours it will most likely do fine in your tank.
 
should i feed or supplement zoas?
how do i know i'm getting a good deal from someone if i dont know what that coral is worth?
any basic cost for estimates for the ones you mentioed oblivionis?
 
I would start out by not paying over $10-15 (local reefer) ($20 LFS) tops, for a small frag of most soft corals. All the corals mentioned by Oblivionis, should do fine under your lighting. Xenia would be an excellent, interesting coral to start out with.
 
All of the suggestions above are great. Especially about trying to get frags from hobbiests. Neon caulestrea, branching hammer and a cup coral(pagoda) were some of my 1st corals that thrived under PCs.
 
I would stay with softies like Oblivionis said. Once you start getting into stonies (SPS and LPS) you'll need to start watching your calcium and alk levels closely. The softies are also more forgiving as far as water quality is concerned. Another easy softy that hasn't been mentioned is green star polyps(GSP). What ever you do DON'T get discouraged, sometimes it take a little time to get the hang of things. I would add any more fish to your system either, 4 fish is plenty for a 30g. especially with a Seaclone for a skimmer. Also last but certainly not least patience, patience patience! Nothing good happens fast in this hobby! GOOD LUCK!
 
Revenge, if you want some star polyps and frag of pipe organ and are willing to drive down to libertyville sometime during the week I can hook you up with some....for free of course and they are very hardy.....
 
here's a couple pics of the corals...
107214lcorals2.jpg

107214lcorals22.jpg
 
Hey Revenge,

I have some zoa's, mushrooms and other easy to keep corals I could sell you, all in the $10-$20 range ($1/polyp for zoas).

Here is a link with pictures if your interested (I have more zoas I could frag for you that aren't pictured and some xenia if your looking for that). http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=940332

Plus I'm in your neck of the woods (Up here in the boonies).

Send me a PM if your interested.
 
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