starter reef suggestions

[iflytoohigh]

I'm new to reef keeping. i can already tell i'm falling in love. i just got a small 3gal with a 9watt PC light and a HOB filter. It has been cycling for a little over 2 weeks with LR and LS. The water checks out ok. Salinity 1.023 , 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, about 20 ppm nitrate. I've noticed some activity in the tank such as little critters floating around and roaming around the sand and i saw a super small little snail. I think i might be ready to start putting something in there to see if it will live. I might wait another couple weeks for a full month of cycling, but I dont really wanna be patient.

so i'm looking for suggestions for hardy specimens that will be easy to care for. low flow and low light is what i will probably need in there.
thanks for the help.

 

[bboy aqua]

Im not sure if you can keep anything with that light
youll probally need at least 18w of pc for some softys
zoos,mushrooms,rics are good to start off with
you can try with that light but you were warned
good luck
you sound like your off to a nice setup
keep us posted

 

[iflytoohigh]

can anyone suggest something specific? i dont want to start off with something that would be for advanced reef owners. i'd like something hardy and easy to care for.

 

[fishes2889]

well to control the algae, detirus, etc.... Get a couple of snails or hermits to go in there. Then you can put some corals in. I really think you should put anohter 9w of PC on it. Its just what i would do. Any pics???

Steve

 

[Clarkii3]

i really wouldn't go under 10g as a noob, your asking for problems

 

[iflytoohigh]

i was hoping to get some good suggestions for a hardy piece of coral. could someone recommend something specific?

for the comment about being a noob and not going smaller than 10 gallons. i may be new to SW, but i am not new to science. i understand the difficulties of keeping water parameters constant in a small tank. for instance, the fluxuation of salinity while adding fresh water as a top off. what i lack is the specific knowledge of the organisms and their prefered habitat. hence, the post about asking for suggestions of occupants for the environment i have available for them.



for those looking for pics:

 

[Steven0000]

well if you want a hardy coral get some shrooms
they are great and will live well and long even with that light
they reproduce fairly quickley also
and before you put them in i would wait till that nitrate goes down just as a precaution
do some water changes it should go down

 

[iflytoohigh]

shrooms. ya, thanks for the suggestion. i did some research and looks like they are pretty easy to care for and some of them will do ok in a low flow, low light environment. i was getting some information from liveaquaria.com. is that place any good as far as the info on the different types of coral?

and it turns out, i am gonna wait a while longer before i put anything in there. 2 and a half weeks of cycling just isn't long enough. i think i should let it get more established before adding something.

 

[AIMFish]

Someone beat me to mushrooms but I was thinking that yellow polyps would probably be fine also. If you know anyone that has some they would probably give you some for free too!

 

[Steven0000]

i would say liveaquaria is a good place if you are ordering a lot of stuff
i would go get a cheap frag from your LFS only like $5