Newbie looking for advice

[Tabitha]

I started my first saltwater tank last summer. It has been wonderful so far. I had initially decided to go FOWLR but the deeper I get into this I find myself wanting my own little piece of the reef. So here I am asking the experts for some ideas on corals that would be a great start for a beginner like myself?

[Burbs]

what type of lighting do you have?

[cplklegg]

[Welcome]
I suggest you go to Amazon and purchase Aquarium Corals (Eric Borneman), The Conscientious Marine Aquirist (Robert Fenner), and the Handbook of 500+ Marine Invertebrates (Shimek) for starters. Then go to the top of this very forum and read through Waterkeepers' Newbie Corner feedback thread. After reading all of this many of your questions will be answered and you will wind up saving alot of money and future frustrations and disappointments from not knowing any better. One (myself a prime offender) tends to make foolish purchases when we start this hobby from trying to get the cheapy equipment or listening to the fish store SALESMEN. Knowledge is power in this hobby, read, read and read some more to save yourself alot of heartache. Best of luck to you, this really is an addictive, gratifying hobby.

[Avi]

That, my friend, is good advice. Don't put yourself into a position of relying on the adice that a saleperson gives at a fish store until you know enough about this reefing to be able to know that the salesperson knows what he or she is talking about. Just the other day, for example, I heard a salesman tell a customer at a fish store that Tangs and Triggerfish are in the same family and have the same so you can treat them as the same kind of fish. Wow.

Learn about the corals at least to some degree before you start adding them to your tank. And, those books will help.

[Savas]

Tabitha, I would start with some mushrooms and zoos. Both are hardy and colorful. In my experience, non-hairy/fuzzy mushrooms are more hardy than the hairy/fuzzy one.

Read the books too, but it is hard to kill a mushroom.

[Tabitha]

Thank u all for the advice. I especially appreciate direction towards reading material as this is what I have relied upon mostly in my new hobby. I have T-5 lighting Burbs.

[demonsp]

If you cant tell me all your water readings from nitrate to ammonina to calcium and Alk and phosphate then your not ready yet.

[Aquarist007]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11963252#post11963252 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Tabitha
I started my first saltwater tank last summer. It has been wonderful so far. I had initially decided to go FOWLR but the deeper I get into this I find myself wanting my own little piece of the reef. So here I am asking the experts for some ideas on corals that would be a great start for a beginner like myself?

[welcome]

with a fowlr it is quite possible to have high nitrates and phosphate levels
what are your levels

[Aquarist007]

Here are some tips that are a little more appropriate for having a reef tank

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1329802