Looking to add corals, your opinion please...

[Doo_Dadd]

Hello again. I am looking to add some corals to my tank, and just wanted some opinions on what may be best for my set up. Here is what I currently have:

Perculla Clown
Mandarin Dragonet
Electric Blue Hermit Crab
Scarlet Reef Hermit Crab
Porcelain Anemone Crab
Emerald Crab
Astrea Snails (2)
Sabae Anemone
Pin Cushion Urchin

I have a 20 gallon tank, with 8 pounds of live rock, 15 pounds of base rock, and lighting is a Marineland LED system, with 6 white lights and 3 blue lights. Right now, I have all lights on for 9 hours, the blues only for 3 hours, and off for 12. What would you suggest as the best corals to add? Thank you in advance for your opinions.

[Uncle Salty 05]

How long has the tank been running and what do you want to keep?
Softies, LPS, SPS or mixture?
Do you have a substrate and CUC?
What kind of filtration are you using?
Do you have an adequate skimmer?

[greggnyce]

Start with softies and zoas if your cycle is complete. But the urchin may knock alot of stuff over in a tank that size And unless the mandarin is eating prepared foods, it will waste away and die in a new tank. A new tank does not have sufficient natural food for them to eat(pods).

[Doo_Dadd]

Cycle is complete, has been for a few months now. And I got lucky on my Mandarin, he is eating Brine Shrimp and Arcti-Pods like they're going out of style. Softies and Zoas, thanks for your input.

[greggnyce]

Cycle is complete, has been for a few months now. And I got lucky on my Mandarin, he is eating Brine Shrimp and Arcti-Pods like they're going out of style. Softies and Zoas, thanks for your input.



Awesome, that is great. If your parameters are all in check, go for the corals. I started with softies and worked my way up to sps. Softies are more forgiving, in terms of water quality.

[re-fin-away]

I kept softies for about six months. It helps you get a routine down on maint. and if you do something wrong you wont loose a high priced coral. It also builds your confidence and a better understanding of your system.

[frankpayne32]

I kept softies for about six months. It helps you get a routine down on maint. and if you do something wrong you wont loose a high priced coral. It also builds your confidence and a better understanding of your system.

Well said, I agree. Zoanthus/Palythoas are my favorites in this category. They are beautiful and extremely hardy.

[kduen]

If your gonna do corals i would suggest removing the sebae(Heteractis crispa). 1. Your tank is really just to small as these nems can get larger than the size of your tank and 2.
your going to most likely be dealing with lots of chemical warefare between the soft corals and the nem. If it were me I would return the sebae for some of the soft corals listed earlier.