Looking for a fast growing coral

[paul26]

hey rc!

my tank is 90g, and has been up for 3 months. im looking for my first coral and was interested in a fast growing coral. i heard that gsp and xenia are very fast growers and not very difficult to keep. can i have some suggestions and experience with these corals and others?

thanks guys

[tomsfish]

I would recommend any soft corals and mushrooms as they are very hardy and fast growers.

[dots]

GSP and Xenia can be a potential pain to remove if you decide to move in another direction for your overall look/theme.

"fast" why are you specifying this? With more information why, and the direction you are interested in going, we may be able to offer the most suitable recomedations.

[paul26]

well im new to reefing. tank setup is

90 gallon rr
29 gallon sump with octo skimmer 110
80lbs lr
2x250w mh 20k

1 clown
5 chromis
1 pistol shrimp
1 fire shrimp

params: amm 0 nitrite 0 nitrate 0-5

2 15 % water changes a month

i want a good hardy coral that can "fill" in spots of the rock work. im very excited about my tank moving along and i would like to venture into corals.

[dots]

Yeah, I thought that would be your answer. That can be a potential for problems if you do not realize it, to put it bluntly, right now!!

It takes years for a reef tank to become "photogenic" and all filled in. Only after care selection, husbandry and aquascaping do you achieve such.

I don't want to be a buzz kill, but buy this one coral and achieving moderate success in a few weeks ends with buying more and more spieces that either you may not have the experience yet to care for.....or your tank is not ready to support.

Worst case scenario, your upset with an empty tank because everything died and your out the money as well. Been there, done that....

The best thing I can tell you now, is think about what you want your tank to look like. Work backwards from there.

There are larger pieces of coral that can help, but mushrooms and ricordia are a good place to start with I think. Zoas can make a colorful impact and can spread quickly....but please remember to be patient when it comes to that "filled" look and will only delay that end result if you try to rush it. Please keep that in mind.

[89Foxbody]

I love Zoanthids. Great colors, easy care, and they grow quickly. I also have Riccordea Mushrooms that are a really nice green color. Other cool looking mushrooms are Hairy or Lavender Mushrooms. Kenya Trees are also easy to care for and fast growing (maybe too fast). Like the others said, just don't rush to fill up your tank right away. Put a few pieces in and let everything grow in. It will take time, but you'll be pleased with the results.

[Basketstar]

Two words: monti. cap.

A colorful, fast growing coral that will help to boost your noobie self esteem. Once its big enough, it will have a nice scrolling shape and your fish will sleep in it.

[reeftanknewbie]

I think this are all great suggestions. For GSP and Xenia, I keep it on a rock in the sand bed to keep it from overgowing the tank and trim it from time to time.....

[sn4265]

Yeah, I thought that would be your answer. That can be a potential for problems if you do not realize it, to put it bluntly, right now!!

It takes years for a reef tank to become "photogenic" and all filled in. Only after care selection, husbandry and aquascaping do you achieve such.

I don't want to be a buzz kill, but buy this one coral and achieving moderate success in a few weeks ends with buying more and more spieces that either you may not have the experience yet to care for.....or your tank is not ready to support.

Worst case scenario, your upset with an empty tank because everything died and your out the money as well. Been there, done that....

The best thing I can tell you now, is think about what you want your tank to look like. Work backwards from there.

There are larger pieces of coral that can help, but mushrooms and ricordia are a good place to start with I think. Zoas can make a colorful impact and can spread quickly....but please remember to be patient when it comes to that "filled" look and will only delay that end result if you try to rush it. Please keep that in mind.

I think this is good advice, however what if you really don't know what you want the end result to be? For me the trip is really more about the journey than the destination. On our honeymoon we went to Ireland in mid-November. We called the Ireland tourism board and asked for suggestions. They gave us the absolute best advice, and that was to just show up and go whichever way we decided when we woke up that morning. Of course we had some specific things we wanted to see, but Bed & Breakfasts are like the national industry in Ireland and November is the tail end of the tourist season. Suffice to say it was by far the greatest trip of my life.

The reason I say the above is that I'm more of the mind to simply kind of go with the flow. Now of course I will be researching everything that goes into the tank to make sure that I can take care of it and it doesn't cause any problems, but I don't even want to take the route that you are suggesting with planning the final look of the tank years in advance and working towards that goal. That may work well for some people, but it's definitely not for everyone.

Thanks for the suggestions on the Ricordia, mushrooms, and Zoas. These are all corals that I'm definitely interested in.

[Sk8r]

kind of safeguard your big structural rocks until you're sure: once these types are ON the rocks, you have to sell the rock to get rid of them.

Don't be scared of corals. I find them far less trouble than fish, which jump, etc. Corals fight, compete, and have snits, but at a much slower pace, and I have never had one jump from my tank. The big difference with corals v fish is that with corals, you track alkalinity; and with stony corals you need (generally) better to really good light and you track alk, cal, and mg, which are inter-related anyway---(so when I tell you you should track alk with fishes and softies, I'm really saying you need to keep up with the other two anyway---since you can't keep alk high and steady without tracking cal and mg.)

Corals can sit there like bric-a-brac for months, THEN decide to grow all at once, and then it's fast. Every time my 50-head + hammer decides to divide and put on new heads it's scary, because every head becomes 2.

[agold11520]

Try a red or purple Monti capricornis. I bought a 1 inch frag of each a year ago and each one is the size of a dinner plate, and beautiful! Easier SPS to keep!