Second round of corals. Ideas??

[leviburns89]

Going to get my second round of corals this weekend. It's my birthday, and the wife is treating me :)

My own personal list of what I want is as follows.

Rainbow acan lord
Paly grandis
Green star polyp
Radioactive anything
Blue discosoma

And if I'm very very lucky
Frogspawn of some sort
Scolymia of some sort.

As you can see, this list is very broad, and I would love to hear if you guys have experience with any of these, or if you had to choose only 2 from the list, or even something different altogether lol.

My tank is LPS and Softy only, no sps, and no anemones (as of yet).

Thanks! And happy reefing :)

[vcam]

I'm a big fan of GSP... Looks very nice to fill up a rock :) People have reported it spreads very quickly so keep that in mind!

Hammer coral is also a very nice addition. They can be quite a neon green and glow nicely in blue light, plus they add movement which is always a bonus :)

Enjoy the shopping spree ! :xlbirthday:

[Reef Frog]

I would avoid the rainbow acan lords for now since your tank is new. They often seem to be somewhat fussy in new tanks. Since they can be quite expensive, you probably will want to have a more mature tank and a little more experience under your belt before getting one.

[nuttyd]

Bubble coral. (my favorite)
Hammer coral.
Trumpet coral.
GSP is good but keep it on an island.
Stay away from sps this round. Need more age in tank.

[Sk8r]

In a tank that will succeed with stony, gsp will not stay on its island. I had to peel foot-wide sheets of it off the glass. Blue mushroom may multiply aggressively, too.

If you are going for stony corals be sure your water is 8.3 alk, 420 calcium, 1350 magnesium and 78 degrees, 1.025 salinity (1.024 is safe, too)...and stable.

if you are going for stony and are low nitrate (down in the barely detectibles) a crocea clam would give you the pretty blue.

[brianr24]

I love my gsp. Also my Kenya tree.I also like pulsing xenia. But I know it can grow aggressively. Mine doesn't even grow. Just sits there pulsing same size it was the day I bought it.LoL

[leviburns89]

If you are going for stony corals be sure your water is 8.3 alk, 420 calcium, 1350 magnesium and 78 degrees, 1.025 salinity (1.024 is safe, too)

My params are right on par with this, the only difference is I keep my salinity at xactly 1.026. I use 2 Refractometers, both calibrated weekly with fluid. One measures 1.0258, the other 1.0261. So I just split the difference.

But I have always read that corals need 1.026. This has made me cautious to add fish because I know most sellers keep fish tanks at like 1.01 to prevent parasites and infections, but adds the problem of slowly adjusting them to the proper salinity.

[leviburns89]

I should also add, although my tank has only had livestock for 5 weeks, it has been cycling and "curing" since early january. So the tank itself has been up and running for about 4 months.

Yes in the grand scheme it is a "new tank". But params have been stable across the board for about 2 months.

I am extremely proactive with weekly 10% wc, and I vacuum the sand each week as well.

My Saturdays have turned into my "tank maintenence" day. I clean all of my tanks, and do water changes. Takes about 2 hours to do all the tanks (3 total). But I do it first thing in the morning, and it's a very nice ritual to get me up and about on the weekend.

[leviburns89]

Just got everything acclimated, pics to come when everything I'd fully open and vivid.

3 polyps unknown blood red Palythoa

10 polyps rasta paly/zoa

1 head snow white torch coral

2 heads blue-n-gold duncan coral

And a free frag of green montipora.


Love love love the duncans, they are like huge Palythoa on steroids