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View Full Version : 30 gallon coral connundrum


janusNraven
06/03/2006, 11:01 PM
hello we are fairly new to saltwater tanks and have had our 30 gallon set up for about 2months now and have reached our limit on fish and would like to start trying to grow some coral. We don't really know too much about it and need some advice. Here's what we have so far for our setup:

wet/dry filter
2 65w power compacts blue and white
18lbs of live rock with 15 more to come in the next few weeks
2 small ricordia
one mystery coral that is just kind of a small white and green chunk
10hermits (reed coral,blue legs mostly)
8 narcissus snails
1 mongo snail(ok just really huge but mongo kinda stuck)
3"aragonite/live sand bed
1 tomato clown
2 yellowtail damsels

was clear across the board on all tests till the kit got knocked into the trash and lost :( picking up another kit tomorrow.

what type of lighting should we look for when we want to start with advanced coral. that and what type of corals should we look in to?

msuzuki126
06/03/2006, 11:07 PM
Metal Halides are a must for "advanced corals" SPS, LPS. The lights you have now are fine for some soft corals.

ACBlinky
06/03/2006, 11:17 PM
I disagree. IMHO, 130W of PCs is enough for lots of LPS corals. I have a 130W fixture along with a little 28W NO T8 fixture on my 30g and keep hammers, frogspawn, a bubble, a little acan (hitchhiker), candycanes, and a fox in addition to some softies (zoas, shrooms, Xenia). 130W would suit an open brain nicely, and there are also sun corals which aren't photosynthetic at all - as long as you spot feed them, they'll do well in almost any lighting AFAIK.
I don't think there are really any 'advanced' corals. Granted, some do require more attention to water quality and loads of light to thrive, but if you're willing to research their requirements and do what's necessary to keep them happy, I think you can start with any coral you choose.

Nathan4Wvu
06/04/2006, 12:19 AM
lps would be fine under those condtions but i would not try sps that is not enough light

RFC
06/04/2006, 12:29 AM
I'm just a noob (3 month old tank), but I have similar pc lights, 2x65w on my 29g and my LPS corals are thriving thus far. I have: trumpet, candy cane, frogspawn, red open brain, brown buttons, zoos, and green star polyps. All of these are easy starter corals.

http://rfcgraphics.com/mrt/DSC_7358lsmall.jpg

Best of luck

Regards

RFC

Nathan4Wvu
06/04/2006, 12:31 AM
yea like i said lps fine no sps