Looking to start a reef

new2scene · 01/27/2008, 09:54 AM

I have a 45 g and FOWLR . I bought the Coralife 2x96w 36" and I would like to know what I need to do and what is the best coral to start with, and the most forgiving. Right now, I have an Anthia, Orange Spotted Goby, Yellow Wrasse, Clown and 2 Chromis. Flame Scallop & sea cucumber. I am looking to buy a 75g in the next month or 2. I'm using instant ocean salt and temp is at 79. what exactly do I need to buy as in food for the coral and also, here are my parameters:

Calc 400

Kh 12 dkh

Trates 40

Phos 0.25

Ph 8.4

Am 0

the tank is 24" deep.

DetectiveTofu · 01/27/2008, 02:16 PM

Hm, one thing I would try and do is bring the nitrates down a little bit. While 40ppm certainly won't kill anything immediately, in the long term, 10-2ppm is more acceptable in my book. Different people will tell you different things though. Otherwise, everything else checks out fine.
You should be good to ahead get a some soft corals to start off with, as they are generally more forgiving of non-ideal conditions. Once you get the hang of the softies, then take the dive into LPS

fishfl · 01/27/2008, 07:44 PM

shrooms and zoos

dendro982 · 01/28/2008, 06:34 AM

I posted photos of my corals, that worked for me even in lesser conditions, link. You should be able to keep both - softies and LPS (except the ones with particularly high light demands) even in 75g with the same lights, you have now. Try to find, what you will really like, and not to fill the tank by readily available brownish corals

Leave room for corals to expand - big brains with 4-5" skeleton will become 7" in half of year, hairy mushrooms - 5" and more each, even branching frogspawn and hammer will become 3"+ each head and send sweepers downflow - no unrelative corals there. Xenia, anthelia and green star polyps will grow forest and lawn respectively, plan rubble rock around them. I was unlucky with bright red mushrooms - very slow growth, high light requirements - but had seen photos, where they covered the rock. Harmless, bright, grows in round ~5" colony - neon green candycane. Will not advise Kenya tree - brownish, big, nothing special.

You can eliminate phosphates by using phosphate removing media, and lower nitrates to at least 20 ppm, it's doable, but corals I mentioned, lived at 40 ppm too.

One thing - I generally have alkalinity not higher, than 11 in long term, and not higher, than 8.2- 8.3 pH.

If flame scallop lives in your tank, you likely can keep swiftia - tangerine flaming color, non-photosynthetic gorgonian, also practically trouble free, as long as food is present in water column.

Good luck!

striperman · 01/29/2008, 03:03 PM

I would look into starting with any kind of cladiella species(Cauliflower, colt, etc). Also, look into zoos and toadstool leathers. When I first started my nitrates were a little high and all of these corals kept until I got them down. Good luck

01/27/2008, 09:54 AM	#1
new2scene Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Toronto, Ontario Posts: 228	Looking to start a reef I have a 45 g and FOWLR . I bought the Coralife 2x96w 36" and I would like to know what I need to do and what is the best coral to start with, and the most forgiving. Right now, I have an Anthia, Orange Spotted Goby, Yellow Wrasse, Clown and 2 Chromis. Flame Scallop & sea cucumber. I am looking to buy a 75g in the next month or 2. I'm using instant ocean salt and temp is at 79. what exactly do I need to buy as in food for the coral and also, here are my parameters: Calc 400 Kh 12 dkh Trates 40 Phos 0.25 Ph 8.4 Am 0 the tank is 24" deep. __________________ 45 g 100g rated Skimmer 30lbs argonite 50 fiji LR Coralife 2x96, 10000k 200W heater 2 MJ 1200 Current Tank Info: 45 gallon saltwater livestock- 5 Hermits, 1 Camel Shrimp, 3 Astrea snails, 2 Nassarius, Yellow Wrasse, Anthia, Orange spotted Goby, Percula Clown, 1 Chromis psycodelic dragonet

01/27/2008, 07:44 PM	#3
fishfl Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: mi Posts: 82	starter corals shrooms and zoos

01/27/2008, 02:16 PM	#2
DetectiveTofu Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 2,152	Hm, one thing I would try and do is bring the nitrates down a little bit. While 40ppm certainly won't kill anything immediately, in the long term, 10-2ppm is more acceptable in my book. Different people will tell you different things though. Otherwise, everything else checks out fine. You should be good to ahead get a some soft corals to start off with, as they are generally more forgiving of non-ideal conditions. Once you get the hang of the softies, then take the dive into LPS

01/28/2008, 06:34 AM	#4
dendro982 Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Canada Posts: 2,963	I posted photos of my corals, that worked for me even in lesser conditions, link. You should be able to keep both - softies and LPS (except the ones with particularly high light demands) even in 75g with the same lights, you have now. Try to find, what you will really like, and not to fill the tank by readily available brownish corals Leave room for corals to expand - big brains with 4-5" skeleton will become 7" in half of year, hairy mushrooms - 5" and more each, even branching frogspawn and hammer will become 3"+ each head and send sweepers downflow - no unrelative corals there. Xenia, anthelia and green star polyps will grow forest and lawn respectively, plan rubble rock around them. I was unlucky with bright red mushrooms - very slow growth, high light requirements - but had seen photos, where they covered the rock. Harmless, bright, grows in round ~5" colony - neon green candycane. Will not advise Kenya tree - brownish, big, nothing special. You can eliminate phosphates by using phosphate removing media, and lower nitrates to at least 20 ppm, it's doable, but corals I mentioned, lived at 40 ppm too. One thing - I generally have alkalinity not higher, than 11 in long term, and not higher, than 8.2- 8.3 pH. If flame scallop lives in your tank, you likely can keep swiftia - tangerine flaming color, non-photosynthetic gorgonian, also practically trouble free, as long as food is present in water column. Good luck!

01/29/2008, 03:03 PM	#5
striperman Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Philadelphia Posts: 65	I would look into starting with any kind of cladiella species(Cauliflower, colt, etc). Also, look into zoos and toadstool leathers. When I first started my nitrates were a little high and all of these corals kept until I got them down. Good luck