Buying first coral

cousinreinz2

cousinreinz2

Member
I want to buy some nice coral,soft/hard.I have a 75gal with 2 175mh/2 vho super actinics that sit 12 inches above tank/200gph prizum skim/400gph phosphate mag filter.[*]85lb live rock[*]10/15lb live sand[*]3/900 maxi jets[*]3/chromis[*]1/purple psudachromis?[*]1/bi color golby[*]1/lawnmower bleny[*]7/pepshrimp[*]1/coralband shrimp[*]snals/hemits and 4/emerald crabs
I know there is alot out there .but I am still new so I want hardy stuff to start.[*]oh i have some spaghety macro and button polops any ideas please Thank you
 
ekclark

ekclark

Member
I would go with a colt or some mushrooms placed on your sand. They are great starters and easy to frag.
 
T

thomas712

Guest
Mushrooms, xenia, leather, star and button polyps to start, get used to taking care of these and then add others like frogspawn, candy cane, hammer...etc....
Just remember to research the needs of all corals before purchaseing. Do this research from as many sources as you can to compare notes.
Thomas
 
debbie

debbie

Active Member
The corals you mentioned above, what type of light requirements do they need?
:happyfish
 
T

thomas712

Guest

Originally posted by Debbie
The corals you mentioned above, what type of light requirements do they need?
:happyfish
Open to much debate
THe soft ones could use VHO or PC. I consider anything under 200 watts as low lighting, depending on depth of tank.
Frogspawn, hammer, and candy canes could use closer to 400 watts, once again depending on depth of tank. This also could be PC or VHO lighting. These corals will also require feeding.
They would all be more likely to THRIVE with Metal halide lighting. If you have a tank that is 24 inches deep I would suggest at least 250 watt MH/VHO combo.
Thomas
 
cousinreinz2

cousinreinz2

Member
Thank you for your reply.The mushrooms I have been reafing that most feed them by hand.What are xenia's.I've been using this forum for most of my info everybody has been so helpful even with my foolish Q's.How many peices should I buy.I was looking at the stripped matalic mushroom it says low to medium light.The colt looks alright where does the colt need to be placed I was thinking on the rocks close to the bottom.I have seen them up ontop in some tanks.Thanks again
 
jim tansey

jim tansey

New Member
What part of Ma are you from? You should think about joining Boston Reefers, lots of good people willing to help, and a good source of coral frags.
Regards,
Jim
 
cousinreinz2

cousinreinz2

Member
Jim same as you cape cod.I live in sandwich.Boston reefers what give me some imput.You are the first I have seen from cape
 
bheron

bheron

Member
hey cape coders...
not sure if you knew already, but i just bought Palettas new book on 500 reef tanks around the world. one of my absoulte favs was from a guy in provincetown. have you ever heard of it? cant remember the guys name but i sure do remember provincetown!
 
bheron

bheron

Member
its pretty good. lots of reivew on the forums and amazon.com. barnes and noble had it for 31 i think.
 
mr. tuna

mr. tuna

Active Member
frogspawns, hammers, and torch corals are probably the toughest coral with the ability to thrive with the least amount of light.
 
R

royalshrimp

Guest

Originally posted by MR. Tuna
frogspawns, hammers, and torch corals are probably the toughest coral with the ability to thrive with the least amount of light.
what??? no they arent!!! the toughest corals are softies, polyps a shrooms... :) but its okay... i think i know what you meant, that they are tough to keep:yes:
 
ekclark

ekclark

Member
Xenia are a type of soft coral. Easy to keep, pulse, eat up your nitrates, but grow very quickly and need to be trimmed like a macro. I would echo the above suggestion and get a book before buying any coral. I have, among others, Corals of the mini reef aquarium by Dr. Axelrod. It is a little old (1997) but has helped me out. Oh...and the shrooms, you can hand feed them, I did at first, but now they get what they need from light and scraps left by the fish.
 
cousinreinz2

cousinreinz2

Member
Thanks again.SWF.com dosen't have any Xenia's,Any know where I can find one That I can look at poss buy. It is so hard to buy a book if I have 20/30$ to spend it usualy is on some fish/food or somthing in the tank.
:happyfish
 
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