Corals for lower tank/shaded areas.

[jon321]

I have a 20g reef setup with ls,lr, 4 hawaiin feather dusters, red fuzzie, neon green fuzzie, neon green smooth, purple smooth, and orange smooth shrooms, plus lots of caulerpa. There are no fish. The lighting is merely 4x15w of NO lighting, 3xpowerglow and 1xmarineglow. Most of the brightest parts of the tank are taken with the mushrooms which have been doing very well, but are there any corals that would work in the lower regions of the tank? its not very deep, but at the same time the lighting doenst have the stength to penetrate much water. Any suggestions? would toadstool/finger leathers, plate, button or star polyps? mabe just more mushrooms?

thanks,
Jon

 

[puffer32]

Just put the shrooms down lower and the other softies you want higher up.

 

[fedukeford]

for the shaded parts a couple nice colony of sunpolyps would be nice, youd just have to take the time to feed them

 

[jon321]

I had sun polyps before, the feeding caused a huge overgrowth of slime and caulerpa. They dont seem to be good for small tanks where lots of feeding can cause huge nitrate spikes. I guess I could move the mushrooms down farther, that might work.
Jon

 

[lbaskball]

get some snails, lots of snails, and try to take care of that slim algae first! then get lots of corals because for one thing, all that algae can kill your corals in time if you dont take care of it , it happend to me.

 

[dragonladylea]

Chili coral is a great low light soft coral and is pretty hardy IMO.

 

[crzyfshygy]

Looks like cyano on the bed....might want to eraticate that problem first! Unless I am seeing things

Try blowing it with a bastor and then syphon it up. Less feeding and more water changes will help.

 

[vroom125]

the atlantic sun coral contains no zooxanthellae (the things that use photosynthesis and live on corals; corals and zooxanthellae have a symbiotic relationship), and therefore doesn't need much light, but it requires moderate water flow.
The black sun coral and the orange sun coral require low lighting conditions also.
Most brain corals also do well with less lighting.
The toadstool corals would be most likely to live only in good lighting conditions, so this wouldn't work for you.
The carrot-leather coral also has no zooxanthellae. You should keep this one in the shade.
The Orange polyp coral will do very well with low lighting levels.
All carnation corals require little to no light, but are not recommened for the inexperienced aquarists. Their feeding habits are demanding, and they are rarely kept successfully in aquariums. This coral probably isn't a good choice. They also require violent water movent and lots of aeration.
The warty soft coral contains no zooxanthellae, so doesn't need strong light either.
Star Polyps do not need intense lighting, so this would be a good choice. Grows well and is recommended for the beginner.
The deep water sea fan (the melithaea species) doesn't need strong light also. Be careful, other sea fans require good lighting.
The green ringed anemone coral can do with minimal light.

 

[jon321]

Awesome thanks! Yes, I know about the cyano, since I got rid of the suncoral it has stopped growing, I just havnt had the time to clean it all out due to work. The tank is fishless and nitrates and phosphates are both undetectable.
Jon