Do I take the plunge to corals

[sterling]

I LOVE MY TANK ) I sit and watch all the critters. My sailfin tang is amazing, all my little janitors are fun.......now my question is......how difficult are corals? Feather dusters etc. On a couple of pieces of the LR there are living things. One is just aptasia, which I know can be a nuisance but I like it, I hand fed it tonight becuase I don't know if it gets food. It took it very easily. On another piece of LR is what I think are small polyp-type somethings. They are small purple-ish with small green flower-type tenticles (?) with green tips and very small white button-looking things in the center. What are those? What do they eat?
My lighting, at the moment is only flourescent. I have two 3' strips with two bulbs in each, one actinic and one 50/50 daylight in each. Will this suffice for some corals, etc. Any suggestions would be SOOOOO appreciated.

 

[ed r]

What wattage is your flourescent lighting? That will probably be the limiting factor on what you can expect to be successful with. Some corals are pretty hardy, if you are careful and keep the fish load and type of fish appropriate. Mushrooms, polyps, and soft corals such as leathers are among the hardiest and most tolerant of low lighting.

 

[sterling]

Thanks Ed, i feel really stupid right now because I knew how many watts it was and now I've forgotten and I looked on the bulbs, they say: Coralife 10,000K 50/50 and the other is coralife Actinic. I'll have to try and find the sleeves for the bulbs, but I think I threw them away. Bummer.

 

[sterling]

Ed, any idea what these little flowery looking things that I described are?

 

[m1rodrig]

sound like green star polyps.They feed off light and will also benefit from phytoplankton.

 

[ed r]

I think what you describe sounds more like one of the button polyps. Some of these have green centers or fringes. The green star polyps have a small center and longer (1/2") tentacles.

 

[ed r]

If your lighting is normal output, I believe 48" bulbs are 40w and 36" ones are 30w. This would mean you have 4-30w bulbs for a total of 120w on a 125g tank. This would be considered a low level of lighting. Most people recommend lighting in the 4 watts per gallon level and up. However, some of the mushrooms, button polyps, etc. may do ok if you keep them up on the rocks. Down on the sand may be a little dark. You could start a couple low in the tank and move them upward if they do not respond well.

 

[musipilot]

Another thing to consider is that there are a few more levels you're going to have to watch/maintain.
You need to check your calcium, and add it with a supplement if necessary. Calcium should be in the 400-500 range. A simple inexpensive way to dose calcium is with Kent Liquid Calcium...although a Kalwasser drip is more complete and self-running.
Also start to think about your strontium, iodine and other trace element levels to ensure your corals will do well. A real good rule of thumb is this: if you are getting good coralline growth, you can support the 'easy' class of corals providing your calcium level is up to par.
Some good beginner corals are mushrooms like listed above, especially a Rhodactis mushroom, which seems to be very, very hardy. They are also very entertaining to feed, you can give them marine meats and they close up around them like a venus fly trap.
Down the road a bit you can look at colt corals, anchors, and smaller leathers. Good luck, and get that calcium test kit!

 

[cap'n pete]

Go ahead and buy some mushroom coral and some Kent Essential Elements. Very undemanding, and a great way to get hooked. Eventually you will want better lighting, but if you want to just "put your toe in first" go ahead. I put in one small piece of live rock in my tank just "to see", and now look at me (typing away instead of sleeping)!