First addition of coral ?s

[trigger78]

I just upgraded my lighting to 2 hqi mhs 150 watt ea. and I am wanting to know what types of corals and other inverts I can now house in my new setup. Thanks all.
55 gal
3 power heads w/ wave maker
skimmer
300 watts hqi
50 ib lr
60 ib ls
marineland 400 bio wheel filter
purple stripe pseudochromis
flame hawkfish
clarki clown
tomato clown
blood red fire shrimp
small hermits
and the only reason i have two clowns is because the clarki is adopted and the lfs doesnt offer trade-ins. But they have been doing fine for over 6 months now. Will post pics when wife gets home. I don't know how to transfer from digi cam.

 

[sea_star]

If you want to start off easy, get some mushrooms.

 

[trigger78]

should i just place them on the sand bed or really close to the bottom? And how far apart per different frag should i place them?

 

[gtiguy]

Dont mean to sound off here but with a 55g shouldnt you be looking into a wet/dry system first before trying corals....Maybe its me but ive done the bio wheel thing in my old 30g and it was fine, than tried it with my 65g and had myself a nightmare and a half....Now that i have my wetdry system plumbed and working everything has been 10x healthier ...This might not have any effect with corals but for your overal tank health im just saying...my 2cents... :thinking:
but as for your mushrooms, with the HQI they could be put anywhere really and they will thrive, you could also try for some hairy/frilly mushrooms as well (which i run under pc's at the bottom of my tank and it grows pretty big during the day..)

As for other corals you can now pretty much do alot more (sps, clams, etc...) They should all work out fine...Good luck...

 

[trigger78]

i just looked into some wet dry filtration systems and it seems that i would need and overflow, pumps and the actual wet dry system itself. What would be my advantages of using this instead of the biowheels and skimmer?
Considering the cost of the overflow plus the pumps, fliter, and tubing, would it be better to just buy an overflow then use that for a fuge? Wouldn't a fuge be as helpful as a new filter if not more?

 

[hardcrab67]

IMO your fuge should be next. I'm sure you've check your water conditions before adding the corals? If your HOB is handling your bioload, then skys the limit I would say, w/ research on the corals requirements. Feeding Cyclopees and DT's oyster eggs are good foods, I also use Zooplex and Phytoplex. Give them something different everyday. They like the salinity a little higher than FOWLR around 1.025-1.026 and are more sensitive to nitrates than fish. Will need to monitor Calcium and most "Reefers" keep theirs at 400- 450ppm. Iodine and Strontium adjustments should be next to learn. Iodine on hand for pest dip is a good thing. I'm still learning so, those are basic requirements IME. Its fascinating to watch, I'm sure you'll get hooked.

 

[trigger78]

hardcrab, yeah i have bought iodine, calcium, strontium and their test kits, and I also bought some invert and coral food but haven't seen the oyster or eggs that you refered to. I also bought a long sponge feeder is that what i should feed corals with when spot feeding? Will order first shipment of coral monday morning. Will four be too many for first inhabitants? All will be easy classified and 2 of them will be mushrooms. Thanks

 

[crzyfshygy]

You can keep pretty much anything except acro's. maybe a Millepora. Montipora 's a good one for your lighting.

 

[hardcrab67]

Originally Posted by Trigger78
hardcrab, yeah i have bought iodine, calcium, strontium and their test kits, and I also bought some invert and coral food but haven't seen the oyster or eggs that you refered to. I also bought a long sponge feeder is that what i should feed corals with when spot feeding? Will order first shipment of coral monday morning. Will four be too many for first inhabitants? All will be easy classified and 2 of them will be mushrooms. Thanks
I spot feed mysis by hand, never used a sponge

Mostly I just feed the whole tank putting the food on the ph and let it broadcast through the tank. Button polyps and anenome are the only ones I spot feed occasionally. Most Ive talk to say that coral will not effect your bioload because they don't produce waste as much as fish do. Others say a few at a time is best. Four corals at once should be fine. I was putting one in every couple days w/ no ill effects for 2 weeks. Post some pics after they get adjusted to their new home.

 

[trigger78]

I'm sorry about calling the feeder a sponge feeder it is a seasquirt feeder lol w/ "Graduated bulb syringe feeder extends up to 35" ." So I can keep clams with this set up too? Thanks all and am going to add a pick of tank without coral the lighting has already started to kill off the hair algae was very supprised how fast it improved the look and health of the tank. I took some tests and the only thing I noticed was that the trates are at around 25 or so in between 20-30. Should I run some carbon because next water change isnt due for almost two weeks and coral will be here tue morning?

 

[trigger78]

first test

 

[trigger78]

unknown hitch hiker saw something like it in another thread and bang said carribean mushroom but couldn't find it on yahoo search or google search. it is so clear that you can barely see it looks like anneome (sic)

 

[bang guy]

Hard to see it but it resembles Hidden Cup Coral. When it retracts does it have a stony base?

 

[trigger78]

Originally Posted by Bang Guy
Hard to see it but it resembles Hidden Cup Coral. When it retracts does it have a stony base?

Yes it does bang. there are two of them and they like meaty foods as well. the bases are about the size of an eraser on a standard no. 2 pencil. Any lighting needsm water flow etc. they are hitch hikers that have lived with low light for over a year now.

 

[trigger78]

here are some better pics i figured out how to use digital zoom.
well after editing them for size they are still fuzzy. but will give it a try.

 

[trigger78]

Well you are correct bang. They are hidden cup corals. found them on search and it seems as if they like dim light and med to high current but couldnt find anything about feeding. Should i continue to give them some squid along with zoomax?

 

[hardcrab67]

Originally Posted by Trigger78
I'm sorry about calling the feeder a sponge feeder it is a seasquirt feeder lol w/ "Graduated bulb syringe feeder extends up to 35" ." So I can keep clams with this set up too? Thanks all and am going to add a pick of tank without coral the lighting has already started to kill off the hair algae was very supprised how fast it improved the look and health of the tank. I took some tests and the only thing I noticed was that the trates are at around 25 or so in between 20-30. Should I run some carbon because next water change isnt due for almost two weeks and coral will be here tue morning?
Water change will help bring your Trates down, can run carbon as a precaution. I run it periodically. I look down the length of the tank, from the side and determine how clear my water is. Try it, you'll notice its not as clear as looking from the front. Sounds weird maybe, but that's how I do it.

 

[bang guy]

Originally Posted by Trigger78
Well you are correct bang. They are hidden cup corals. found them on search and it seems as if they like dim light and med to high current but couldnt find anything about feeding. Should i continue to give them some squid along with zoomax?
Small chunks of meaty seafood. Squid is perfect.
They are ahermatypic (need no light). They do require Good ALK and Calcium levels like other stony corals but they require a lot more food. Luckily they can eat just about anything that moves. They are harmless to any fish larger then they are but pods are fair game.

 

[bang guy]

Originally Posted by hardcrab67
Water change will help bring your Trates down, can run carbon as a precaution. I run it periodically. I look down the length of the tank, from the side and determine how clear my water is. Try it, you'll notice its not as clear as looking from the front. Sounds weird maybe, but that's how I do it.
That's actually a good way of doing it. Tape a white piece of paper at the far end to make it easier. If it looks yellow or green then it's time to run carbon.

 

[trigger78]

thanks guys, and I did a water change this morning trates had went down to under 20 before change from the skimmer that I just added and will check them again later tonight to see what they dropped after the change.
Good and bad news on the first addition of corals though!!!!!
Got some bright green polyps and acclimated them for about 2hrs through drip. Floated them for about 1/2 hr then placed into tank. About thirty minutes later they all opened up and they look and seem to be doing great. Will post pics later.
Bad news I guess! The rest of my order was shipped from a different location and FEDEX had plain problems so they didnt make it today. They had to be rerouted back to the shipper. Hope they live! But they are reshipping me another order for thursday.