Looking for Coral advise-First time !

bmorefisher9

bmorefisher9

Member
Hello all I have had the 40 gal long tank up and running for over a year now, I have live rock, a bubble tip aneome, 2 cleaner shrimp, and a Maroon clown. I would like to keep this project moving. I have never had any type of coral and would like some advice on what I should have for a setup, and what coral would be great for a first time coral guy!
Currently I have a canster filter with one power head in the tank, Lighting is 50/50. I have been adding calcuim,ZooPlex as well as kent essential elemants to the water.
Any help once again to get my foot wet would be great just looking to add more color to the tank.
 
mr_x

mr_x

Active Member
hi. you shouldn't add supplements to the tank unless you are sure you are lacking them. too much of a "good thing" can be harmful to your livestock. what are you feeding the zooplex to?
this 50/50 lighting- i'm assuming this is a power compact fixture? what wattage is it? if the bubble tip is doing well under it, i think you could keep a decent variety of corals.
how long have you had the anemone?
 
bill109

bill109

Active Member
as x said, if you are keeping you anenome (sp?) alive than you are likely to keep a good amount..
easy to care for corals..
zooanthoids,green star polyp, mushrooms (very hardy)
try those and see what happens
 
privatejoker

privatejoker

Member
They say they've had the tank up for a year and the bubble tip is doing fine. I myself would upgrade the lighting to a t5 or MH. The bulbs for a PC are enough to make the change. You can keep zoos in lower light, softies, and some SPS. You can keep alot of LPS, for example sun corals, some brains, duncans, and just about anything else that you can spot feed.
If I were you I'd start out with some zoos and sun coral and see how they do. You do have to spot feed sun coral but they are worth it.
 
bmorefisher9

bmorefisher9

Member
I have had the anemone for about 2 months now and seems to be doing well. Although he has been hanging upside down under the live rock. I have sort of a arch in one section of the tank and the anemone hangs upside down in the arch section. He is fully open and hangs their. Its hard to feed him but I have the help of the clown which will plus the silver sides into him. I have flipped the part of the live rock right side up and the anemone will slowly make his way back to upside down. I have a coarlife 50/50 20 watt, I currently just have the bulb in the original light hood which is 36inc and takes a 24 inc bulb. Would I need to get a new hood? Are there any bulbs that you would recommend that would work with the current hood?
Thanks
 
mr_x

mr_x

Active Member
2 months isn't enough time to know if he will live in those circumstances. years ago i had a LTA for about 4 months, until he started to decline.
you definitely need more light. a new fixture.
 
bmorefisher9

bmorefisher9

Member
What would you recommend, For lighting as in a fixture? Where are good places online that you would recommend to buy from? And for cost something that is not outrageous priced.
Thanks
 
srgvigil

srgvigil

Member
I would suggest going with a ORA coral. Ive had a 50/50 ratio with them. They were my first two corals both ORA and one completely bleached out and died but the other remained great. It figures the $30 piece lives while the $90 dollar piece dies
 
smokingreefer

smokingreefer

Member
watts/gallon doesn't really matter. It's the intensity of the light that t-5 and mh provides that's important. 150mh is better than 250 pc
 
bmorefisher9

bmorefisher9

Member
Gotcha well I went to the LFS and talk with a guy there and he did not have any T5's in stuck and recommened that. So he put one on order me should be in , in a few days. What else did you all do in prep'ing your tank for coral? Are there any corals that do not reguire spot feeding that are on the more hardier side?
Thanks
 
texasmetal

texasmetal

Active Member
Most leathers. Just about any leather except Yellow Fiji Leathers are pretty tough.
Colt coral, mushrooms, Kenya Tree (impossible to kill and grows like crazy) Zoas, Palythoas, photosynthetic gorgonias, Anthelia, Xenia (although it can be tricky sometimes) Green Star Polyps... those are all pretty easy to keep. Once you've got those down you might move on to some LPS like Euphyllia, Echinophyllia, Duncanopsammia...
The corals that require spot feeding are usually pretty easy to deal with. You just gotta make sure they get fed every few days and they will grow.
Main thing is a good light. If you're getting T-5's you should be good to go for most of the corals that don't require "high" lighting like a lot of the SPS corals. But I would avoid them anyway until you're confident with the other corals.
 
privatejoker

privatejoker

Member
If your getting t5's and your parameters are good, and stable you can start with any coral. I would suggest, for SPS, a pocillopora. I'm sure I spelled it wrong but they are good for starters and will grow very fast. They also look nice. You could have already done LPS with PC so if your still interested in them then go ahead and get them. Make sure you do your water changes and keep the parameters stable.
 
mr_x

mr_x

Active Member
Originally Posted by SrgVigil
http:///forum/post/2703525
I would suggest going with a ORA coral. Ive had a 50/50 ratio with them. They were my first two corals both ORA and one completely bleached out and died but the other remained great. It figures the $30 piece lives while the $90 dollar piece dies
why would you suggest an ORA coral if half of them died?
 
srgvigil

srgvigil

Member
Because you have to look at it with two factors
1) they where my very first corals, im sure many of us have killed fish when we first got into the hobby (poor blenny :(
2)Ive only had 2 pieces of coral
Also the thing I like about ORA coral is that its been generations since its been taken out of the ocean so your being a responsible aquariast by not taking coral that is taken out of the ocean.
 
mr_x

mr_x

Active Member
there are many places that aquaculture corals, including local reefers. i would not suggest an ORA coral to a beginner because they are very expensive, and unless your tank is quite stable, you may lose them.
btw- ORA doesn't have a limited supply of corals. every so often you hear of a new coral that they have released to the public. where do you think they are getting them?
 
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