Need Help With Choosing Beginner Corals

[adamc1303]

So I changed my set up, got a 180 lb of live rock, traded and sold some fish and am finally getting my lights this week. I will be using a 260w coralife pc's. Which corals do I add first? Are corals like fish do they add to my bio load or can I add like 3 or 4 at once? Tank is a 90 gallon with a 40 gallon wet/dry sump.. I have 180 lb of LR like I mentioned you know the lights and I have plenty of water movement. The tank is also very stocked with fish some might say it is over stocked. Any help will be appreciated because I don’t know anything about coral. The lfs told me I will love my reef tank, he showed me some type of coral that he said will grow larger and extend onto other rocks a polyup or something (probably spelled it wrong).

 

[murph145]

ur guna be limited to only some zoo's some mushrooms and otehr softies like colt and xenia .... other then that and some other softies thats all u can get

 

[adamc1303]

What is limiting me?

 

[unleashed]

there are many different types of lower light corals most are considered softies pollups and zoes cabbage corals do nicely under moderate lighting mushrooms ect.stay clear of hard corals .Imyself keep all softies pollups and muschrooms too low to med lighting but they thrive in my very well lit reef i would check other the threads on corals in the forum listing

 

[adamc1303]

What about the coral that looks like a brain?

 

[murph145]

whats limiting u is the amount of lights u have on your tank
its not enought to keep anything more than softies and otehr non photosynthetic corals like gogorians and sun corals
its not enought lighting for LPS, SPS, and clams

 

[murph145]

not enought lighting im affraid
ud need to double the light to keep LPS corals like brains happy

 

[drew2005]

Originally Posted by murph145
not enought lighting im affraid
ud need to double the light to keep LPS corals like brains happy
Agreed. You need to double to keep more. Right now your only about 3 watts per gallon. You need be be at least 6 watts per gallon.

 

[adamc1303]

Will they absoloutely not survive?

 

[adamc1303]

Well theres 180 lb of rock so I probably have 70 gallons of water in the display tank does that make a difference?

 

[murph145]

its not so much the water in the tank its the area of the tank a 90 gallon tank still has the area of a 90 gallon tank so in order for the lights to hit all areas its the same with or without the rock....
u can place corals higher up on the rocks that might help...
but as far as LPS corals like brains, frogspawn, torch, bubbles and such u need more light IMO PC lighting in itself doesnt penetrate the water as much as say metal halide so u need more PC to penetrate into the tank

 

[adamc1303]

Wow that really blows, why do they keep the brains under pc's in lfs? Asking because I know they never follow rules. Also are corals hardier than fish in general?

 

[bs21]

i think it also has to do with how deep the light will penetrate into the tank ...someone correct me if i'm wrong.

 

[adamc1303]

The light will sit ont he glass top under a wod canopy not on legs raised so I guess I will be making it penetrate the most possible.

 

[murph145]

LFS's usually dont get the best lighting for corals cuz they are keeping them in hopes of selling them in a week.... if they are keeping LPS corals under the same wattage of PC in there tanks they will wither away after time they will lose there colors and slowly starve...
if u had a 55G tank id say sure u can try a brain coral but u have a larger tank with 260 of PC u really cant keep the hard corals with that
in general Corals are HARDER to keep they need very stable water a matured system
here would be a good water condition for corals
salinity 1.024-1.026
Am, NI, Na all zero
Phosphates barely detectable
Ca 400-450
Alk 8-12 dkh
temp 78-82
Mg 1300-1500

 

[murph145]

most people get rid of the glass tops when switching to reef u need better oxygen exchange u want lots of flow in your tank and the heat of lights can be trapped under the glass top raising the temp of the water
in general it is about penetration into the water u can take the same amount of Metal Halide versus PC and the MH will penetrate deeper into the water
there are lots of factors to consider when starting a reef tank and some mandatory equipment

 

[unleashed]

Originally Posted by Adamc1303
Wow that really blows, why do they keep the brains under pc's in lfs? Asking because I know they never follow rules. Also are corals hardier than fish in general?
LFS are in the buiseness of selling and making money they normally dont keep corals long enough to worry about them thriving tg my LFS has proper lighting.
its not a matter of how long they will last under lower lighting even the best lit tanks lose these expencive corals for no known reasons when they think everything is perfect.the cheepest coral I have in my tank was 30 bucks in LFS and it was a 1 inch frag of pulsating xanias,oh those might do ok lol the rest were 50 and up over 100 each at huge discounted prices.but i have also seen some very nice reef tanks with t5 not even as strong as pcs do well for different types of corals.with pc and a taller tank it will be a matter of placement in your tank some will do better high others low try to make sure you know what it needs before you buy it and do not leave it to your LFS judgement to tell you.this is how most tanks fail the key is do your research and you tell your LFS what your tank can keep not visa versa

 

[adamc1303]

I was thinking I would remove the glass tops but I was worried about the fixture getting wet. What if I keps a brain coral all the way on top do you think it will survive. Like 6 to 10 inches from the top pf the water and the light being rite there. I am posting a pic of my tank so you can see the way the rocks are set up I can place anything anywhere.

 

[murph145]

i would say if u wanna try it then u must put it towards the top....
u can try it and see how it acts with the ligting but there are lots of other nice soft corals that will do just fine in your tank too imo and have lots of nice color!

 

[adamc1303]

Like what help me out, and thanks of course for your input so far. I need the full names because I never did corals yet.