SPS/LPS Coral Suggestions

[paintballer768]

Hello everyone. In the next few days, Im going to be ordering my new metal halides (Sunpod 150watt on a 24 gallon tank), from my PC lights I have now.
Now I have a few questions for everyone. What would be a good coral for a tank my size? I have enough room in the tank for maybe 2 frags, and an open sand bed. What are some hardy, and affordable SPS/LPS corals? Affordable meaning something not too incredibly priced for a frag of.
I thought maybe a orange or green monti capricornis, and some kind of acropora as well (suggestions?) I think the LPS corals have a better variety for sand bed corals, some tell me what you would do if you were me.
Thanks!!

 

[hypertek99]

2 frags only??? You can keep a lot in the 24. Yeah LPS are good for sand bed. Maybe some acans or chalice for the sandbed. As for sps some caps and montis would be nice.

 

[paintballer768]

Well, I could probably fit more, but heres my plan. Ive got about 5 frags of various zoos all over the tank and Im waiting for them to either do one of two things, grow into a good colony for fragging or Ill give them back to a friend and trade them for a frag or two. Ive got only about 26 lbs of LR in there as well. Wish I had more. I added corals before I had all the LR I wanted and the corals got settled and sort of sealed the deal.
Would a birds nest grow very large? I really like the color on them, I dont have a lot of pink in my tank either

 

[wangotango]

Birds nest have nice coloration (I've seen best under T5), but IME aren't the fastest growers. Green slimers are almost bullet-proof as far as SPS go, and have nice coloration and grow like crazy. Monti caps are another good beginner.
For such a small tank, I would go with too many LPS that have long sweepers. Most brains, acans, candy would be safe.
-Justin

 

[nycbob]

mont cap is always nice. they can grow fast like triple or quad in size in a year if given the right condition. staghorns also grow fast.

 

[paintballer768]

Okay Ill research the sweeper corals. Im thinking a brain, and a monti cap or staghorn to start. Its really exciting to think about the possibilities.

 

[peef]

My favorite SPS I have is my tri-color seneca. It is freaken beautiful. PM meemmoo he might still have it.

 

[quakstar]

i am a fan of my green pagoda cup and mushrooms
do ricordia's in there they are always super hot in smaller tanks

 

[xd]

how about pavona maldeviensis (sp?) i just picked up a frag of this myself and i really like th color, its purple and orange.

 

[coraljunky]

Your still welcome to come by. Digitatas are a good hardy beginner sps that grows pretty fast. As far as lps, try frogspawn, trumpets, blastos, and hammers to name a few. Let me know if I can be of any help

 

[paintballer768]

I was looking on another site at some different kinds (with some insane colors on em). Whats everyone's opinion on the Bali Tri-Color, ORA Scripp's Green Staghorn Acro, and/or the ORA German Blue Polyp Acro? I really like the looks of those but dont want to get them if theyre going to be really hard or something Im not ready for.
One quick question also I never really thought of asking, should I supplement feed SPS corals?

 

[wangotango]

ORA has some really nice pieces. Different acros vary in the amount of care they need, but if your lighting, flow, and parameters are good you shouldn't have a problem.
SPS don't eat big chunks of meaty food like LPS, but DT's phytoplankton, oyster eggs, and cyclopeeze usually work well.

 

[paintballer768]

Well heres my water parameters. I think I should be able to keep most things quite nicely. My sun coral gets fed every other day, so I have no problem feeding corals that require more supplemental feedings than most. I have a mix of brine, mysis, and cyclops that I make to feed the sun.
Ca = 450
Alk = 3.5 meq/L
Nitrates = In the history of my tank, never above 10, but currently 5.
pH = 8.4
Temperature = 80 degrees F

 

[nycbob]

Originally Posted by paintballer768
Well heres my water parameters. I think I should be able to keep most things quite nicely. My sun coral gets fed every other day, so I have no problem feeding corals that require more supplemental feedings than most. I have a mix of brine, mysis, and cyclops that I make to feed the sun.
Ca = 450
Alk = 3.5 meq/L
Nitrates = In the history of my tank, never above 10, but currently 5.
pH = 8.4
Temperature = 80 degrees F
everything looks good except the alk. try to raise it up to 8-12. staghorn and acros grow fast. my 2 ora staghorns have triple in size in 6 months.

 

[paintballer768]

Alk should be 8-12 meq/L? Holy cow mine must be like way off then

 

[paintballer768]

No I think the alkalinity is perfect. After doing some forum searching, ideal alk levels should be at just around 3.5 mEq/L, which equates out to I think 9.8 dKH. So I think my parameters are consistent and well enough to sustain some of the harder to keep corals!!!

 

[coraljunky]

Originally Posted by paintballer768
Alk should be 8-12 meq/L? Holy cow mine must be like way off then
That should be 8-12 Dkh

 

[paintballer768]

Originally Posted by coraljunky
That should be 8-12 Dkh
I thought so. Thanks for the clarification!