Thinking about starting corals. need advice

[jds31788]

i recently set up a 30 gal with 40lbs live sand and about 15lbs live rock and i want to eventually put corals in but i know nothing about them.. i have 1 goby, a cleaner shrimp, two hermit crabs and two snails. i would like to know when to add the coral and what kind i should start with. What corals should i stay away from? which are the easiest and the most difficult to keep?? whats your favorite? i appreciate any imput. thanks for ur help!
oh and my lighting: odysea 36" 96watts

 

[wangotango]

id try some green star polyps, those are nice. leathers are pretty easy too. mushrooms and maybe some other type of polyp. try some of those and see what you think. with your current lighting id stay away from hard corals.

 

[jds31788]

ok thanks. so my light is strong enough to do some small ones right....

 

[wangotango]

small hard corals? hmmmm not really. sun polyps yes because they dont need any lighting at all. im sure that most hard corals need at least 4-5 watts/gallon or more. is it 96 watts of light total?

 

[hagfish]

That's not a whole lot of light so you'll want to stick with lower light corals. That leaves you with zoo's, mushrooms, ricordea, and softies in general. There are lower light LPS corals, but they are going to be a little more difficult than the softies I just mentioned.
I agree with buying some green star polyps first. They look good, they're easy, and if you do well they'll spread fast.
There are tons of different colors of zoos and shrooms so you should be able to get a nice assortment of colors with your current setup.

 

[hkdonreefs]

Get a book. Try aquarium corals by Eric borehman. Its a great book with lots of pics. Its pretty pricey I paid 55 for hard cover.

 

[xrobbx03]

a book that i have read about corals which was cheap and simp is "The super simple guide to corals" by James W. Fatherree. Like you im looking into getting some corals. The book gives alot of useful information along with some common corals for the application that suits you.

 

[jumpfrog]

3 words
research, read, act!
There are so many possibilities which is what makes this so facinating. Light is one consideration but there are many others.
While I love star polyps and they are easy to keep, you do have a small tank and if they're going great they'll pretty juch take over.
A good start would be a small leather and an assortment of mushrooms and zoo's.
But first, do some research on what the various animals need so you can develop a stocking plan.
Good Luck and show us some pics when it comes together.

 

[jds31788]

thank you very much.. ill probably search the internet instead of getting a book but definately gonna read up on it.. 30gal with 96W is 3.2watts per gal.. if u count the displacement of rock and 40lbs of sand its probably a little less than 30 gal... so maybe 3.2watts+ per gal.. i also need to consider chemicals.. i talked to the lfs today and the only person there didnt know alot but he talked like minor corals can get real expensive real fast.. about how much would you guess you have invested/invest every month in your corals alone??
thanks again for your replies!
oh one more thing: I plan on sometime in the future (within the next year or so) upgrading to a 120gal or larger.. its going to be a custom job so is there anything i should do now to plan for that and if you could have a tank built to any dimentions what whould u have?? giving you the most display?? easiest to keep?? best light?? etc..

 

[jumpfrog]

As you spend more time on this board you'll probably see that watts per gallon doesn't provide very much information. Intensity and location of your corals can make such a generalization almost useless. Some corals will adapt to your light (both strong and mild), while others have very specific requirements combined with many other factors.
As you start reading more you'll see how many things affect which corals you can keep that will thrive in your tank.
As for how much one would spend would depend on the goal. If you try to cram every nook and cranny with a coral (bad idea by the way) you could spend indefinitely. Realistically you'll spend for a little while on new animals and then figure out what to do with them when they get too big for your tank.
Best of luck!

 

[jds31788]

what would you say about some green ricordea and orange ricordea mushroom polyps, an orange sun coral.. and maybe a blue spotted or striped or watermelon mushroom polyps. or is that to much?? any suggestions on the custom tank?

 

[jds31788]

Originally Posted by jds31788
oh one more thing: I plan on sometime in the future (within the next year or so) upgrading to a 120gal or larger.. its going to be a custom job so is there anything i should do now to plan for that and if you could have a tank built to any dimentions what whould u have?? giving you the most display?? easiest to keep?? best light?? etc..
.

 

[ninjamini]

Originally Posted by jds31788
...with 40lbs live sand and about 15lbs live rock...

That seems like a a lot of sand and not a lot of rock.

 

[jumpfrog]

Can't comment on the tank. Too many variables. The corals you mentioned are all low light corals. In fact the sun coral doesn't even like light.

 

[hagfish]

Originally Posted by jds31788
what would you say about some green ricordea and orange ricordea mushroom polyps, an orange sun coral.. and maybe a blue spotted or striped or watermelon mushroom polyps. or is that to much?? any suggestions on the custom tank?
All of that should be great! You can't really have too many corals IMO chemical wise. They don't contribute to the bio load much, if at all. Many actually help a little by grabbing food in the water as well as other waste material. Xenia actually consumes nitrates.

 

[jds31788]

thanks.! sounds like a plan then.. yeah, i know its alot of sand but i plan on adding a more than one jawfish so i want them to have Plenty of soft sand to dig and burrow all the like. I am also planning on adding more live rock and, like i mentioned, someday upgrading to a 120gal or larger. Depends on how well my first tank goes. For now im stuck with what i have on the account of insufficient funds..
thanks for the advice!

This forum is GREAT!