what coral should i get first

[spyke326]

hey i have a 24g nano cube and i was wondering what kind of coral i should get first since i have 2 true clownfish

 

[fishgeek01]

start with mushrooms and zoas, they require less light and not quite so perfect of conditions to do well, they will help break you in, but stay away from ricordia for now, they are in the same family as the mushrooms, but a little more sensitive

 

[spyke326]

k thx i will try that

 

[chadman]

how long has your tank been set up for?

 

[spyke326]

it has been up for like 3 weeks and have had clownfish for 1/2 week or so why

 

[chadman]

if your tank has only been set up for two weeks i would strongly reccomend you not to get any corals for at least another month or two...especially in a tank that small you definately want your tank to be cycled before adding corals or anemones

 

[spyke326]

so you say i should wait one more week at least before getting anything other than fish

 

[chadman]

you shouldn't even get anymore fish for at least a month...test your water and once all your readings are at 0 then you know that your tank is done cycling and as long as things stay stable then you can add prolly max three or four fish total including what u have now...prolly the people on this site would say in a 24g tank which i think u said u had that u should have two or three fish in it

 

[spyke326]

i got my water tested today and the guy said everything was good and i have my fish for 3 days

 

[chadman]

do you test your water yourself? sometimes lfs will mislead you to get you buying stuff

 

[spyke326]

true true what do i need to do it myself

 

[chadman]

just get ammonia,nitrite, and nitrate those are your biggies at this point....you may also want to get a calcium test and ph just to make sure all your parameters are right before starting to add coral...believe me its addictive once you start and it also get expensive so you want to make sure everything is good to go

 

[chadman]

i tested daily for the first two or there months until i new everything was stable and got me water change regiment down and such...now i test maybe every two or there weeks

 

[spyke326]

but like what utensils

 

[chadman]

none just test kits everything you need comes with it...

 

[spyke326]

o and where do you get htem and are they expensive

 

[chadman]

you can get them at any pet or lfs store...salifert kits are very good....they cost from 10-20 per test kit...and each kit has like 50-100 or more