Coral Choices

[Waterhobit]

Ok, so my ammonia and nitrite are at .2 and falling, and if my parameters reach 0, I would like to get some corals this weekend for my new tank. I am completely new to reef keeping but I do have a protein skimmer as I understand it can be beneficial when keeping aggressive and semi-aggressive corals. Anyway I have been looking at corals at my LFS's and think I have a few picked out that I would like to have. But I would like input regarding things like sensitivity, feeding needs, placement, evasiveness, etc...

 

Mushrooms

Duncans

Acans

Yellow Pollyps

Finger Leather

Candy Cane

Lettuce Coral

 

I was told the Lettuce coral is easy to keep but requires high flow, but I seem to see conflicting information here online. My LFS has a gorgeous frag though.

[Fretless]

I'm also new to reef keeping but my lfs gave me some free corals to try Kenya tree , duncan , green star polyps , and three different zoas. So far everything is taking off

[Waterhobit]

I don't know if I'm picky or if I just know what I like, but I'm not into zoas or GSP. And I'm a little on the fence over Kenya tree's too. But it is good to know the duncan is taking off in your tank.

[Azedenkae]

All those corals can go in the same tank, depending on how big the tank is. If I am not mistaken, none of them really extends too far, so yeah.

 

Just make sure you do test your filtrative capacity before getting the coral though. Ammonia and nitrite falling is good, but it also depends on whether or not that means you have plenty of microbes to handle the eventual bioload yet, or otherwise.

[lkoechle]

For lettuce coral, are you talking about pavona? They are a sps and i would suggest sticking with soft coral and lps until you get used to caring for the tank and feel confident in your tank. Acans i would also wait on. I have one thats a TLC project and i have to feed them every day and their previous owner who stopped feeding them fed them every two days when they were in their prime. That would most likely overload your nutrient export capabilities and cause a lot of issues.

[Cencalfishguy56]

Free coral must be nice lol

[PiscesFish]

I recommend starting with leather corals/softies then move into LPS then maybe SPS if you want to.

 

If you're looking more for the wavier type of leather corals, try looking at Toadstools, Kenya/Colt Tree, or Spaghetti Leather. However, they need some pretty good flow because from time to time, they will shed a layer of mucus. All Leathers will.

 

You could also try a Cabbage Coral. I have a tan/creamish one and when it's fully extended, it's just beautiful, and it's one of the two corals I started with.

 

I don't really recommend Yellow Polyps because they're not really that colorful and when you get into the hobby more, there's better choices and the yellow polyps might end up being one of those corals you replace.

 

After your softies are doing well, I suggest Candy Canes and Duncans. They're some pretty easy and fast growers and pretty hardy.

[Waterhobit]

Good points. Yes the lettuce coral is pavona, I'll stay away from it for a while. The good news is that all the coral my LFS sells is fragged from their colonies in the store, so if they do disappear from the frag racks they will eventually come back around again. I think I'll also pass on the acans for now as well.

[Marc.The.Shark]

Wait till u see a diatom bloom & start with a CUC 1st. It's tempting to just start adding stuff, but this hobby is really a waiting/be patient game. Test, test, test. U see brown stuff on the sand & rocks, add some snails & hermits. Let them do their job for a week or so & clean the mess up, then add a fish. That will really jump start your bio-filter. If you get coral too early and the tank is not stable enuf, you risk losing them & that's a bummer!!

[Waterhobit]

Sorry, I skipped some details. Diatoms are in full bloom, CUC is rocking away. Added second fish last weekend, which started a mini-cycle. Its been running for over 5 weeks now. I currently have an occelaris and a molly that I cycled with. I'll be switching the molly for a sixline at the same time.

[Marc.The.Shark]

Sounds like you're off to a great start then. The only other thing I'd advise is to read up on coral dipping. Dip your coral b4 adding it to your tank to keep unwanted pests away like aptasia & flatworms which can take over a tank pretty quick. Pretty easy to dip, especially if you

don't have a quarantine tank. Hard to get rid of pests once they take hold in your tank.

[Waterhobit]

I have CoralRx and some other stuff in the mail. I did pick up a single mushroom today. I was in the LFS looking yesterday and asked about a stray mushroom that was growing on a random rock and asked about whether or not they would sell me just the mushroom and before I realized it they had snipped it from the rock. He just left it to float free in the tank for me to come back for. Last night when I checked and again this afternoon I checked and found my ammonia and nitrites were both at 0, and I really wanted it in my tank, so I headed back today to get it. I had them glue it to a small piece of rock from my tank. I wasn't able to dip it since my order is still in the mail, but I figure since its just the single mushroom glued to my rock, there can't be too much risk. Also, I'm getting a SixLine tomorrow, which I have been told will help eat nuisance hitch-hikers. Plus, I don't think mushrooms have too many pests, right?

 

Anyway, here is a picture. He is still ticked off and half his relaxed size.

[Slowtwitch]

Nice looking shroom. Good catch there.

[ReversedlogiC]

When I started my first SW reef tank, I would also ask for the random and stray corals. At the time, nano-reefs were hardly popular, and the store was used to dealing with massive tanks and giant coral frags. I would come in and need stuff to fit into my 3 gallon picotope. They NEVER had anything small. Most of the time the people would look at me like an idiot, snatch the single, stray polyp out of a tank, or scrape it off the glass, toss it in a bag, and give it to me. I scored Zoas, Mushrooms, Xenia, Green Stay Polyps, and Ricordea. I cheaply filled the tank with diversity and color, and they grew fast.

After a few trips like this, I left 20 bucks on the counter just because I was afraid they thought I was always in there expecting free corals. It was a sweet hook up while it lasted.