HELP DECIDING CORALS

[Nano gut]

Basically, it’s been around six months of my tank being set up, I’ve slowly added two Zoanthids and green star polyps. I would like to add a few more corals that are easier to look after and don’t require much maintenance but I would also like them to be colourful and aren’t too big. Any suggestions?

[jservedio]

What do you like and how big is your tank? You should start to look at people's build threads (or at least a few of the ToTM articles) to familiarize your self with the common corals in the hobby and see what you like. From there, you can ask better questions about specific corals you want to keep.

[Nano gut]

Unfortunately I have quite a small nano tank (13.5 gallons), is it possible for another coral? I don’t really have a preference but I do like bubbles corals and frogspawn, but I don’t know if they’ll be okay in my small tank.

[Xj reefing]

If you find a small coral than yes you can keep one but with your small tank you have to keep checking alkalinity, calcium and magnesium to keep frogspawn 

[Nano gut]

Thank you very much for the advice. I weekly check the alkalinity, magnesium, calcium, nitrate, nitrite and calcium levels levels for my other corals and don’t have huge fluctuations (yet), would I need to check for anything else if I decide to get frogspawn? Would it need any feedings? And does it need lots of light? 
I’m really sorry for asking so many questions but I really appreciate the advice!!! 

[Xj reefing]

In my expirience most corals like to be fed or need to be fed a couple times a week. If you can get some Red Sea ab+ feed that to all of your corals. I use it and don’t have to worry as much about using pellets to feed them (it is liquid so use a wave maker or something to make sure all the corals get some. My frogspawn likes highish light but don’t put at very top of tank. Put just above  the medium line

[Tamberav]

On 1/6/2021 at 4:24 PM, Nano gut said:

Unfortunately I have quite a small nano tank (13.5 gallons), is it possible for another coral? I don’t really have a preference but I do like bubbles corals and frogspawn, but I don’t know if they’ll be okay in my small tank.

Bubble corals can be pretty aggressive stingers so I personally avoid them in a small tank but frogspawn should work fine.
 

Duncan’s, blastos, candy canes, and acans are other popular easier corals. But my favias, mushrooms, and chalice corals are aggressive and have killed their neighbors.

 

 

 

[Xj reefing]

I like hammers as well

[jambon]

Some favites and acans are fairly easy to keep... leptastrea as well.  Are you using a protien skimmer? If so it will remove a lot of nutrient these corals require. Lighting plays a big part as well... the above dont require feeding but they will thrive better with some spot feeding. Any in my tanks get fed just the scraps of food the fish miss in the water column.

Here is a pic of my polkaroo leptastrea. It started as a small frag.

My tank is a biocube 32 gal with stock LED lights 

[mcarroll]

On 1/6/2021 at 6:23 PM, Nano gut said:

Thank you very much for the advice. I weekly check the alkalinity, magnesium, calcium, nitrate, nitrite and calcium levels levels for my other corals and don’t have huge fluctuations (yet), would I need to check for anything else if I decide to get frogspawn? Would it need any feedings? And does it need lots of light? 
I’m really sorry for asking so many questions but I really appreciate the advice!!! 

It unlikely that our tastes in corals match your tastes.

 

Wondering what you had in mind when you set up the tank?  Was there a tank you saw and loved that got you started?  Some particular coral?  Were you planning on keeping stony corals?  Only softies?  What was the plan?  It would be ideal (IMO) if you asked us about corals you like rather than asking us what corals WE like.  

 

Most corals aren't that hard to keep – especially if it's the coral you set the tank up for.   Don't sell yourself or your tank short by questing after "beginner corals".  They don't really exist.  (Many beginner corals have some VERY undesirable side-characteristics.  I wish I'd never added mushrooms to me system, for example.  They have been an 11-year curse for my tank.  But they're a great "beginner coral".  Forget that!  lol)

 

 

[Xj reefing]

Yeah I think that you need to just have a stable tank and then off you go

[Legendary Corals]

On 1/6/2021 at 8:16 AM, Nano gut said:

Basically, it’s been around six months of my tank being set up, I’ve slowly added two Zoanthids and green star polyps. I would like to add a few more corals that are easier to look after and don’t require much maintenance but I would also like them to be colourful and aren’t too big. Any suggestions?

First of all, bravo to you for having the patience to wait 6 months to add a few corals. I also read that you test weekly, which is another great habit! Most people just dive head first into the hobby, and run into problems weeks later. 

 

Those two corals are great for beginners. The Green Star Polyps (GSP) will do very well and grow fast in a healthy reef tank. They're also used as "canaries", where if something is wrong with your reef they'll be one of the first corals to stress out. I do recommend isolating them onto a piece of rock that you can remove from your aquascape, as they can fill up your 13 gallon very quickly. It's a good idea in case you'd like to swap them out in the future for some different corals that don't grow as quickly. Just some future proofing ideas!

 

To answer your question, some other great corals to move onto would be more soft corals and maybe a few LPS corals. Some soft corals I would recommend are Rhodactus Mushroom, Ricordea Florida (avoid Yuma, much more difficult to care for), Clove Polyps, and maybe a Kenya tree for some vertical growth. There is also a green variant of the Kenya that is stunning, but a bit more expensive. Some Discsosoma mushroom species (they are the more flat and shiny/ smooth looking ones) are more sensitive compared to their beefy Rhodactus cousins, but they 

For LPS, if you like the look of a hammer coral that would be a great "next level" coral to try. The polyps do not extend as widely as their Euphyllia cousins (Frogspawn and Torches), which make them great for nanos. Some other LPS corals to look into are micromussas (acans were reclassified as micromussa awhile ago), favias/ favites, chalices, and blastomussas (partically the smaller Merletti variants). LPS corals are more territorial and may sting other corals, along with consuming your elements more. Just something to pay attention to!

[Jerad81]

As a fellow beginner, I've had my tank set up for about a year, I have had the best success with the ricordia florida corals. Also cloves have worked well for me too. Another idea to consider are rock flowers. They are actually an anemone and will require meaty food but I have found them very easy to care for. Especially if you have fish, they will probably be content with the leftover fish food in your water column (unless you feed them flake or pellet foods, I don't know if rock flowers eat those). I've never been able to make stony corals happy though so I can't really recommend any. 

My best suggestion though is to go to your lfs and just look around at their selection. If anything jumps out at you find out what it is and spend a week or two researching and asking questions about it before you buy it. If it's something you feel you can handle and/or commit to then go back and get one. 

Also, as @jservedio already suggested, look at other people's build threads. People are always posting pictures of their corals and can also be a good way to get a better perspective on what a coral will look like as it grows.

On a side note, don't apologize for asking a lot of questions. It's always better to ask than find out the hard way later that you should have. Always research your questions as well but never be afraid to ask. It's also a great way to clarify some of the confusing or even contradictory information you might find from other sources as well.

Sorry, I wasn't trying to write a book on here but I'll go ahead and shut up now before it turns into a novel lol.