My 5G fluval tank progress.

[1st reef]

Things coming along nicely.  Still in the ugly stages lol

[1st reef]

Tempted to add some corals. 

Any suggestion? Easy to care for ones. 

[1st reef]

Will go with green mushrooms and gsp. 

Is it ok to these at this stage in my set up? 

[DevilDuck]

Yes, those are good choices! Be aware that the gsp can be invasive. Also look at soft coral like Kenya trees and toadstools.

[LazyFish]

Gsp has a few varieties some are brighter than others one even branches and theres a pink encrusting gorgonia that's simmilar. Toadstools and Kenya trees come in a few difrent colors. Green, green with brown polyps, blue green, tan, brown, pinkish. Theres lots of mushroom colors available and sevral types. Yuma are a bit harder to keep as far as shrooms go. Rock flower anemones are prety low maintenance. Theres sevral cabage coral colors including insanely bright green. Most leather corals are easy and have at least a couple of color variations. Devils hand and spaghetti are also leathers that would work. Pallys and zoanthids are another good choice and some are quite colorful but some can be pricy because idk reasons designer name and sutch but be aware of pally toxin use caution, gloves and face shield when fragging.

[1st reef]

How about bta? 

[LazyFish]

Your tank is going to be mighty small for a bta. Personaly I wouldnt recomend it. They Get quite large and can get big enough to take over a small tank quickly or make alot of clones. They need slot of light. They sometimes  wanders if not happy. Can sting other things in the tank especialy when they dont stay put.  Requires more direct feedings that can quickly deteriorate water conditions in a small system.They are more likely to eat something and also less tolerant of system instability than say rock flowers and maxi minis.

The rock flowers are great beginner nems and typically stay small enough for a tank like this with bright colors but they are not a hosting anemone for clowns but will host things like anemone shrimp, sexy shrimp and porcelain crabs. They also tend to stay put once they settle most of them at least. The sting is also quite weak. Extremely low chance it will eat any livestock. Theres a few stories but usualy the thing it ate was alredy on its way out. Mine have never eaten anything I have about 20 in my 20g and 2 in my peninsula.

Maxi mini carpet anemone could also work. It has some very nice colors but has a bit more of a sting than a rfa and I hear more stories about them eating a small fish here and there than rfa but usualy only very small or very sick fish are consumed by either one. This will also host the same things as the rfa and move around less than a bta.

[1st reef]

Sooo I got these 2. Gsp is in the back cause I want to fill up the back wall. 

Any suggestions as to placement for either? 

[ReefTaco]

What you mean back wall? Back of the glass or back where the filter wall is. What's the other green frag you got.

[1st reef]

The back glass. I'm hoping the green frag can be Identified by someone here. Was given to me. 

[LazyFish]

It's a green leather of some sort hard to tell with it all scrunched up and the polyps closed. I think irs most likely a green cabage coral could be some type of toadstool maby devils hand. All are the same care and requirements. Try taking a pic when it's open and happy.

[1st reef]

And one more coral added 

Superman mushroom. 

The gsp is doing great. Opening up. 

The green unknown seems to be opening up also. 

[LazyFish]

Yup! Looks like a green cabage to me. One with a very nice color from the look of it. You can glue the gsp to the back wall gell super glue works or reef glue same stuff. Cyanoacrylate glue. Make sure it's not the liquid kind.

[1st reef]

Won't it attach itself to the glass if close enough? 

[LazyFish]

As long as it's right against it will but gluing it is quicker if it's a sheet. I actualy thought yours was a loose sheet at first but it looks like its actualy atached to the rock.

[1st reef]

Yeah it's on a rock. Thinking of adding a hammer next week. Is it too soon to be adding another coral. I added 3 yesterday. 

[1st reef]

Do i bother feeding these corals with reef roids? 

[1st reef]

Superman is doing great! Should I glue it on a rock or leave on substrate? 

[Critteraholic]

@1st reefReef Roids are good!  I feed my tank with them. Both the corals and the inverts love them.  As for your shroom, if it's attached to a rock you can put it where you want.  But don't put glue on the mushroom itself.  If you want it on a rock, you can put pieces of rock in a cup and put the shroom in the cup in the tank until it attaches to one. Your shroom looks awesome!

[1st reef]

[1st reef]

So, I decided to part ways with the gsp. 

The zoa that was attached to it got removed and glued onto a rock. 

The gsp got replaced by a hammer. 

Looks like there's 4 heads on this. 

As for the green guy, it's a cabbage according to my lfs. 

[1st reef]

How much longer do I have to endure this ugly stage? Tank is 2.5 months old. 

[1st reef]

3 months already and things are coming along nicely. 

Not sure why I got cyano but yeah... Battling cyano. 

I've since added pistol shrimp, ywg, and some corals. 

Superman mushroom, hammer, green cabbage and today I added gsp on the back glass cause I want it to cover the glass... Tired of cleaning it lol. 

Also added a Duncan. I buy the water premixed from my lfs. 5$ for 4 Gal jug. 

They use reef crystal. 

[A.m.P]

You may have cyano if your LFS doesn't change out their RO cannisters often enough.
You could get a cheap TDS meter and test their RO water to check.

[1st reef]

I buy premixed water from my lfs. Top off is distilled water I buy from the pharmacy.