20 gallon coral stocking

[AverageSoftCoralEnthusiest]

Hi I was wondering what you guys would recommend I start with on my 20 gallon cube tank, all of you have need so helpful with my fish stocking and I hear a lot of conflicting opinions on what corals are good and bad so I wanted some help with mine. 
 

the most important things about a coral I like 

• a purple / green or orange coral
• sways in the water, 

[AverageSoftCoralEnthusiest]

I was planning on getting the 100 $ world wide corals coral club but I feel like it would be better to buy them at my LFS, but idk what

[Firefish15]

First off, I think we need a little bit more information about your tank.

What kind of light are you going to be using?

Are you going to be using any power heads or wave makers?

Are you wanting more intro-level corals in terms of care?

 

[AverageSoftCoralEnthusiest]

Thank you for telling me I need more info,

my light is the reef Nano LED - reef builders https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/reef-nano-led-reefbreeders.html

and I plan to use this powerhead https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/tunze-turbelle-nanostream-6025.html

I don’t care how hard the corals are to care for but I think that as long as they aren’t to the point where I need to constantly check water chemistry and add stuff to the tank i would like something easier

[Jakesaw]

For smaller tanks on a budget, I like the idea of finding a LFS and buying frags that spark your interest.  Particularly if you can find a store that specializes in selling and culturing coral.  start with easy and see how your tank supports them and expand as you go.  If you're on a budget tell them, and see if they work with you and still value your business.  If not, they will appreciate the spend. 

 

You can get 10- 15 dollar frags for starter corals.  as you learn and gain confidence in your reef can buy more difficult / or expensive corals and have an informed expert who can help answer questions as to pricing / coral selection / care etc.  

 

I was about to get out of hobby before finding a coral store that helped answer a few questions to my satisfaction.  Got some basic understanding of how corals are priced and why based on coloration / growth rates / cares needed for what I'm buying and where to place them in tanks via lighting requirements.   If / When I feel like graduating from my Nano, they will be able to help me through any knowledge gaps I may have

 

My experience is you don't really know what corals you like til you have them in your own tank for a while.  I used to hate duncans I saw in pics.  After having them in my tank and seeing how they grow out, Duncans currently one of my current favorites along with most Euphylias.  

[jservedio]

Check your area for either local forums or a Facebook group and get in touch with other local hobbyists. You will be able to find higher-end corals that are bigger and cheaper than your LFS can offer and unless you have a really great LFS, they are also going to be way healthier. Most stuff is going to be 1/4 to 1/2 the price you would get in a store and likely a larger frag. Seeing other people's tanks in person is far more helpful than seeing display tanks in most LFS - plus you can see the mother colony where the frag came from and ask them about their setup, placement, etc. - you can't do that at an LFS when they are getting their frags shipped in from an aquaculture facility.

 

In a 20g with your light and flow, you should have no problem growing anything you want, you just need to be careful with placement for higher-light requirement corals.

[Jakesaw]

16 hours ago, AverageSoftCoralEnthusiest said:

Hi I was wondering what you guys would recommend I start with on my 20 gallon cube tank, all of you have need so helpful with my fish stocking and I hear a lot of conflicting opinions on what corals are good and bad so I wanted some help with mine. 
 

the most important things about a coral I like 

• a purple / green or orange coral
• sways in the water, 

GSP sway in water - It grows out at base and will cover everything if you let it.  Need isolate and trim back when it grows where you do not want it. Beginner fiendly - grows fast

Euphelia have localized movement in their polyps ( Hammers, Frogspawn, Torches ) - Hammer / Frogspawn more tolerant than Torches to parameter fluctuation

Gorgonians branches move a iittle in water flow ( some are easier to keep than others ) - they come in purple

Duncans sway with water flow.  beginner friendly / cheap / grow fast

 

[Firefish15]

I’d also throw in green sinularia leather, nice branching structure that moves and is nice and bright green.

For some orange, maybe some orange Ricordea florida or yuma mushrooms. 

[AverageSoftCoralEnthusiest]

Wow these are all great recommendations thanks for the help!

[AverageSoftCoralEnthusiest]

I love frogspawn and hammers, but they are a little out of my price range, if my LFS has it it’s probably cheaper, the GSP seems like a great choice for this aswell as the gorgonians, leathers are really cool and maybe on top of some specific corals I want I’ll get 1 Month of the coral club at world wide corals

[Jakesaw]

2 hours ago, AverageSoftCoralEnthusiest said:

I love frogspawn and hammers, but they are a little out of my price range, if my LFS has it it’s probably cheaper, 

I found a local Coral specialty store that sells some frags of Hammers for 30 bucks a head. Their frogspawn & Torch corals are pricey though.  

 

The saltwater store nearest me however - They don't sell single head anything.  So their corals start around 50-75 ( * cough *) bucks to start a conversation.  If you live in a densely populated area, there is probably somewhere you can pick up a hammer for reasonable price if you wanted one

 

 

[AverageSoftCoralEnthusiest]

Thank you, it’s too bad that the nearest LFS is a really small local store that only sells the more basic corals like zoas and lps and online they cost way more, I’ll try to get a small hammer for like 50, but I don’t think I could get one for 30.

[AverageSoftCoralEnthusiest]

Just looking at eBay, I could get one for around 30 - 40 but the shipping is at least another 40 dollars

[Clownfish king]

On 3/3/2022 at 1:44 PM, Jakesaw said:

GSP sway in water - It grows out at base and will cover everything if you let it.  Need isolate and trim back when it grows where you do not want it. Beginner fiendly - grows fast

Euphelia have localized movement in their polyps ( Hammers, Frogspawn, Torches ) - Hammer / Frogspawn more tolerant than Torches to parameter fluctuation

Gorgonians branches move a iittle in water flow ( some are easier to keep than others ) - they come in purple

Duncans sway with water flow.  beginner friendly / cheap / grow fast

 

Photosynthetic Gorgs also come in rusty oranges. Stay to the photosynthetic kind. Non photosynthetic gorgs tend to be incredibly hard and need to be fed micro foods constantly.

[jcrisman2009]

Stick with soft corals starting out then work your way up to lps and eventually perhaps sps. LPS and SPS require calcium and magnesium in significant amounts than the soft corals need. All corals do need a little nitrates and phosphates so don’t let them two bottom out but not get extremely high either. Sps also need brighter light and flow than lps. soft corals do need some flow depending on what it is. Leathers need quite a bit of flow due to them shedding every so often but not too much as to make it flap like a flag during a hurricane. Above all else introduce the livestock SLOWLY (don’t want to overwhelm the biological filtration) and don’t rush things. (If any of this is incorrect then please by all means add the right information.)

[jcrisman2009]

6 minutes ago, jcrisman2009 said:

Stick with soft corals starting out then work your way up to lps and eventually perhaps sps. LPS and SPS require calcium and magnesium in significant amounts than the soft corals need. All corals do need a little nitrates and phosphates so don’t let them two bottom out but not get extremely high either. Sps also need brighter light and flow than lps. soft corals do need some flow depending on what it is. Leathers need quite a bit of flow due to them shedding every so often but not too much as to make it flap like a flag during a hurricane. Above all else introduce the livestock SLOWLY (don’t want to overwhelm the biological filtration) and don’t rush things. (If any of this is incorrect then please by all means add the right information.)

Just remember, everyone’s tank is different !