Coral Ignorant Please Help w/ Stocking

[Glenn]

Ok, I'm about to go nuts just trying to decide on an aquarium (can't decide between 7gal. mini-bow, 20gal. long, or 29gal. URRGH!! ). Anyway, now I got this coral thing to get out of the way so I can decide what lights I need (J/K about the frustration thing, I love the decisions, just wish I could have everything ). My favorite corals so far are Sun Coral (Tubastrea something, coming up w/ 2 different species names depending on where I check. any help as to which one is best: faulneri or something [can't remember]), Frog Spawn (Euphyllia divisa), Moon Stone (Favites sp.), Torch Coral (Euphyllia glabrescens), Anchor Coral (Euphillia ancora), and some Zooanthus (Zooanthus sp.). Are all these corals compatible, if not which ones are not and with who? I know that some have "sweeper tenticles" and should be placed accordingly (need help here as to how long the tenticles are and how far they should be placed from other corals). And are any of these corals "high light corals" (i.e. requireing MH)? I would like to get by with either PC's or VHO's, but if MH is necessary than I will get that and supplement w/ VHO actinic's. Mainly I want to supply plenty of light to them but don't want to go overboard. Also, any of these require special feedings? If so which ones and what do I feed them? I know this is alot to ask and I also know I should read a book or try the net but w/ Christmas looming it's hard to convince the wife to let me buy $100 worth of books, and the net is giving me incomplete info. and mixed reviews. X) Thanks for listening for sooo long and thanks even more for any input! I have been researching these corals heavily for the past couple of days and have turned up little useful info. so far. Thanks again.

[gobies]

> Sun Coral (Tubastrea something

There's a good thread around here about feeding these.

 

The torch has long sweepers... go with the 29g if you want one of these.

 

Frogspawn and anchor/hammer corals are usually happy together, from what I've read...though YMMV. My hammer has short sweepers.

 

I like your selection...that's mostly what I want to include in my tank.

 

 

Check out www.wetwebmedia.com .... lots of info there on assorted corals and whatnot.

[printerdown01]

I've seen torch done very nicely in a 7 gallon... It all depends on where you place them. Torch, generally, will produce shorter sweepers than will hammer (I say generally since age and size of the coral are obviously factors). None of those will require MH. Sun coral will actually prefer to be out of the sun, so to speak, and will require serious feeding. There is a really cool DYI feeding tool on the "general" section on this site, that would be useful for sun corals, but not necessary. In terms of "compatibility" there are very few corals that can "co-exist peacefully" while touching one another... So long as they aren't doing this, they will have no problems with each other. It may be possible to allow some euphillia spp to co-mingle (but this will almost be on a case by case basis, if the combo worked in someone else’s tank there is no promise that it will be the same in yours). The closer the relation between the coral the more "likely" it will be that the individual cluster can mingle with the other. In terms of lighting: on the 7 gallon, all of the listed corals can be done with 28W or 32W of 50/50 lighting on the tank, on the 20 I would say something closer to 2x55W (or a 96W quad)... And I would be totally guessing on the 29 gallon (as I refuse to use the watts/gallon ratio)... Ok, now for what I was actually going to tell you from the start: Books.... pick up "The Reef Aquarium" by Delbeek and Sprung... This book is quite expensive, but takes the place of 5+ books in terms of info! They have a great info for both beginners and experienced reefers alike. For beginners it is an indispensable reference tool for "problems" i.e. algae, stagnant sand beds, parameters, filtration, and pests (coral eating crabs, snails ect).. -my favorite book... I have a ton of Reef books, only 2 made the list to come with me to college -this is one of the two. Hehe, there is SOOO much conflicting info on the net... -there is often many ways to skin a cat, and people most certainly have their prefered methods!! But I'm sure it is really confusing for a beginner!

[Glenn]

Totally aggree on the watts per gallon ratio, it's useless. The only way it could work is if everyone had the exact same tank. Anyway if I got the 7gal. I would pobably go with 2x32 CSL PC's, and as far as the 20L and the 29, it's a toss up ( but will probably have MH in the mix along with VHO). Yeah, I would like to do some reading but the lfs's and book stores around here SUCK! Anything I get will have to be MO, and I would rather combine it with other stuff to keep from having to pay so many S/H charges. The books I am looking at so far are: A Practicle Guide to Corals by Borneman and Puterbough, Corals; a Quick Reference Guide by Sprung, Invertibrae's ; a Quick Reference Guide by Sprung, and Algae; a Problem Solver Guide by Sprung. What do ya think? Oh yea, and Reef Aquarium by Sprung and Deelbeck. Anyway, thanks for the input. If ya have any more suggestions please feel free.