20g cycled!.... now what?

[bBoYLXIX]

the nitrates in my 20g are finally on the decline. but now i have no idea what to do. lol. i had a plan about what kind of corals i wanted b4 i started my tank, but now that its actually time, im lost. what would you do with an empty, cycled 20g? so far ive got a bicolor blenny (only fish, might even take him out and have only inverts and corals.) 6 blue leg hermits, a few hitchhiker starfish, 1 astrea snail. right now i only have a few pounds of LR (two small pieces) i will be getting more very soon. i have the coralife 24" with 2-65w bulbs. actinic and 10k. im planning to start off with ricordea and mushrooms. im not planning on adding anything except the LR for a while, i want the tank to get nice and established, but i was so focused on the tank cycle, that now that im not testing the water every hour, i realized i had no idea what to do about corals. lol. i like the hammer and bubble coral, star polyps, rics and shrooms. would this be a good start? would they get a long? anyone have other suggestions? i heard i can only keep LPS, polyps and shrooms and stuff with my kind of lighting. is this true? anything else i can get away with?

[vyger]

I wouldn't do anything until you put some more live rock in the tank. you should really add all the live rock at once or most of it anyway.You should have 1-1.5 lbs for each gallon of water to support corals...and putting a lion in a 55 gal is way cruel...he should go in a big cage where he can move around a little :~)

[bBoYLXIX]

sorry, i should have been more specific. its going to be a DWARF lion tank. fu manchu, radiata, nothing that gets too big. and of course, im ordering some live rock from drsfostersmith.com soon. im just looking for some more info on corals, so i can have an image of what my tank will like.

[tiepilot68]

I will be cycling my 1st nano reef next week, and I also have very similar lighting to yours..the Coralife 30" 2x65w 50/50 (great lights!)

 

With those lights softies, shrooms, star polyps, and most LPS will do well. I even think there are a couple of SPS that will too..cant remember the names offhand because I am steering clear of more difficult corals until I learn much more and my skill level goes up.

 

Your preference may be different but this is what I plan to start with.

 

Green Star Polyps

Shrooms of various colors

Toadstool

colony polyps

and Zoos.

 

All fairly easy for a beginner like myself and because I plan on housing a pair of Ocellaris Clowns, I have chosen the toadstool and GSP because they are good playgrounds for Clowns.

 

Because I dont want to stress any of my coral by adding fish and raising the bio-load, I'll be adding the fish 1st, then later after any danger of an ammonia spike is over I'll begin to add Corals.

 

Since you may be goin fishless, you wont have to worry about this.

 

This is what I have planned out...like I said, its all very subjective (within a certain set of guidlines of course) and your tastes may be different, but I hope that my plans help you get yours ironed out.

 

Merry Christmas!

 

Lon