Coral newbie!!!

[gaeus]

Hi guys and gurls!!

So, i've decided to build a 55gal reef tank with many many many corals....I want as much as possible LOL and why? Because for many years i've been in this hobby and NEVER I had the chance to add corals into my tank because I didn't have a waterchiller...and thats a MOST! specially when you live @ the tropic. Lucky me, and thanks to my prayers and human sacrifices(just kidding lol), I can actually get one in a few weeks. This is my first time so I did some research and found that montiporas, pocilloporas and zoanthids are great for starters....BUT THATS IT!?!?! :shock: There's no more I can start with!??! :grumble: I dont want to be all hasty and go buy any kind of coral without knowing how to keep it, ITS A FREAKIN LIVING ORGANISM AS I AM!! I have to be very careful, treat it nicely, but I dont want to be all monotonous and stay @ one line, I want some variety, you know?.........any recommendations!?!? :frustrat:

Thanks a LOT for the help people!!! :mrgreen:

Michael :bowdown::sfish:

 

[reeftanker84]

shoot,there are some nice mushrooms and ricordia that are fairly easy,some leather corals such as toadstools,xenia,kenya trees,and colt corals,there are so many colors available for the zoas and palythoas that you can really add some nice colors,dont get me wrong there are alot more easy corals out there i just gave you an idea on some other corals,im sure someone else will chime in

 

[ErinCahir]

Euphyllia's are good to start with, too (frogspawn, hammer, torch).

Monti's and the pocillopora are both SPS, which are generally a little harder to keep than the softs (zoas, mushrooms) and the LPS (frogspawn). So IMO, I would start with the easier stuff and work your way up to the SPS.

 

[little_fish]

+1 to the above

 

[gaeus]

Im so glad I asked!! Euphylias and ricordias are super NICE I like them a lot! Im going to add those to the list. Next weekend I'll be posting pictures of the tanks. Thankyou a lot for the help guys!!

 

[reeftanker84]

no problem,do you have the tank up and started yet?

 

[Jmck]

Duncans, plate corals, bubble corals, torch corals, brain corals, any form of soft coral, or LPS can generally be easy to look after. :)

SPS are a no go for beginners. They are very precise

 

[gaeus]

no problem,do you have the tank up and started yet?

Not yet, but I'll have it ready for this weekend, im moving out and the tanks are the first thing to go. How long should I wait til I can put some corals? a month or so?

 

[little_fish]

You can actually put in the easy corals, like mushrooms or zoas as soon as you are done cycling and your nitrates are close to or under 10 ppm. How long it takes for your tank to cycle is different for every tank though.

 

[gaeus]

Duncans, plate corals, bubble corals, torch corals, brain corals, any form of soft coral, or LPS can generally be easy to look after. :)

SPS are a no go for beginners. They are very precise

There's one thing I dont understand... LPS and SPS. LPS=soft SPS=hard?? 'cus those are terms use very often around here...I better start using them haha :mrgreen:

 

[gaeus]

You can actually put in the easy corals, like mushrooms or zoas as soon as you are done cycling and your nitrates are close to or under 10 ppm. How long it takes for your tank to cycle is different for every tank though.

OOOOH!! Nice...Zoas are very cool, i love the colors, one Q, Theres a beach 1mile from my soon-to-be house and it is FULL of zoas, they are everywhere!! And they are not attached to any big rock, they just lay on the sand floor....will it be wrong if I take just one little piece....:roll:.....see what happens, so I dont waste any money buying something that might die on my new tank? :(

 

[little_fish]

SPS = small polyp stony coral like this: (pocillopora)

LPS = large polyp stony coral like this: (frogspawn)

Soft coral are totally squishy when you touch them. Even the LPS have a hard skeleton part.

 

[little_fish]

I would look very carefully what the local regulations are for removing corals, you can get into big trouble if you just take them. This goes for rocks, fish anything in the sea. I would also caution you about removing stuff from the sea because they are used to very different conditions we have in our tank and many of them dont make it. The ones that are captive propagated are much hardier.

 

[parrotchute]

LPS are long polyped stonies, meaning they have longer, more fleshy polyps and use calcium to build their bases.
SPS have short polyps, and generally don't present as fleshy an appearance.

Softies do not have calcium bodies, and are much less dependent on high levels of ca/alk to thrive.

 

[reeftanker84]

lps is large poylp stony sps means small poylp stony
the large poylp ones are not as tempermental and are more forgiving the the small poylp stonys
and you need to make sure your tank is fully cycled before adding any corals,this could take anywhere from 3 weeks to as much as 6,each tank is diferant though

 

[gaeus]

WOW!! All you guys together can make a book about this!! +A hehe :mrgreen: I will be making a list of different LPS (thanks a lot for helping me with that!!) with actual pics, and i'll wait...wait..and wait til the tank cycles, so, I'll keep you posted!!!

YOUS GUYS ARE THE BEST! Thanks a lot!

Michael :bowdown::sfish:

 

[Jmck]

Get a Duncan coral! They are seriously one of the easiest to look after, look great and miltiply so easily! I love mine :D

 

[Mbowens5]

It took our 55 gallon about a month or so to filter out all the nitrates. Coco worms are really pretty and fun plus they can withstand fluctuation in the water well. I've heard that doing water changes while waiting for your water to filter out will speed up the process and GOOD LUCK.

 

[little_fish]

Actually coco worms are not very hardy in our tanks and have horrible survival rates. You should instead get a feather duster, they are much harder and look and act just like coco worms!

Also, water changes and refuges with macro algae growing in them are the only ways to remove nitrates from your water. So yes, you should be doing water changes.


Note: Protein skimmers dont actually remove nitrates from the water column, they remove particle from the water column before they can rot down into nitrates.

 

[gaeus]

Actually coco worms are not very hardy in our tanks and have horrible survival rates. You should instead get a feather duster, they are much harder and look and act just like coco worms!

Also, water changes and refuges with macro algae growing in them are the only ways to remove nitrates from your water. So yes, you should be doing water changes.


Note: Protein skimmers dont actually remove nitrates from the water column, they remove particle from the water column before they can rot down into nitrates.

I have a wet/dry filter system, How can I incorporate a refuge into the wet/dry?