Which Corals Should I look into?

[gilbertjanke]

Hello. I am looking to acquire a new coral or two. My tank currently sits as 30g tall tank with decent filtration, skimmer, 2 power heads, and 175w MH light w 14k bulb. I have
1-Royal Gramma
1-Randal Goby
1-Spotted Hawkfish
2-Kenya tree frags
2-Brown Zoa polyp sprouts

Im interested in both soft and hard corals. I guess im looking for something interesting, not too expensive, or not too hard to keep alive as im still relatively new at salt setups.

Any particular species that i should be looking into and learning about before going to browse a couple of local stores?
Thanks everyone!

[wildreef]

Originally Posted by gilbertjanke

Hello. I am looking to acquire a new coral or two. My tank currently sits as 30g tall tank with decent filtration, skimmer, 2 power heads, and 175w MH light w 14k bulb. I have
1-Royal Gramma
1-Randal Goby
1-Spotted Hawkfish
2-Kenya tree frags
2-Brown Zoa polyp sprouts

Im interested in both soft and hard corals. I guess im looking for something interesting, not too expensive, or not too hard to keep alive as im still relatively new at salt setups.

Any particular species that i should be looking into and learning about before going to browse a couple of local stores?
Thanks everyone!

depending on your lighting dictates as to what you can have'
i suggest maybe some leather's, colts, or maybe Xenia ,
perhaps star polyp grass's , mushrooms are very easy .

its only whern take "paramiters" are able to be kept stable ' are you or any one able to move to harder such and stony's .

But lighting plays a very key roll in all this ' should your lighting be "under par" some corals will perish .

what is it you wish to raise / keep ?

[aquaboy]

perhaps a candy cane? or some frogspawn

[lunatik_69]

Candy corals, yellow polyps, zoas, mushrooms are a few for noobs.

[missionsix66]

Youv'e got the lighting. Pretty important part of the decision making process. Easy corals in my system are: Pulsing Xenia(readily spreads use caution), zoas( I love zoas and they spread), mushrooms(spread), frogspawn (cool,but, can be agressive), galaxea (cool ,but, can be agressive), green star polyps (cool, they say they spread mine haven't), and I'll even throw in bird's nest (sps). Make sure you do the research before you buy. Make sure params are good. Double check on lighting requirements of your purchase.

[gilbertjanke]

Is my MH pendant at 175w enough to keep most corals in a 30g tank? It has a 14k bulb currently and i have a 10k one as a backup.

As far as corals id like to keep im not exactly sure. I do like Zoo's, brain corals, acropora corals, the candy cane ones mentioned look cool as well.
Im not the hugest fans of most leathers from what ive seen so far. Same with mushrooms, they dont excite me as much.

The Colt corals and frogspawn mentioned interest me. But the Xenias not as much.

My water params that i test for seem to be good.
Ammonia=0
Nitrite=0
Nitrate=0
PH=8.2
Phosphate= .5

Ive heard that B-ionic 2 part solutions are the way to go and might pick some up

Thanks for the input so far.

[missionsix66]

Originally Posted by gilbertjanke

Is my MH pendant at 175w enough to keep most corals in a 30g tank? It has a 14k bulb currently and i have a 10k one as a backup.

As far as corals id like to keep im not exactly sure. I do like Zoo's, brain corals, acropora corals, the candy cane ones mentioned look cool as well.
Im not the hugest fans of most leathers from what ive seen so far. Same with mushrooms, they dont excite me as much.

The Colt corals and frogspawn mentioned interest me. But the Xenias not as much.

My water params that i test for seem to be good.
Ammonia=0
Nitrite=0
Nitrate=0
PH=8.2
Phosphate= .5

Ive heard that B-ionic 2 part solutions are the way to go and might pick some up

Thanks for the input so far.

I don't see calcium, alkalinity/Kh, salinity, temp. and magnesium. Also reef tanks should not exceed a concentration of more than 0.02 mg/L phos. . These are all very important parameters to add to your regular tests. Your pendant seems sufficient, you'll probably have to adjust the height it hangs above your tank to optimize. And in my opinion if you've got kenya you've got colt. Kenya won't make a hell of a mess in your tank like colt will if it dies when your not home.

[bmshehan]

Lighting should be great for just about anything. If you don't like mushrooms then don't ever get one!! They spread like the plague and I know people who have gotten them because they were free and regretted it. You can't pay me to take one off your hands!!!

I am staying away from SPS till my tank is well established and I feel VERY comfortable in my abilities. Get some more easy to intermediate corals the go from there. Good luck with everything!!

[gilbertjanke]

Originally Posted by missionsix66

I don't see calcium, alkalinity/Kh, salinity, temp. and magnesium. Also reef tanks should not exceed a concentration of more than 0.02 mg/L phos. . These are all very important parameters to add to your regular tests.

My Phosphates test kit doesnt measure below 0.25 mg/l (is this not precise enough?) Doesnt sound like it if i need to know when its down to .02 mg/l

Im an idiot for not mentioning Salinity and temp. duh
Salinity=1.024
Temp=87 F
I have been dosing kent marine chems like
Liquid Calcium
Super Buffer DKh
Strontium & Molybdenum
Iodine
Essential elements (which contains Magnesium) (maybe not enough?)

I dont currently have ways to monitor calcium levels or magnesium or whatnot

Thanks guys ill look into the corals mentioned above for sure!

[lunatik_69]

Originally Posted by gilbertjanke

My Phosphates test kit doesnt measure below 0.25 mg/l (is this not precise enough?) Doesnt sound like it if i need to know when its down to .02 mg/l

Im an idiot for not mentioning Salinity and temp. duh
Salinity=1.024
Temp=87 F
I have been dosing kent marine chems like
Liquid Calcium
Super Buffer DKh
Strontium & Molybdenum
Iodine
Essential elements (which contains Magnesium) (maybe not enough?)

I dont currently have ways to monitor calcium levels or magnesium or whatnot

Thanks guys ill look into the corals mentioned above for sure!

87 deg. is pretty high IMO Mine is always at 77-78 F