Hello from Texas!

I'm late but welcome to 3reef.

 

Welcome! Like Otty mentioned, no need to bother looking at corals at the moment as you shouldn't be adding them to your tank for a few months while your tank finishes going through a cycle. Also, if you think that corals are expensive, you might want to look into the light setups that are required to keep certain corals Did you get the tank drilled? Does it have a sump?

 

Tank isn't drilled has an overflow that splits to a sump and 20 gal refug. Refug gravity fed back the sump for the return trip to the tank. It's a decent setup. It has good lighting. MH - 2 400W 1400K. I just replaced the bulbs so I am lighting up the neighborhood. It's got a Coralife skimmer which is doing good. But I will want to upgrade that eventually. For now it's got this great green stinky stuff coming out of it. So I believe it's doing the job. Fug already has a bunch of little critters in it. I believe they are pods.

Guess I should have clarified - I bought a whole used system not just the tank. Kid going off to college and couldn't fit it in his dorm room. It’s kind of a big tank to sneak in a dorm. So it was more of a move for the tank rather than a completely new system. He brought me some of the tank water to help start. I also came with 2 false percula and various snails and hermits.

I think looking at corals is a good thing. That way I know what to research!

 

Great deal! You'll still have to go through a mini-cycle because by moving all the sand/rock/etc., you have definitely had some bacterial die off but at least you don't have to wait out the full cycle like you would with a completely new tank. If you don't have corals in the tank, there's really no reason to be running the metal halides so if you want to save a bit on your electricity bills, you might want to shut them off for the time being and run only blue/actinic lighting to encourage more coralline growth.

 

I agree with you completely. ;D I am probably about done with that now. It's been up for almost 2 months now.

I had a polyp as a hitchhiker on one of the rocks and he has really started taking off. He had 1 head when I first spotted him and now he's got about 6. I think that is a good sign for things to come.

Do the actinic lights grow coraline better than the MH?

 

Yes. Coralline algae loves actinic blue light but does not like bright white light which is why you always see it start to grow in the more shaded areas of your tank first.

 

Sounds like you're off to a good start, congradulations! If you're in the DFW area, be sure to check out DFWMAS.

 

Actually, I am. I came across them on-line. I would like to go see what they are all about. Looks like a great group.

 

Welcome, I am also in Texas, but I am never in the same part in the state as everyone else!