Coral Noob

Hey gang. . .

I would like to put some corals in my tank...here is the lowdown on what I've got.

72g bowfront
2 koreila power heads (a 2 and a 5)
eheim canister filter
oceanic skimmer
coralife compact florescent lighting (2 actinic 65w bulbs and 2 10000k 65w bulbs along with 4 led moonlights)
approx 100 lbs liverock
2 clowns
1 coral beauty
1 skunk cleaner shrimp
2 mexican zebra snails
8? small hermits
4 small snails


the tank is somewhat new, its been up and running for about 6 weeks. Seems to be fully cycled with no other issues, all the parameters are inline and where they should be.

I would like to start off with easier corals , I guess that would be soft? I've had SW tanks in the past, but never a reef. Any advice and guidance would be great...thanks!

 

You can't go wrong with zoas. Watch getting GSP, mushrooms and xenia. They seem like great first corals and they are, until they take over your tank. If you want that, then go ahead, but many older hobbyists, including myself, with they had not put GSP in their tanks. Also, leather corals are good as are frogspawn, brains, bubble corals, fox corals and other lps like that. Acans are also very easy to take care of. Your lighting should be adequate for any of those corals.

 

Thanks for the fast reply. I now have my shopping list for my LFS. I'll be sure to post pics once I get them in the tank. I definitely want to stay away from GSP. Looks like I'll be going with frogspawn and zoas to start off with. Will these "grow" under my lights....or just survive?

 

They will grow, frogspawns can adapt to a wide range of lighting conditions. If you want it to grow faster, just feed it. The zoas will live and thrive under almost any type of light.

 

Your lighting and flow should be good enough for any LPS, or Softy, however watch your angel, You never know when they will turn bad, Mine never harrassed my LPS, but when I traded him in, I noticed how much healthier they looked after a few days even!

 

I'll be sure to keep a close eye on him! He is constantly nipping and eating off my LR.

Thanks

 

Yeah I had a coral beauty in my reef for about 8 months and then all of the sudden it started nipping my waving hand polyp and my clam's mantle. Had to fish it out of the tank and put it in my fuge. So yeah you never know when an angel will go crazy nipping your coral. Other then that your setup looks great for starting out with some hardy LPS and Zoas.

 

im actually doing an experiment with corals and lighting right now. i have GSP, kenya tree and ricordea mushrooms under stock lighting with a ten gallon. they are all still alive after a few weeks.

 

After doing a lot reading on here and speaking with several people I've decided to do away with the eheim and go with a sump. I purchased a supreme classic model 5 today as well as a pre-fab refrigium sump setup from proflex. My tank is not pre-drilled so I had to get a hang on overflow. I will post some photos later, seems like a good setup.

At least I can get the heater, skimmer, and spraybar out of sight.

 

I went into your profile and you don't say how old the tank is. It would be ill-advised to suggest any coral not knowing how old and how steady the tank is, let alone, what your parameters are.
What ever the case, your flow is on the weak side. Post the info mentioned above and let's take it from there.