Soft coral

[Elmarco]

Hi there
I'm new to reef hobby and new to posting on forums.
My tank is running for 3 months now. I'm using a canister filter and it seems to be working fine. The question I have is. Can I put lava rock or live rock in there as biological filter media?
And also what is the best corals for beginners

 

[mr_tap_water]

Hi there
Welcome to RS[emoji846]
IMO from my own experience of running canister filters you're better off with live Rock in your tank if you want to add a biological media to your canisters as well you're better off buying biological rings as live rock rubble isn't very affective in a Canister tends to trap too much dirt far too easy causing it not to work, and even adding more No3 to your system.


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[DaveK]

I agree with the post by @mr_tap_water.

More to the point though, there is no need to put additional bio media in your canister filter. In a reef system, the biological filtration is already handled by the live rock.

 

[Elmarco]

I agree with the post by @mr_tap_water.

More to the point though, there is no need to put additional bio media in your canister filter. In a reef system, the biological filtration is already handled by the live rock.

And for my second question. What is the best coral for beginners. I have pulsing xenia. Was doing OK for a month. But seems like it's busy dying

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

coral for beginners

https://sites.google.com/a/asira.org/www2/caresheets

Look for the below... in the link above...
Sensitivity/Difficulty:
Level 1 - easy to care for, good corals for the novice aquarist
Level 2 - require slightly more attention than level 1 corals, but
still generally tolerant

to ReefSanctuary, a real Sanctuary of reef forums, with lots of very nice members

Start a tank thread & share your tank with us so we can follow along, we love pics

 

[Desmond]

Welcome to the forum. All i would have in a canister filter is some media like chemipure and purigen and some filter floss that you clean or change out when doing water changes. How big is your tank ? Zoanthids, mushrooms , toadstool , sinularia are all types that will work fine for you. What lighting are you using on the tank could be a reason xenia is dying. Live rock in the tank is best i would not get lava rock being honest. Best of luck with the tank. Get a thread going and a few pictures up

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[DaveK]

And for my second question. What is the best coral for beginners. I have pulsing xenia. Was doing OK for a month. But seems like it's busy dying

Xenia is a funny coral, often it grows until it's almost a weed in the tank. Other times it shrinks and just doesn't survive, even though other corals, even ones considered much more difficult than Xenia, thrive. The reason it fails is not often clear.

Here are a few things to check. Xenia doesn't changes in the water, such as SG, pH and so on. It likes very stable water conditions. Xenia doesn't like things like copper in the water. This can come from adding the shipping what other livestock comes in to the tank. Some LFS's run copper in the fish section to keep down parasites. Xenia is not a very competitive with other corals and will loose the "chemical warfare battle" with them. Xenia can also be a favorite food of some fish, think SW angels and butterflies.

As for easy to keep corals, leather corals of all types, most other soft corals, mushrooms, zoas, and polyps are good places to start. Of the LPS corals, bubble corals, hammer, fronspawn, and candy cane corals are not too hard.

 

[Elmarco]

Thank you very much. Of the the three frags that looked like they were not gonna make it, two are now pulsing again. I think I'm more like a new dad, than a new hobbyist