my coral wish list

rDr4g0n

rDr4g0n

Well-Known Member
ok guys, i dont have the lighting yet, and i sure as heck dont have the money, but ive compiled this list of corals i want to put in my 30 gallon reef tank:

sps
acropora
porite
montipora
merulina

lps
* wellsophyllia (open brain)
* green torch / anchor / frogspawn
* bubble
tube coral

mushroom
* ricordia florida

softies
yellow fiji leather
carnation tree (low survival rate in captivity)
carpet anemone (too agressive, too big)

polyps
* super colored zoos
* glove polyp


* indicates its priority.
red - removed from list for reason listed in parenthesis

so what do you guys think? forsee any problems?
 
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lcstorc

lcstorc

Well-Known Member
I would not put a carpet in that size tank. They get huge and are very agressive. They also need very stable water paramaters which will be difficult in that size system. I would also avoid the bubble coral since they will sting your other corals.
Just some things to think about while you save the money.
 
rDr4g0n

rDr4g0n

Well-Known Member
lcstorc said:
I would not put a carpet in that size tank. They get huge and are very agressive. They also need very stable water paramaters which will be difficult in that size system. I would also avoid the bubble coral since they will sting your other corals.
Just some things to think about while you save the money.
Click to expand...

i wasnt sure about the carpet anemone as well, so thats easy to remove from the list.
 
aquaman3680

aquaman3680

Well-Known Member
If i were you i would leave the SPS alone for a couple months. They are the most demanding of any type of coral... If you want you can do a carpet. They require space but fill it looking great!

JMHO

Matt
 
S

SueT

Active Member
leathers and sps corals do not mix well. Toxins are given off by leathers which are killers for sps. The horn aka hydnopora will send off sweepers and they will sting anything within reach. The sting from a hydnopora is bad. Merulina is a super cool sps coral and might be ok, again if you leave the leather out. Or keep everything else and wait on the sps.
 
rDr4g0n

rDr4g0n

Well-Known Member
ok guys, if i drop the sps alltogether, should i still get MH lighting? or will t5 be enough?
 
rDr4g0n

rDr4g0n

Well-Known Member
aight next question!

assuming i get my lighting, what else will i need to get to ensure a healthy coral tank? calcium test kit? phosphate test kit? additives? calcium reactor?
 
lcstorc

lcstorc

Well-Known Member
In addition to the normal ph, am, trites, and trates, I would add Phos, Calcium, alk, Mag, and probably iodine, and stronium those those are tested by fewer people. Additives or reducers for each. Dripping Kalc is a good idea that many use with or without a reactor. You may want UV as well but there are differing opinions on that.
That's what comes to mind quickly anyway.
 
Cougra

Cougra

Well-Known Member
Don't bother wasting your money on the carnation tree as they wont live in your tank. They are non-photosynthetic corals that have extremely poor survival rates in captivity. When I say poor, I mean I haven't heard of one living more then a couple months, so that would be a 0% survival rate! They need good water flow, target feeding and it is uncertain what sort of target feeding they actually need. They will slowly starve to death in the tank. These corals are best left in the ocean where they grow naturally.
 
C

cheeks69

Wannabe Guru
RS STAFF
If you get about 180 to 200 watts you can keep SPS at least Montipora's. Although lighting is a very important factor maintaining proper cal/alk levels are just as important. The test kits I recommend once your tank is established is nitrate, phosphate,calcium, alkalinity, magnesium. Everything else is very difficult to measure accurately even with the best test kits available and they will be replaced by regular water changes. Which skimmer do you plan to use ?
 
C

cheeks69

Wannabe Guru
RS STAFF
rDr4g0n said:
i looked into what SueT said... ive read that mushrooms are worse on sps than leathers ( http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=61291 ). pretty much the only thing that i can keep with sps are zoos. i really really like the sps ive listed (especially the montipora shelves and merulina), but it just seems like i cant keep them :(

ok so this will be a softie tank...
Click to expand...


If the SPS are placed high up in the tank and there's some distance you will be fine, just make sure you use carbon regularly.
 
rDr4g0n

rDr4g0n

Well-Known Member
cheeks69 said:
If the SPS are placed high up in the tank and there's some distance you will be fine, just make sure you use carbon regularly.
Click to expand...

the skimmer im using is a DIY counter current skimmer. the body is 3inch pvc and its about 3.5 feet tall. its on the left in teh below pic

system3.jpg


it works pretty well from what i can tell. i was thinking that i can keep my euphyllias together since i understand they dont sting each other. then ill have the zoos and gloves spread across the bottom area of the rocks sorta like a zoo and glove garden. not mixed together or anything, just dominating the lower portion of the tank. then the middle-upper portion can house my sps. the LR arrangement that is pictured is not how my LR is currently configured. i changed it up and intend to make some more changes to it so that i can utilize some space further up the water column.

i can forgo the leather, but i definatly want to get a ricordia floria. can i have more opinions on keeping sps with the softies ive listed?
 
flricordia

flricordia

Active Member
rDr4g0n said:
ok guys, if i drop the sps alltogether, should i still get MH lighting? or will t5 be enough?
Click to expand...

Go with MH. There have been alot of threads on other sites where T5s bleach corals, especially softies. Mh give much better color, especially 14000ks, and you also get a more natural look like glimmer. I love my MH and since using MH wouldn't go any other way for intensity.
Caution on the frogspawns. Their sweepers are very destructive to other corals.
Hope you go with the MH. Might go ahead and try the T5s, but I can guarantee you will wish you had gone with MH. There are many good ones out there for decient prices. Sunpod is a great unit that runs very cool. That's what I have over my ric tank.
 
Snappy

Snappy

Active Member
cheeks69 said:
If the SPS are placed high up in the tank and there's some distance you will be fine, just make sure you use carbon regularly.
Click to expand...

I agree with Cheeks69 however, you need more water capacity in my opinion. Either that or a big turn over rate in the water you have. I have a mixed reef myself but it's a bigger tank. Running carbon is important as it will absorb a lot of the "chemical warfare" toxins.
 
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