Coral Advise

[HTF3]

Hey everyone, My name is Harry. I have been poking around here for a few years. It is a great place
for information on this hobby. I have had my FOWLR tank running for years, and now I want to add some corals.
I purchased my first coral (Daisy Polyp - Clavularia sp.). It has been in the tank for a month and is already spreading
to adjacent rocks. My question is what corals would you recommend for a coral newbie to start with. Something I can
ease into reefing with. I also have an I.D. question I will post that in the proper forum. Thanks in advance for the help,
and for all the info I got off this site and pod casts to start my FOWLR tank over the years.

[rayme07]

Hi Harry and Welcome to TR.

Some easy corals for starters would be, zoe's, mushrooms, and soft corals. There are also a few low light LPS corals like frogspawn that you can start with too. What type of lights do you have on your tank?

[CarmieJo]

Hi Harry,

The lighting information will help us make suggestions.

[Amphibious]

Welcome to TR, Harry.

WE need to know more about your system, lighting, filtration type, water parameters, how long has it been up?

Dick

[HTF3]

Sorry I should have known that. She has been running for 6 years as just a FOWLR system. I use Instant Ocean Salt, I am thinking of changing to Reef Crystals as I add to the system.
125g AGA Reef Ready, F.O.W.L.R. 40g Sump, Octo Extreme 160 skimmer, 2 Koralia 850 gph powerheads. GEN X PCX-40 return Pump. 175 lbs of L.R. AquaticLife 8 lamp 8 lunar T5 fixture.
Temp 77°
PH 8.2
PO4 - 0
Nitrate - 0
Nitrite - 0
Ca - 380
Alk - 10 dkh
Ammonia - 0

[PhotoJohn]

are you saying you have 8 t5s just to be clear? is that two 48" banks next to each other? If so I am amazed you spent to much on a light for a FOWLR, but good on ya if you do.

The t5s should allow you to grow just about anything. If it is your first time with coral start with softies like zoas, or a leather coral. Watch your test kits closely as corals are much more finicky than your average fish. I would not use instant ocean if you have other options. It is not a very good salt according to most reef ppl. It never mixes consistently and never to reef levels even the reef crystals. Atleast that was my xp and others i know. I used Red sea coral pro which always mixed up consistent and to roughly reef standards however it is a natural salt and can cause P04 issues according to a brightwell salt rep I was speaking with...who knows if that info is true, but I have had po4 issues since i started using the red sea and never did with IO. I just switch over to brightwell and am happy with it thus far.

If your softies do well I would move into a monti cap or digi. both grow very fast for sps corals and are tolerant...though your system seems pretty stable.

If you get serious into sps/lps corals look into a additive like oceans blend 2 part or a calcium reactor...though i like the 2 part better as it replenishes more than just ca

[HTF3]

Thanks for the info PhotoJohn. The light fixture I have is the AquaticLife 72" T5 fixture. I did not have that until recently, I started upgrading when I got the Reefing bug. I just had fluorescent lights before.

[CarmieJo]

Every salt has its pros and cons. I use Red Sea Coral Pro and my PO4 is undectable. With your lights you should be able to keep a wide array of corals. What do you like the look of? I am very partial to LPS and many of them are very hardy. But, I would not ever recommend buying something you don't like.

[HTF3]

I have found quite a few corals I like, SPS, LPS, Softies and Mushrooms. I just don't know enough about
them (Aggression, feeding, suppliments etc). I figured look at some pics, ask for some suggestions, get some names
then research their needs and ease my way into it. I was thinking of starting with some mushrooms like the Green Fluorescent Mushroom
(Actinodiscus sp.) and I like the toadstool coral (Sarcophyton sp.). So any ideas you guys provide me, I will check them out and see
if I like them or not. Can you have a mixed tank, or is it better to keep a tank specific to just softies, or all sps, or all lps?

[rayme07]

Can you have a mixed tank, or is it better to keep a tank specific to just softies, or all sps, or all lps?

Yes you most certainly can. I love mixed reefs to me they kind of look more natural but other people have different opinions. Its all up to you what you want. The only thing you have to watch for is how close each coral is so they don't end up fighting with each other but that's mostly with LPS, and some soft corals.

[CarmieJo]

Mushrooms and leathers are good choices for first corals. I really like my Euphyllias. They are hardy and very pretty.



Frogspawn



Torch

[Rostr02]

I love frogspawn. Looks great and easy to care for.

Bob

[HTF3]

Yeah I like that too. That was one of the corals on my list. How long do you quarantine new corals for?
Is there anything I should be looking for when looking at them in my LFS tanks? Better yet is there a place
you recommend that supports this site, to purchase from? I drive about an hour and twenty minutes to the
FS I like, so it's not so local for me. Thanks again to everyone for the guidance.

[CarmieJo]

For a Euphyllia I would look for the polyps to be extended and good color. The polyps can retract for a variety of reasons, flow, light, something disturbed the coral, parasitic flat worms or poor health. Many or the reasons don't affect that health of the coral but why take a chance? For instance, see the heads on the left side of this coral?



They were unhappy because a powerhead had gotten bumped and the flow had changed. That was an easy fix on a coral I'd had for a year or more. But, if I went to the LFS and has a choice between heads that look like that vs the ones on the right I'd choose the open ones.