Corals for Beginners??

jules11vb · Aug 14, 2008

I have a 29 Gal. tank w/ some live rock. The only fish I have is a small yellow tang. I'm really wanting to start having corals and things, but not sure how to go about starting to move in that direction. I was wondering if mushrooms and zoas are the way to start. If not, what are the easiest corals to start with? I have coralife 50/50 bulbs and a Penguin 350 w/ double biowheel. I'll be at the Chatt Frag swap and wondering what I should look for there. Any advise would be appreciated.

paintballer768 · Aug 14, 2008

jules11vb said:
I have a 29 Gal. tank w/ some live rock. The only fish I have is a small yellow tang. I'm really wanting to start having corals and things, but not sure how to go about starting to move in that direction. I was wondering if mushrooms and zoas are the way to start. If not, what are the easiest corals to start with? I have coralife 50/50 bulbs and a Penguin 350 w/ double biowheel. I'll be at the Chatt Frag swap and wondering what I should look for there. Any advise would be appreciated.

First off, I dont know if that yellow tang is a good idea. Theyre minimum size is a 75 gallon, regardless if a baby or not. You might want to consider selling it locally or taking back to the LFS.

For corals, look for zoanthids. Easy to frag, you usually wont regret putting them in. Green star polyps and xenia are regretable corals, meaning they spread so fast youll hate them.

jules11vb · Aug 14, 2008

Thanks for the advice. Yes, I now know that the tang must go eventually. I didn't ask enough questions when I bought it, but since he's the only thing in there, I think he'll be fine for a while.

oceanparadise1 · Aug 14, 2008

so do u have compact flo lights or just regular flo lights?

jules11vb · Aug 14, 2008

They are compact. Would that be adequate lighting for some basic stuff like zoas, mushrooms, and maybe a few leather corals?? Any other suggestions on what some easy beginner corals would be good?

jules11vb · Aug 15, 2008

Can I get some basic advice on care for new zoas and mushrooms? How to acclimate? How/what to feed?? Any basic info would help. Does anyone know of a free or cheap magazine I could subscribe to that would give me info on saltwater aquariums? Thanks.

oceanparadise1 · Aug 15, 2008

i drop them in lol, and i dont spot feed zoas or shrooms. all u need is decent water and decent lighting! how many bulbs do u have and how many watts are they?

Nate82 · Aug 15, 2008

get gsp ik it grows fast but keep it on an island i have mine on a shell and its branching up it looks really cool

jules11vb · Aug 15, 2008

I'm not really privy to these abreviations yet...what is gsp?? Thanks

oceanparadise1 · Aug 15, 2008

Green Star Polyps ill post ya a pic in a second

oceanparadise1 · Aug 15, 2008

mrfishyman · Aug 15, 2008

those are sexy

sleeper · Aug 15, 2008

OP you really don't acclimate them at all? I'm going to be getting my first zoa's this weekend and was worried about the acclimation process. So I should be good to go with doing them just like inverts or the like. Nothing special to it?

oceanparadise1 · Aug 15, 2008

nope i have a tank full of corals(see below

) i have NEVER acclimated a coral ik a lot of people who dont acclimate them and just drop them right in me being one of them and i have NEVER lost a coral this way

sleeper · Aug 15, 2008

That's what is so confusing about this hobby. There is a thousand ways to do things. Like everyone that I talk to says "you must get a good skimmer". Check out this video http://www.reefvideos.com/ its the first one in the second row of a skimmerless tank. I'm not saying that one way is better than the other, I'm just saying that we should not do things just because that is how they are always done. I guess like most alot of trial and error is the way to go. Just develop your own system for how to do things. I will prolly acclimate them a little, like a would a fish to make me feel better. Thanks for the advice OP. Glad you included the pic, the proof is in the pic so to speak!

oceanparadise1 · Aug 15, 2008

np like i said i have seen many tanks go skimmer less. heres whati will do, if u deciede to get a skimmer, ill send u the skimmer body i have(i dont have a mj1200 to go with it but u can get one cheap for like 10 bucks used) all u have to do is pay shipping and ground shipping is like 6 bucks

sleeper · Aug 15, 2008

I think I'm gonna go without for now to see how it goes. I know my fish don't need it they have been great for over 6 months, worst case scenario I could loose a few buck in zoa's and I think the less equipment the less things can break. If you get a PM from me asking for that skimmer body in a few months tho don't be too surprised. Oh, how long does it normally take for your corals to open up after you introduce them.

oceanparadise1 · Aug 15, 2008

depends on the corals 5seconds to 3 weeks lol it just depends

jules11vb · Aug 18, 2008

Well, this past weekend I got some gsp, blue clove polyps, xenia, and some small shrooms. Any recommendations on things like water temp, etc? I've been keeping my tank around 83 degrees farenheit...is that too hot? For these entry level soft corals do I need to be adding calcium? I've been adding phytoplankton for food. Is there anything else I should do to make sure they stay healthy?? Thanks for the input.