Coral/Stocking Advice for a newbie?

[NAPosey]

Hi everyone,

I'm new here, and new to reef tanking, so I thought I'd say 'Hi,' describe my tank, and maybe get some advice.

I have a small saltwater tank (13.5 Evo) with 2 clownfish (Bob & Nique) that I've had for a little over 2 years now. I'm just getting into reef keeping, and have 5 zoas (on a zoa island) and 1 cyphastrea. What are some other corals that might be a good addition? I really want to add a hammer, but I want to keep things pretty simple since this is my introduction to reef tanks. I'd also like to add another fish or invertebrate, but the tank may be too small for more, idk.

Tank has a protein skimmer, salinity ~1.025-1.026, sand substrate, 6 astrea snails, 1 turbo, red-leg hermit, blue-leg hermit, and I use RODI water. Water changes are weekly in all of my tanks, and I test/record monthly.

Currently I'm running the lights 10 hours a day (10am-8pm) for the zoas (I've read the cyphastrea needs less light). Here is a YouTube video of my tank for reference:

. I have a 55 gallon that I'll eventually set-up as another saltwater tank once I've got the funds to build a stand/ refugium, and have an electrician install a new outlet.

 

[drnecropolis]

Quick question..

What kinda sand is that?

 

[AWarnick]

Hello and welcome, I think if you are early in the process with your tank, I would stick to a lot of the softer corals. As your tank matures you can start adding hard corals if you like. I find that hammers can be a little finicky. All the mushrooms and rhodactis are colorful and fun, firework clove polyps, Green star polyps and xenia are fun and grow quickly, but you may want to isolate them on their own rock or glue to the back wall to keep them from taking over everything. For fish in a smaller tank I can recommend the shark nose goby (ORA), a lawnmower blenny to eat some algae, if you have a lid the firefish are very pretty. if you want some invertebrates I always enjoy shrimp from cleaners and fire shrimp are my favorites. Good luck and post more videos and pictures as you progress.

 

[NAPosey]

What kinda sand is that?

CaribSea Alive Sand . . . I can't remember if it's specifically Caribbean sand or another.

 

[NAPosey]

Hello and welcome, I think if you are early in the process with your tank, I would stick to a lot of the softer corals. As your tank matures you can start adding hard corals if you like. I find that hammers can be a little finicky. All the mushrooms and rhodactis are colorful and fun, firework clove polyps, Green star polyps and xenia are fun and grow quickly, but you may want to isolate them on their own rock or glue to the back wall to keep them from taking over everything. For fish in a smaller tank I can recommend the shark nose goby (ORA), a lawnmower blenny to eat some algae, if you have a lid the firefish are very pretty. if you want some invertebrates I always enjoy shrimp from cleaners and fire shrimp are my favorites. Good luck and post more videos and pictures as you progress.

Thanks! I'm trying to avoid GSP and Xenia, just because I've read they can be pretty aggressive growers and I don't have any experience with fragging or other methods of keeping them contained. Maybe I'll hold off on the hammer for the moment. I do want to add stuff that's really colorful, so I'll have to look into rhodactis. Thanks for all the GREAT advice! Here's a little older video of the tank that shows the set-up a little better in case anyone is interested (back when I only had 1 coral):

 

[drnecropolis]

CaribSea Alive Sand . . . I can't remember if it's specifically Caribbean sand or another.

Ok, for some reason to me it was looking like playsand.. think it just looked dense and packed..

Ignore me..

 

[90gDreams]

Thanks! I'm trying to avoid GSP and Xenia, just because I've read they can be pretty aggressive growers and I don't have any experience with fragging or other methods of keeping them contained. Maybe I'll hold off on the hammer for the moment. I do want to add stuff that's really colorful, so I'll have to look into rhodactis. Thanks for all the GREAT advice! Here's a little older video of the tank that shows the set-up a little better in case anyone is interested (back when I only had 1 coral):

GSP grows fast but if on a back wall or on a rock it is easy to contain. If you like the look go for it.

Xenia is a plague.

Blasto, cand canes, and chalice corals are great looking LPS with lots of pop, low light requirements and very hardy.

 

[jcook54]

Do you know what your PAR levels are? What kind of light are you running? The tank is 2 years old so it's definitely mature! I guess my next question is "How familiar are you with monitoring the Big 3: calcium, alkalinity, magnesium"? Based on your Youtube video, I'd like to see a nice euphyllia in the gap between the left and right rock structure. Maybe a fungia plate front and center? GSP isolated on the small rock in the front left?* Oh yes, I can sit here all day and spend your money on aquascaping! But let's get the PAR levels checked out first.



*I have a love/hate relationship with GSP. I let it grow on island rocks and walls and really like the way it looks. It just has to be maintained by trimming it back.

 

[timeconsumer]

Personally I'm a huge fan of mushrooms and I always end up adding more to my tank. In most cases they can handle high or low PAR, high or low light, high or low nutrients...they just take whatever you throw at them and keep on looking growing.