Can I try a hardy frag?

[fdonophan]

I know I'll open up a can of worms here, but I'd like some opinions... (heaven knows there are plenty of those on RC!!)

Today is my 29g's 4-week birthday. My parameters have been excellent since the beginning. I'm through the brown-out, I have very VERY happy critters. I'm 99% sure my recent cyano bloom was due to my over-enthusiastic feeding of my goby and my serpent star (it is SO cool to watch that thing eat!!) Instead of hiding, my pepp shrimp thinks the bottom of my tank is a nascar track, and my emerald crab an all-you-can-eat buffet!

So far I have:
- 1 small watchman goby
- 1 small serpent star
- 1 peppermint shrimp

CUC:
- 1 emerald crab
- 1 mexican turbo snail
- 3 small astreas
- 2 teeny tiny blue-leg hermits
- 1 small scarlet hermit

I added my last livestock about 2 weeks ago. Calcium has been great from the beginning - I started getting coraline before I was one week in. Ammonia, Nitrites and Nitates are stable at 0.

Anyway, I've got a pretty awesome tank for 4-weeks, and I want to try my hand at a hardy frag. What would the RC experts recommend as a good coral starter for me??

[funkejj]

What kind of lighting do you have?

[fdonophan]

Stock for the BioCube:

1-24 Watt 10K Straight Pin Compact Fluorescent,
1-24W True Actinic 03 Straight Pin Compact Fluorescent.
3-LED Moonlights

Right now the daylight and actinic are on one timer, but I am buying another timer today so that I have 3 stages - moon, actinic, then full day.

[jenjen]

What is your plan for the tank? Softies? LPS? SPS?

Many of the 'starter corals' people recommend can become a pest in your tank (ie: mushrooms, GSP, xenia) and should only be added if you intend to keep them. A Leather can be a nice first addition, and much easier to deal with if you decide you don't want it down the road.

[chrisv]

+1 for some less light intensive softies. SPS are of course out of the question with this lighting. go for a sinularia. you will enjoy it! you should be testing phosphates as well. are you using RO water? if not, im sure thats a major source of your algae problem. feed much less and use RO/DI water for mixing SW and for top off.

[papagimp]

been awhile since I was on PC lighting but it's looks to me like you got pretty low lighting and will need to plan accordingly. If this is adequate enough (let the experts chime in) than luckily some of the lower light corals can be extremely hardy. Personally, I like to start off with some simply run o' the mill green button polyps. As their fairly hardy and cheap. Almost always one of the first corals I ever add to a system, but usually will try to remove as my plans for the tank changes (as it often does). But I really can't say for sure if this lighting is adequate for even them as your using a lighting source I"m not readily familiar with anymore.

oh, and happy 4 week birthday tank! :P (love your nascar comment lol )

[BigFeesh]

A toadstool would be good! I have le and tyree chalices and I like my neon green toadstool just as much!!

[fdonophan]

Sorry, my phosphates are >10. I have a second powerhead but I'm going to upgrade to a vortech when I can both for strength and aesthetics.

Not too interested in SPS right now - I know the lighting isnt strong enough. I like soft corals like zoas. The toadstool is pretty cool, as is the sinularia. Not sure about the chalice - colorful, but for some reason I think they are ugly, LOL!

Ultimately I'd love a nem and a pair of clowns, but not many more fish.

[tmz]

I think a scrophyton(toadstool), high up could work. The yellow ones (elegans) are more demanding , so I'd avoid those. Capnella (Kenya tree) is hardy and doesn't need much light and might be very good first bet.

[papagimp]

Originally Posted by tmz

I think a scrophyton(toadstool), high up could work. The yellow ones (elegans) are more demanding , so I'd avoid those. Capnella (Kenya tree) is hardy and doesn't need much light and might be very good first bet.

+1

kenya's can frag on their own excessively at times, but I use this to help fellow reefers wanting a frag or even supplement maint. cost by trading to lfs.

[tmz]

I ,personally, wouldn't put anything in 10.0ppm PO4. That is extremely high. Are you certain of the measure? BTW you didn't mention alkalinity . It's critical and needs to be 7 to 11 dkh.

[fdonophan]

Originally Posted by tmz

I ,personally, wouldn't put anything in 10.0ppm PO4. That is extremely high. Are you certain of the measure? BTW you didn't mention alkalinity . It's critical and needs to be 7 to 11 dkh.

I could be off on the phosphates - when I tested them last night with the instant ocean color chip it was between the two very lightest levels. I could be wrong about the number itself, as I am not home to look at it.

I didn't get time last night to test my alk - I'll check it when I get home, as well as the correct phosphate number.

[krookedsession]

First off I'm a newb. Is there a special way to putting an anemones into a tank.(I do not have a sw tank but have been studying up lots and as soon as I move to my next duty station with the coast guard I will begin to build). I understand they move and will walk around, in search of the best place for them. Is this something you would put in first, assuming parameters are stable, before other corals? Or could you start off with other corals and add later.

[fdonophan]

Ok I have NO idea where my 10 came from in the phosphates. It was >0.2!!

Blond moment...

[Brycen97]

My fist coral i have ever had was green star's and i still have them they look nice in the tank and are easy to care for. My second coral was zoanthids and they are great too and easy to care for. I am not too experinced but i have some expince so id start with them. BEST OF LUCK

[fdonophan]

Thanks all!! I went to the LFS afterwork, and there were corals EVERYWHERE!! Apparently, they just got a shipment in. There were huge pieces of the bright orangy/red rod looking corals that made me completely drool!!

They had lots of rocks of zoas, huge carpet anemones, sponges, a zillion things I can't name! And they were all $50 or more...

...hmmm.

So not only too big, but too expensive when I don't know what I'm doing. I asked if there was anything SMALLER. She said come back in a few days and they'd have frags for 2 or 3 bucks. MUCH BETTER!! So...

...to be continued...

[BlueFyre]

I have had xenia, red mushrooms and zoas in my tank since day 1 (hitchhiked in on rock), and I've had no issues with them. They seem pretty tough.

[papagimp]

Originally Posted by fdonophan

There were huge pieces of the bright orangy/red rod looking corals that made me completely drool!! ...... a zillion things I can't name!...

I can't remember the exact name as mine are on loan to a friend at the moment, but theirs these few little "pocketbooks" for marine fish, reef fish, and reef invertabrates. (please someone know the titles for me :P) I see them for sale at almost every fish store I've been too. I got in the habit of taking them with me anytime I go to the fish store for just these types of ID's :P

what's gunna be fun is when you finally learn the names... then you get to work on pronouncing them correctly ^^

[MattyO]

I am a little farther along then you (29 biocube stock lighting 3.5 months old) so the only advice I can give is only put something in your tank if you like the look of it. If you are on a budget go small and everything should grow. If you can leave room for mushrooms/zoas/palys on the bottom and more LPS like hammers higher up that will help. I have also heard of people using stinging corals (torch/hammer/frogspawn) to clear out areas infested with fast growing softies by moving them around. My only concern would be water quality as we have small tanks so when a bunch of zoas/paly's that get fried can definetly need a water change or 2 after.

fyi.. when the PC's need to be changed, I will be upgrading to LED's and will try an easy SPS or two

[cubsare1]

see if you have a local reef club and ask if anyone has anything for sale. Most likely they will just give away mushrooms and zoo's to someone just starting out

[tmz]

krooked,

Their are many species of anemones and they have different requirements. Some move about more than others until they find a spot they like. Some settle stalks into deep sand beds, some live in tubes and don't move much at all. Generally, anmemones need good stable water quality . Personally I would not add one untill a tank was established for 6 months or more and I was confident that it was stable.A bubble tip anemone(entmacea quadricolor) might be a good one to try, particularly if you can find one that was tank grown. This species is pretty hardy as anemones go. They also need a good deal of light and some periodic feeding.

[Sk8r]

The orangy red rod-looking thing is probably a sun coral, which lives in caves and has to be hand-fed. Not for a beginner. Sounds as if you have the setup for zoas, mushrooms, leathers, etc, and they're pretty tolerant. Watch your alkalinity, and they'll be pretty good. A frilly leather makes a nice show. I don't recommend a nem until the tank KEEPER has a year's experience: they can cause you big headaches, crawling here and there, getting into intakes, stinging neighbors who weren't neighbors until you left for dinner...

[johnmaloney]

Palys are easy to keep, zoas are hit or miss. Some are hardy others are not. Zoas also have to be dipped, (all corals should, but with zoas I feel like it is an absolute necessity, amazing what can hide between those polyps). Green star polyps pull up easy on a mat if they overgrow their area, and they are very forgiving, and can survive under a broad range of lighting giving you a lot of location options. I think it looks good as a substrate. Maybe that would be a good choice for your first coral.

[fdonophan]

Thanks everyone for the advice without frying me over the tank age.

All the corals they had were way too big, so I'll check back in every little bit for a good TINY frag. I definitely know I can't get a nem yet. There was a cool little one there, but I am definitely not ready to tackle that yet.

The orangy thing wasn't a sun coral - its the big orange thing in this picture:
http://www.tbsaltwater.com/thepackage/organisms.html and they were HUGE - never would fit in my tank.

I did buy a pair of small ocellaris, and they are really personable. I doubt I'll add any other fish - the tank isnt big enough for a ton of fish, and I can't stand to see a tank stuffed with too many fish. They have the run of the tank as my little goby hides in his caves until feeding time. I also added a koralia 1 to ramp up my flow, and another timer to move my lighting to 3-stage.

[fdonophan]

Oh btw - I forgot to answer water questions. My water situation has been a nightmare from the very beginning. I have been using treated tap water, and thanks to chlorimine, every water change introduces ammonia into my system. I keep my changes at 20% or less, so the filter handles it quickly, but it still isnt ideal. I bought an RO unit and can't get the thing attached well to any faucets. My roommate also wigged when she realized how much water I was using as our city water rates are completely outrageous in my neighborhood, so now I need to sell my $180 waste of time.

The next thing would be to purchase RO water right? Well, I don't drive, so that makes buying water a pretty big PITA.

Final answer? As of tomorrow, I will be having distilled water delivered to my doorstep every month (think office water cooler style, only distilled rather than spring). The quality report from the company shows 0 everything in terms of tds, and it comes in convenient 5 gallon bottles - which happens to be exactly 20% of my volume. I will slowly introduce it via my weekly water changes, and go from there!