Just starting question

[rangerblp]

I'm wanting all kinds of coral, anems, and fish in my tank which is a 55 gal. Are there any rules for when I begin setting it up in about 5-6 months about putting things together or can I just start putting things in after it has cycled? Will the coral and anems just naturally attatch themselves to the live rock I'll be getting?

[Mel-E-Mel]

add live stock slowly after cycle. one to two fish at a time and dont add anymore for a couple weeks so beneficial bacteria can catch up. anemones and coral will attach to your rock but i wouldnt advise adding a nem until your tank matures some. im sure others with more experience will chime in. hope that helped a little. good luck!

[drummereef]

Some corals will attach themselves with a little help, while others must be mounted by the hobbyist. Most softies will attach themselves if mounted with a rubberband. SPS however must be mounted with a reef-safe super glue or epoxy. After the tank has cycled and has some time to stabilize, I would add softies first. As the tanks matures you can add your more demanding species.

[rangerblp]

How hard will it be to grow and propagate corals?

[Mel-E-Mel]

pretty hard if you dont have the right equipment. make out a list of what you have or plan on using such as lights, skimmer, cal reactor and so on and we can figure it out from there. you wont have much room in your 55 if that will be your show tank. you will want a seperate prop tank if you want to propagate corals. im not saying it cant be done in a 55 but you just wont have as much space.

[Mel-E-Mel]

in all honesty, i wouldnt even think of propagation until you get more experience as to specific coral needs. jmo. you will find almost everything you need to know on these forums so read, read and read some more! we are all happy to help out as we needed help starting out and still do now!

[papagimp]

Originally posted by rangerblp
How hard will it be to grow and propagate corals?

The actual process of propogating the corals is fairly easy to do, just have to know what type of coral you are working with and what the best method for that species is.

Now growing them out, that's a whole nother ball game. Can be just as easy, can be alot more difficult. It's all going to depend on your system and how you manage it. And the system and your managment are going to be directly related to the research you do before hand. Good job on coming here, probably one of the smartest thing any hobbyist can do is to ask.

Differnt corals all have different compatibilities. Anemonies and certain potent corals will kill others near them, they don't even have to be touching at times. So alot of research into each individual specimen is going to be the key, and do not take just one persons word for it, such as a LFS employee telling you that "whatever" anemone is going to be fine in your tank, come here and double check with all these fellow hobbyist with more hands on experience. You'll also see alot of conflicting reports from one person to the next so occasionally you will run into compatibility issues that you are just going to have to decide on your own if you want to risk it. For instance, some fish may get along just fine, while the same two fish in somebody elses tank will fight to the death everytime. Alot of what we do in this hobby is taking chances, but knowing the odds ahead of time and knowing your livestock can help you make the right choices.

Definatly learn patience and DO NOT RUSH the system, adding too much at once can cause major problems, most noticeably with your wallet. Nothing sucks worse than watching hundreds of dollars worth of frags go down the toilet cause you made a small mistake that could have easily been avoided....personal experience speaking here.

[Mel-E-Mel]

papagimp hit that nail square on the head!

[rangerblp]

What can I expect to spend on a 55 gal tank that has coral and fish?

Could I not just let the coral grow and cut parts off and immediately ship them for sale?

[Europa13]

It depends on what type of corals you want. If you want stony corals and anenomes, the lights alone will cost around $400. Are you going to drill the tank or use a HOB overflow for the sump?

[Europa13]

Not really, you need to cut them then mount/glue them to the reef plugs, then put them in the frag tank and let them grow out a little. I don't think there is a lot of money to be made by fragging and shipping. The shipping costs are outrageous. You'll want to overnight, and when you ship packages, UPS/FedEx/USPS ask if there is water in the package. If you say yes, you can expect to pay around $65.00 for shipping. If you say no, that package of delicate corals is going to be tossed around like a football. Online dealers get huge discounts on shipping livestock, but it is still expensive. A lot of online businesses charge a flat rate of $35.00 to ship. You'll be better off trading or selling through a local reef club, or selling to your LFS.

[Nanz]

Originally posted by rangerblp
I'm wanting all kinds of coral, anems, and fish in my tank which is a 55 gal. Are there any rules for when I begin setting it up in about 5-6 months about putting things together or can I just start putting things in after it has cycled? Will the coral and anems just naturally attatch themselves to the live rock I'll be getting?

The tank will revolve around your Amemone. I read a good FAQ on it somewhere. Make sure Powerheads are secure and all the limitations to what you can have in the tank will revolve around the Anemone.

[rangerblp]

I don't know if I'll have a sump. I've been thinking about the Berlin system, because I have a tank set up for fresh water with no overflow in it. Any advice on that.

What is a good anemone to get that goes well with a lot of other stuff?

[xian]

The berlin system has two main tenets

1. Very high flow
2. Very aggressive skimming

Without a sump it will be difficult to achieve. However...

In order to tell you what kind of livestock you can keep we need to know more about the system.

First is light. Many of the corals and anemones require massive amounts of sunlight to meet their nutritional demands. They are going to need a powerful light. What type of lighting do you want to invest in? There are many options out there but if you want the versatility to pick what you want, for example if you want to keep the more delicate anemones or think you may want some of the more delicate stony corals, or tridacnid clams down the road you are going to want either Metal Halide or Very High Output fluorescent (look up t5) lights. They can be very expensive.

There are many anemones out there but they are not the most peaceful of invertebrates. Even the most docile such as Bubble tipped anemones have the potential to wander and sting corals or other sessile invertebrates. Some of the more aggressive ones such as carpet anemones may eat your fish.

CPR makes a very nice hang on overflow that you can use to set up a sump. You will have better luck getting a good skimmer if you have a sump system.

How is that so far?

[rangerblp]

What is CPR? I don't know about lighting yet. I want to get the cheapest light that I can have most normal coral. I don't want anything that's really hard just stuff that looks good.

[xian]

CPR is a company that makes reef equipment.

http://www.marinedepot.com/aquarium_...pr.asp?CartId=

Hmmm...you have a dilemma. You want an anemone and you want cheap lights. Usually those two do not go hand-in-hand

http://www.specialty-lights.com/teklightaqua.html

If you want to go low end for lights you can get this

http://cgi.ebay.com/AQUARIUM-LIGHT-4...QQcmdZViewItem
Not the best but it would get you started. You could keep mushroom corals, some leather corals, some zooanthids, Euphyllia corals (frogspawn, torch, etc) Some brain corals. There are many "good looking" corals and invertebrates but its best to know what their requirements are.