Corals for Beginners

[readingbabelfish]

Hello all,

I have decided to try my hand at coral keeping. I have a 75 gallon tank with 75lbs of live rock, some base rock, a 20 gallon sump, a few powerheads, a 2 inch arongnite sand substrate, two protein skimmers, and some reef-safe fish. My lighting consists of 4x54w t5 bulbs (two actinic and two aquasuns) driven by an icecap 660 ballast, and two 175w metal halides driven by two icecap electronic ballasts. I would like to start off slowly with something that waves in the current, maybe some polyps or something that will split off and grow. However, I do not want the first few easy to keep corals to overgrow the tank and make it impossible to put some harder to keep corals in after I have gained experience. My ammonia and nitrites are zero, my nitrates are undectable, and my calcium level is around 350 ppm. I have been adding purple tech from kent marine to try to get the calcium levels up and grow my coralline algae faster, but it has been a slow go. Phosphates are zero, I use Instant Ocean salt with an ro unit for water. Please let me know what you guys think would be a good starter. I have seen the aquariums that have lush waving corals and I would like something of that sort. I have been into aquariums for over a decade with fresh and saltwater, but never corals. Thank you all for your suggestions.

[blennydude]

Here is a start, not everything. Are you using reef crystals for salt? If not start doing water changes with them if you plan on adding corals. Yes your calcium needs to get to between 400-500. What is your alk, and magnesium reading? Your calcium won't go up where you want if your alk is low. I suggest reading about the ties between the three for a good understanding. You definetly have enough light to grow softies, lps, and sps. I would also get a timer for your lights to come on and off in stages. Ex. actnics, then t5 sunlights, then mhs, off mhs, off t5's, finally off actnics, on moon. Other people might have suggestions in the lighting forum. Waving corals.....hmm, you might like a galaxea, you will want your calc and alk dialed in.

[zhenya]

Hi readingbabelfish,

Welcome to Reefland!

However, I do not want the first few easy to keep corals to overgrow the tank and make it impossible to put some harder to keep corals in after I have gained experience.

If you want to keep something simple and not invasive stay away from the mushroom corals, or something like green star polyps. Those can spread rather quickly. In case you decide to add some anyway, just keep them away from the main reef structure.

I have seen the aquariums that have lush waving corals and I would like something of that sort.

Well, then what you are talking about is soft corals. You can probably start with something like the leather corals, Xinia and the like. Sarcophyton sp. (otherwise known as toadstool coral) coral is pretty easy to keep with the lighting and equipment you have it shouldn't be a problem.

Here are some of the images of the soft corals commonly available in the trade.

And here are some of the images of Zoanthids. They too can become invasive but I like them and keep them at the bottom of the tank, away from the reef structure. Some of them are very colorful and can be a nice addition if placed wisely.

Keeping soft corals mixed with some of the stony corals would make it a mixed reef aquarium, which can present some issues with the toxins that some of the soft corals produce. So, running carbon is essential with mixed reef type aquariums.

PS. With the lighting that you have you can keep pretty much any coral you want, including the so called "sps" corals (Acropora, Montipora and the like). Not all species but most.

[Ninong]

In order to have a reef aquarium, you must maintain calcium, alkalinity and magnesium in an acceptable range. I suggest you read this article by Dr. Randy Holmes-Farley on how to choose a calcium and alkalinity supplementation scheme.

[gregr]

Obviously you're getting great advice so far. I noticed you said you have an ro unit. Have you tested that water with a TDS (total dissolved solids) meter? Most serious reefkeeprs have ro/di units so they can get zero TDS. If the TDS reading isn't really low you may eventually end up with algae headaches. Something to look into now before the headaches (been there...done that!).
Have you got an auto top-off system? I guess there are plenty of reefkeepers that add top-off water manually but the salinity will be more stable with an ATO system in place, plus it's another thing you don't have to worry about every day. Stability is the name of the game with a reef tank.