A few Coral questions and Hopefully some suggestions from You.

[partobe]

Hi Everyone!
I have a 150 with a 30 gallon sump. For lighting I have 2, 250watt 14000 k mh along with 2 96 watt 50/50 bulbs. My tank has been up and running now for a cpl of yrs I have about 300-350 lbs of lr shallow sand bed about 2 inches.
I haven't added any corals in well over a year and I'm thinking about add some new corals but not sure what would be my best options.
Right now I have mostly lps 1 hammer 1 frogspawn 1 torch 2 bubble coral 2 candy canes and 1 cup coral. I also have a few mushroom along with one small leather I have no idea what kind of leather it is it was given to me as a gift. Its purple and kind of feathery looking. I also have two fairly larg colonies of button polyps.
My first question is are zoas and button polyps the same thing?
The reason I ask is a cpl of yrs ago I bought some purple zoas and they slowly disappeared over a cpl of months. I have no idea what ate them unless it was the little star thingies I have in my tank. I'm thinking if they are the sam as button polyps since nothing has eaten them it would be safe to try zoas again?
Second question If I add leathers to my tank will they kill each other? Ive heard something about chemical warfare? Would I have to add charcoal or something to keep this from happening?
Third question
what kinds of corals would you suggest for my tank.
Keep in mind I dont have a calcium reactor. I cant spot feed because my hood is a pain in the heavens to take down. I cant place any corals on the btm because my bullet goby covers them with sand.
Thanks for any input.
Patrick

 

[fishfreak1242]

Hi Everyone!
I have a 150 with a 30 gallon sump. For lighting I have 2, 250watt 14000 k mh along with 2 96 watt 50/50 bulbs. My tank has been up and running now for a cpl of yrs I have about 300-350 lbs of lr shallow sand bed about 2 inches.
I haven't added any corals in well over a year and I'm thinking about add some new corals but not sure what would be my best options.
Right now I have mostly lps 1 hammer 1 frogspawn 1 torch 2 bubble coral 2 candy canes and 1 cup coral. I also have a few mushroom along with one small leather I have no idea what kind of leather it is it was given to me as a gift. Its purple and kind of feathery looking. I also have two fairly larg colonies of button polyps.
My first question is are zoas and button polyps the same thing?
The reason I ask is a cpl of yrs ago I bought some purple zoas and they slowly disappeared over a cpl of months. I have no idea what ate them unless it was the little star thingies I have in my tank. I'm thinking if they are the sam as button polyps since nothing has eaten them it would be safe to try zoas again?
Second question If I add leathers to my tank will they kill each other? Ive heard something about chemical warfare? Would I have to add charcoal or something to keep this from happening?
Third question
what kinds of corals would you suggest for my tank.
Keep in mind I dont have a calcium reactor. I cant spot feed because my hood is a pain in the heavens to take down. I cant place any corals on the btm because my bullet goby covers them with sand.
Thanks for any input.
Patrick

To answer your first question, zoas and button polyps I believe are the same thing. I think that button polyps are also refered to as palys, but they are pretty much the same thing, they just look slightly different.
I have no idea what zoas you had before. Start off with some easy zoas and see where it goes from there.
I haven't heard anything about chemical warfare, so I can't really help you on that one, although I do keep leather and some LPS and SPS together and so far nothing has happened to me.
If you really want to color up your tank I would suggest LPS and SPS. If you get some Acans and chalices or a colony of Birdsnest or Acros, it will make your tank looks really nice. Check out Lazibonez's tank. It is really nice and full of SPS. Hope this helps.

 

[stoneriff]

Hi Everyone!
I have a 150 with a 30 gallon sump. For lighting I have 2, 250watt 14000 k mh along with 2 96 watt 50/50 bulbs. My tank has been up and running now for a cpl of yrs I have about 300-350 lbs of lr shallow sand bed about 2 inches.
I haven't added any corals in well over a year and I'm thinking about add some new corals but not sure what would be my best options.
Right now I have mostly lps 1 hammer 1 frogspawn 1 torch 2 bubble coral 2 candy canes and 1 cup coral. I also have a few mushroom along with one small leather I have no idea what kind of leather it is it was given to me as a gift. Its purple and kind of feathery looking. I also have two fairly larg colonies of button polyps.
My first question is are zoas and button polyps the same thing?
The reason I ask is a cpl of yrs ago I bought some purple zoas and they slowly disappeared over a cpl of months. I have no idea what ate them unless it was the little star thingies I have in my tank. I'm thinking if they are the sam as button polyps since nothing has eaten them it would be safe to try zoas again?
Second question If I add leathers to my tank will they kill each other? Ive heard something about chemical warfare? Would I have to add charcoal or something to keep this from happening?
Third question
what kinds of corals would you suggest for my tank.
Keep in mind I dont have a calcium reactor. I cant spot feed because my hood is a pain in the heavens to take down. I cant place any corals on the btm because my bullet goby covers them with sand.
Thanks for any input.
Patrick

Your seem to have a nice set-up as lights go, but what about skimmer, phosban reactor, carbon, calcium reactor,etc? Your parameters, lighting schedule, and flow have a lot to do with your ability to keep corals. Also, LPS, SPS require different things. You have to decide what you want to have in your tank, and then adjust accordingly. I advise you contact Jim or Russ at House of fish. They are MR members. My tank is doing great, thanks to them. Good luck.

 

[partobe]

To answer your first question, zoas and button polyps I believe are the same thing. I think that button polyps are also refered to as palys, but they are pretty much the same thing, they just look slightly different.
I have no idea what zoas you had before. Start off with some easy zoas and see where it goes from there.
I haven't heard anything about chemical warfare, so I can't really help you on that one, although I do keep leather and some LPS and SPS together and so far nothing has happened to me.
If you really want to color up your tank I would suggest LPS and SPS. If you get some Acans and chalices or a colony of Birdsnest or Acros, it will make your tank looks really nice. Check out Lazibonez's tank. It is really nice and full of SPS. Hope this helps.

It helps alot! Thank you for responding to my thread. I will def check out Lazibonez tank and see if I can get some ideas from him. The zoas I had before were little purple zoas and like I said each day I could see them disappearing. I would see a thin line cut right trough them. I would love to get some more and now I'm thinking I might. I should have put in my post I dont add calcium so I want to stay away from sps like birdsnest.
Once agin thank you.

 

[fishfreak1242]

It helps alot! Thank you for responding to my thread. I will def check out Lazibonez tank and see if I can get some ideas from him. The zoas I had before were little purple zoas and like I said each day I could see them disappearing. I would see a thin line cut right trough them. I would love to get some more and now I'm thinking I might. I should have put in my post I dont add calcium so I want to stay away from sps like birdsnest.
Once agin thank you.

Anytime. And also, you don't need to add calcium as long as you have a sufficient calcium level. You will only need to dose it to raise it up, but there is no point if your calcium is high enough.

 

[partobe]

Your seem to have a nice set-up as lights go, but what about skimmer, phosban reactor, carbon, calcium reactor,etc? Your parameters, lighting schedule, and flow have a lot to do with your ability to keep corals. Also, LPS, SPS require different things. You have to decide what you want to have in your tank, and then adjust accordingly. I advise you contact Jim or Russ at House of fish. They are MR members. My tank is doing great, thanks to them. Good luck.

Thanks for responding to my thread.
My skimmer is a aquac remora 180 my lights(pc) go on at 8 am and off at 8pm. My mh go on at 9 am and off at 7 pm(should it be different) I dont have a phosban reactor or a calcium reactor and I dont have carbon. All my numbers are right on target. I use reef crystals(30 gallon) for my water changes ever 3 weeks. For flow I have 1 1100 seio 1 1500 seio a return pump rated at 500gph 2 ph 1 at 400 gph 1 at 175 gph and a hob aquaclear 110 just used for flow nothing in it rated at 428 gph. I really dont want sps I was more interested if I could add leather with the lps I have now with out adding carbon or something to prevent the chemical warfare Ive heard about. If you see anything off in my list please let me know.
Thanks
Patrick

 

[partobe]

Anytime. And also, you don't need to add calcium as long as you have a sufficient calcium level. You will only need to dose it to raise it up, but there is no point if your calcium is high enough.

Thanks
Would doing a 30 gallon water change with reef crystals every 3 weeks keep my calcium levels where they should be? If not how often would I have to test?
Thanks.
Patrick

 

[fishfreak1242]

Thanks
Would doing a 30 gallon water change with reef crystals every 3 weeks keep my calcium levels where they should be? If not how often would I have to test?
Thanks.
Patrick

I would check first to see what the calcium level of the salt water with reef crystals after you mix it, some salts have really out of whack parameters and could screw up your tank pretty badly. If the calcium level of the salt water is at a good level, then I would do a more frequent but smaller water change. Like I would probably do a 20 gal water change every week.

 

[partobe]

I would check first to see what the calcium level of the salt water with reef crystals after you mix it, some salts have really out of whack parameters and could screw up your tank pretty badly. If the calcium level of the salt water is at a good level, then I would do a more frequent but smaller water change. Like I would probably do a 20 gal water change every week.

Thanks Fishfreak
I'll have to pick up a tester but will do that. Thanks for the info.
Patrick