suggestions for good beginner corals

[jwtrojan44]

hi all. new to the board. Am heading in the direction of taking my 56 gal. to reef. (see tank specs) Was at my lfs today, and he is just getting in pc light fixtures. the 24 in has 2x55 watt tubes. under these lights, what would be a good bet as far as corals. i figure with sand and lr the tank actually has closer to 45 gal of water. also, i'm not yet running a skimmer, but would like suggestions as to a good one for this tank. i'd like to take the penguin filter out and use a skimmer in it's place. thank for any input. Oh, and by the way, this is a great board. I've been lurking around for several mos. now and have received a lot of good info. from you all. i look forward to sharing and learning. jwt

 

[gazpep]

There are quite a few choices for you. I'd start with some of the mushrooms and corallimorphs which come in a wide variety of types and colours. Leather corals are also very hardy and aren't too demanding.
Once you've tried your hand at those you could venture into the realm of LPS (large polyp stonies)of which many will do just fine in your tank.

Once you're comfortable and successfully maintaining these corals you may want to research SPS ( small polyp stonies) and that will take an understanding of more of the chemistry issues, i.e calcium and alkalinity and the requirements of these more difficult to keep corals.

Good luck and happy reefing.

 

[Litoria]

I would agree with gazpep. Start with the simplier soft corals like leathers (try mushroom and colt coral) and colonial anenomes like button polyps and yellow polyps. Once you are comfortable with these try some LPS hard corals. A good beginner coral is bubble and meat polyps. Only after you are completely comfortable keeping these corals would I try keeping any SPS. Try reading some good books, these are the best education.

 

[reefland]

I'd disagree slightly from the above. Make your choice now. Do you want the lower light softy tank or the higher light LSP / SPS tank. Figuring this out upfront will save mucho $$$ later on with upgrades. And will save you countless hours trying to remove items like mushrooms which are not good for SPS tanks.

You could do a mix, but long term success (4 to 5 years) would be questionable in such a small tank.

If you want the softy route then the above posted corals would be great starters. If you want to start with SPS then Montipora's are the way to go. Just stay clear of most Acropora's until you build up some confidence.

 

[2poor2reef]

Both posters above have mentioned progressing to sps. If that is indeed a future goal you should know that 2x55 watt power compacts on a 56g will not get you there. Your question wax about beginner corals and I think mushrooms, zooanthids and parazoanthids are greater starters. But if you want to keep sps later on you should think about the lighting you're going to need before you make your first purchase. That way you save money in the long run. Most of us have wasted a lot of money buying lighting/skimmers and such that turned out to be inadequate a short time later.

 

[reefworm]

jwt,
Good advice thus far. I would consider a stronger set of lights, though, even for what's been recommended. I have the lighting setup you mention, but on a tank half the size of yours. The 24 in tubes cover nearly the entire length of the tank. 96watt might be more appropriate, and they're longer tubes. Lighting is the single most expensive aspect of the hardware for a reef, and one of the most critical - go ahead and spend the $$, you'll only do it later anyway.

As for research into the corals, I can't recommend a better book than Eric Borneman's Aquarium Corals, Selection, Husbandry, and Natural History. If you can't find it locally, Premium Aquatics has it [one of our sponsors] or any of the other standards like Amazon.

All the best in your endeavors!

regards,
rw

 

[reefworm]

jwt,
I have a coral beauty in my reef tank. Any angel is a risk, and the coral beauty is no exception. It made short work of an open brain, but has not shown any inclination to nip anything else.........yet

Angels are beautiful, but you take your chances. No way to tell what fish will nip what, despite what others of the same species may or may not have done in someone else's tank.

 

[jaydse]

hello you will be tempted to buy a flame angel it tool me 6 hours to take all the rock out of my 180 to catch the most beautiful fish i ever had. but my corals are more important some people will say thats like a real reef(but not in my world) good luck!!

 

[jwtrojan44]

thanks for the thorough advice. Due to the size of the tank, and because I'm a FO person at heart, I don't want to get too advanced with this particular tank, so low light softies are what i'm looking at. I also don't want to spend the inescapable king's ransom for the lights needed to go full reef, however I'd like to try easing into it. I was also going to add one of my NO 20watt strip fixtures in addition to the pc's. I'll keep you posted as to how it progresses, but you've given me a lot to go on. Anyone keeping a coral beauty in a set up like this? what do they like to munch on?
thanks, JWT