Adding Coral, Finally!!

[Anonymous]

After 3 long months of waiting, wishing and wondering, I am adding the first "coral". It is actually Tonga mushrooms, so it's not really coral, but it is the first step toward my Tongan reef. I was going to wait longer, but it is the first time the LFS has had these in a couple of years and they are cheaper than MO. I am waiting to hear from the Tongan Ministry of Fisheries on the various other species and their reef zone before I go too far. It will be a tank with corals found either on the back reef or lagoon. Only fish and coral found on the Tongan reefs will be in the aquarium.

 

[SPC]

That is a great idea Steve, I am thinking along the same lines but with a Carribean theme. Why did you pick Tonga (if you can remember)?
Steve

 

[Anonymous]

I picked Tonga because I like the mushrooms. I got the idea to do a specific site like that after reading Tullock's book "Natural Reef Aquariums". I couldn't do it with the tank I had, but after the crash, out came the ideas.
One thing nice about the Carribbean is all the pretty angelfish. The gorgonians are also very cool. The scleractinian species list is somewhat limited though. If I remember correctly, there are only a 10-12 species. It seems like I read that in one of the Delbeek and Sprung books.

 

[Carpentersreef]

Steve,
Way to go by the way, on keeping to a single area theme aquarium. I wish I had your restraint. Right now I have a 240g system, and I have realized that in order to keep all my corals from various oceans happy and non conflicting, I'll have to move them to a much bigger system. It's in the works, but it should have been done right in the first place.

Mitch

 

[hectina]

That's totally cool! BTW, what types of lights are you using? At one of my LFS, they have a VHO tank that contains mostly soft corals and mushrooms. Thus far, every mushroom coral I have seen looked best under normal and VHO lighting.

 

[hectina]

That is an awesome display of restraint. Waiting three months to add your first coral.

 

[MontanaRocknReefer]

I do not have any particular theme as far as my reef goes but I just put in some wavey Xenia's and they are large and doing great. My first coral in my 8 month old tank. Patience is the KEY here. Johnny

 

[Anonymous]

I have dual 400W 6500K metal halides and 2 NO actinics. The rock arrangemnt allows for shaded areas and bright indirect lighting. I must agree with Montana, there is nothing good that happens fast in this hobby.