Beginning my coral stocking.

[Miltonic]

I been searching and found a local coral dealer that sells corals for about 1/3 of the price of LFS and online stores and the pieces you get a bigger and nicer but it takes a bit longer for him to get what you want so I have to get a list going.

I was looking to start with some Zoas and other easy to keep coals but I need expert advice on some species, I want my reef to be mainly LPS and SPS and I don't want the invasive types of corals.

This is what I was looking at:

colorful zoas, need species names.
green Frogspawn
Torch
Hammer coral
Bubble coral
some type of nice looking montipora corals

Thanks in advance.

[rageybug]

What size is your tank? What lights are you using? What fish do you have/plan to have? How much flow do you have? How long has the tank been set-up?

These are all things that you/we need to think about before coming up with a coral list.

[Miltonic]

My tank is 90g and its approaching the 6 week mark in age so its pretty young still, thats why I want some hardy corals to start with. With my lighting I can pretty much keep any coral I want, its the 8 bulb T5 ATI fixture.

This is my rough fish stocking list so far;
Yellow Tang
Regal tang
coral beauty/flame angelfish
3 Barletts anthias
2 o. clownfish
watchman goby
mandarin

[coachfraley]

If you are planning on an LPS or SPS tank, you might not want to add any zoas, unless you have a way to isolate them. Zoas spread pretty quick, and they will cover your rockwork if given the chance.

I was under the impression that all zoas have the same species names. There are plenty of reefers who don't bother naming any of their zoas, but other people are into finding the common names of all of the varieties. Go to zoaid.com if you want to see what they are commonly called.

[Miltonic]

Fragging them always helps but I think I know where I can put them that will keep them under control. I also saw a trick at my LFS where their rock was glued on the over box maybe I can do that too.

[AABatteries]

I would nuclear or deathray zoas, they look pretty cool. Also, a 90g is too small for a Regal Tang.

[Miltonic]

I really want some colorful zoas I saw some nice ones that I should written down the name off :/ all i remember are eagle eyes.

I don't want to discus fish selection since thats just rough and not final.

Edit: I really need to take a picture of my tank and start marking areas for where corals are going to go.

[oldhead]

You want these www.zoaid.com/index.php?module=Gallery2&g2_itemId=3965 (http://www.zoaid.com/index.php?module=Gallery2&g2_itemId=3965)
They spread fast but are so cool. lol

[labnjab]

I'd like to see these fast spreading zoas, man I'm lucky to get a new polyp a month. I've had some purple death since xmas, and its only grown 4 heads. I would recomend some candy canes or trumpets, they are hardy, grow quick and look awesome

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

If you haven't read the article on Stony Corals yet, I'd recommend you do so. That will help you understand the differences and the similarities between LPS and SPS. All the corals you have selected are quite aggressive. The Bubble Coral is probably the most passive one of them all. A monti is capable of delivering quite the sting to other corals around it, but that only happens when corals come in contact with the monti.

You can't compartmentalize fish stocking and coral stocking, you need to consider both when figuring the other out. For example, you have indicated that you would like to keep a Centropyge species in your tank. The 2 that you have mentioned are both known to occasionally nip at LPS, one more than the other.

[coachfraley]

I'd like to see these fast spreading zoas, man I'm lucky to get a new polyp a month. I've had some purple death since xmas, and its only grown 4 heads.

I guess the fast growth is a relative thing, lol.

It does depend on the type of zoa too. I have one variety that has done nothing for about 6 months, and my other varieties have gone crazy.

[Miltonic]

If you haven't read the article on Stony Corals yet, I'd recommend you do so. That will help you understand the differences and the similarities between LPS and SPS. All the corals you have selected are quite aggressive. The Bubble Coral is probably the most passive one of them all. A monti is capable of delivering quite the sting to other corals around it, but that only happens when corals come in contact with the monti.

You can't compartmentalize fish stocking and coral stocking, you need to consider both when figuring the other out. For example, you have indicated that you would like to keep a Centropyge species in your tank. The 2 that you have mentioned are both known to occasionally nip at LPS, one more than the other.

Yep, I read your article on the stony corals a few days ago and know the similarities/differences between them. I wasn't actually going to get all those corals I listed since I was just looking up info about them and now I know.

heres a picture of how I roughly want my tank set up coral wise.

http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q134/miltonic/102_1345-1.png

[Miltonic]

ok, next Thursday I will be picking up my first corals by then my tank will almost be 7 weeks old :D

here's what i'll be getting:

A green Frogpawn medium size for $40
A yellow Montipora medium size for $40
A few eagle eye and bams bams zoa polyps for $40

I know the frogspawn is aggresive and i will make sure not to place to many corals close to it in the future, I will also be using Seachem Renew (phosphate free carbon alternative) in my sump. The montipora will placed in one of the rocks closer to the light and it a way it doesn't grow to become troublesome. I have a whole week to prepare for this and I was wondering what are some things I should get to be ready? like sometype of coral food/supplements I also know, I need coral glue.

[labnjab]

With your tank being young I wouldn't worry about feeding any of them. They'll get most of their energy from the light. The biggest think is to start keeping an eye on your calcium and alkalinity and keep them up and steady

[Miltonic]

yep, I was just reading up on using pickling lime to keep calcium/alkanity up and its a nice cheap alternative to a calcium reactor. I just have to do more research on it and figure out how much I need to start dosing my tank with it.

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

You dose it by dripping it the same as Kalk. The other thing you can do is what I do. I use it in my top-off tank. I fill the tank, put the lime in, mix it up, shut the pump off and then pump the water into the sump. That way you get the benefit of the Lime without getting the precipitate in the tank.

[kaybee]

...I know the frogspawn is aggresive and i will make sure not to place to many corals close to it in the future...

Perhaps more accurately, frogspawn "can" be aggressive, as can nearly any coral. The thing is euphyllia's can deliver stronger stings a great distance (4"-6"). One of my candy cane's (caulaustrea sp.) has proven to be more 'damaging' in my tank (surprisingly versus another caulaustrea species, having already killed a few heads following a relocation).

Interestingly, my torch and frogspawn (both euphyllia's) are in close proximity/semi-contact with each other and some soft corals and thus far haven't waged war.

Still it's best to err on the side of caution.

As far as feeding the corals you have can get by on light (though I target-feed my frogspawn mysis shrimp weekly); the zoanthids and monti can consume smaller 'foodstuff' (cyclopeeze sized or smaller). Feeding isn't required for what you have but will accelerate growth.

Depending on your calcium content, for the stonies you have you should get by on water changes alone as far as calcium-consumption goes.

[Miltonic]

Right now, my Ca is at 480 according to the API test kit and my kH 9 so it looks good so far. The way I was thinking about supplementing my tank with limewater is by doing it with my top offs but not sure how much and how often. My tank loses about 1 gallon of water everyday that I top off twice once in the morning and once at night and it came to me that I could top off 2 quarts of limewater everyday, one quart in the morning and one at night pouring it slowly into my sump ofcourse. The only thing is that I don't know if its too much or too little opinions?

[labnjab]

Interestingly, my torch and frogspawn (both euphyllia's) are in close proximity/semi-contact with each other and some soft corals and thus far haven't waged war.



I've had mine close together, extremely close to xenia, and fairly close to an open brain, and neither have stung a thing. I've never even seen a sweeper from either