Adding corals just to get beneficial organisms?

[Hondatek]

I have a 350 gallon running first gen Radions. I am debating adding some soft corals just to get some micro organisms and such going to help make the tank healthier and get some good color on the rocks. Down side is I have a 5 inch koran , 10 inch queen , a 4 inch spiny box puffer and a 3 inch male blue throat in there. I was going to just try try some mushrooms and other soft corals. I am wondering if I will just be wasting my money here . I know it can be hit or miss but just would like to hear some opinions. Thanks?

 

[dank reefer]

See if any local reefers have GSP available they want to get rid of and place it on it's own little rock so that it doesnt take over tour tank.

 

[Hondatek]

That's exactly what I did tonight. Get a decent mat of gsp and some branching gsp. Tried to glue to branching stuff down but my queen is extra bitey tonight. I just put it in a little rock crevice. Will that be ok ?

 

[Spare time]

What kinds of organisms were you thinking of? I hesitate to just get frags for this as you may not get the kinds of things you want.

 

[Hondatek]

Things like pods. Bristle worms , stomatella snails . The tank was started with all dry rock so it has nothing but the fish.

 

[Hondatek]

And I know I could try live rock but I attempted that before I upgraded tanks and never got anything.

 

[dank reefer]

Here is a good way to get Bac into your tank. Buy some sponges that do not have any chemicals and ask a fellow reefer around you if you can place them into their sump. Wait a couple of weeks up to a month, then go pick them up and put them in you Sump.

 

[EMeyer]

Live rock, live sand, and live mud are all available -- the latter two are much cheaper.

We know these all add to the bacterial diversity in a tank. I havent seen any evidence that adding coral frags does something similar, but maybe. Personally, I go for live mud or sand (floridapets.com) when I need some added diversity. Hard to beat that price.

 

[Hondatek]

See about 6 years ago I started a reef tank with rock from my old 180 gallon. And within month of adding corals there was so much life in the tank so I just attributed it to the corals / whatever hitchhiked on the frag plugs.

 

[KingTideCorals]

So this post works for what I ran into last night...


I was doing a night feeding of some of my filter feeding organisms/corals and when I was feeding my micromussa frag I noticed a small little chiton attached to it.. I was giddy with joy because I like you LOVE free clean up crew. I still dip everything, but may have made his way in on the christmas tree rock, because I had no clue how to dip that thing.

Alas, with the angels you present risk. I myself have a cherub pygmy angel in my lagoon, but I ensure I feed several times a day too keep her mind at bay rather than starting to chew on corals. You run a high risk with them eating your corals and with the angel already nipping at corals I would be pressed to still try, but with cheap frags/colonies people are looking to give away. The risk and reward is high, but thats the life you live with angels LOL

 

[Hondatek]

So this post works for what I ran into last night...


I was doing a night feeding of some of my filter feeding organisms/corals and when I was feeding my micromussa frag I noticed a small little chiton attached to it.. I was giddy with joy because I like you LOVE free clean up crew. I still dip everything, but may have made his way in on the christmas tree rock, because I had no clue how to dip that thing.

Alas, with the angels you present risk. I myself have a cherub pygmy angel in my lagoon, but I ensure I feed several times a day too keep her mind at bay rather than starting to chew on corals. You run a high risk with them eating your corals and with the angel already nipping at corals I would be pressed to still try, but with cheap frags/colonies people are looking to give away. The risk and reward is high, but thats the life you live with angels LOL

Yea that is basically what I am doing .Just keeping an eye out for cheaper stuff that people just want to get rid of. Added gsp the other day and so far so good. The queen doesn't mess with them so far but the koran does . I was told it grows pretty quick so It shouldn't be totally eaten but only time will tell.