Choosing corals

[Ana Zaragoza]

Hey guys! I have a 350 gallon fish only with live rock tank, it’s been running for two years now and I’ve been wanting to turn it into a reef tank, and add some corals, but I honestly don’t really know which corals to choose. I was also wondering if you guys could help me with coral placement because I have researched and read that corals May sting other corals and I wanted to know which ones can be placed next to each other. I’ve seen and researched some really nice beginner corals, but I just don’t want to mess up on anything, the thing that worries me the most is the placement I just want to know which corals can be next to each other. Can you guys help me??

 

[Neilth1]

I would first make sure your fish in the tank are reef friendly and then start off with some soft coral and find out what the coral need ,lighting/flow/ect with that big tank you should have more than enough room to space out you coral. buy starting with some less demanding coral will help you learn what needed for harder to keep like lps a sps lets see some pic of your tank some day maybe I can have a 350 lol hop this help

 

[Ana Zaragoza]

I would first make sure your fish in the tank are reef friendly and then start off with some soft coral and find out what the coral need ,lighting/flow/ect with that big tank you should have more than enough room to space out you coral. buy starting with some less demanding coral will help you learn what needed for harder to keep like lps a sps lets see some pic of your tank some day maybe I can have a 350 lol hop this help

All my fish are reef safe I have:

2 hippo tangs
1 yellow tang
1 gold rim tang
1 scopas tang
1 naso tang
1 blue eye tang
4 striped damsels
1 maroon clown
2 flame angels
1 coral beauty angel
1 flame hawk fish

 

[vpoiu1263]

Angel are not reef safe actually.
Sometime they will just happen to start nip or eat corals. Especially brain coral.

 

[Hemmdog]

Awesome list! What lights do you currently have? Do you have powerheads as well?

All my fish are reef safe I have:

2 hippo tangs
1 yellow tang
1 gold rim tang
1 scopas tang
1 naso tang
1 blue eye tang
4 striped damsels
1 maroon clown
2 flame angels
1 coral beauty angel
1 flame hawk fish

 

[Ana Zaragoza]

Awesome list! What lights do you currently have? Do you have powerheads as well?

I have two power heads in the tank.. and I have two eclipse natural daylight bulbs and two coral blue bulbs, each are 24 inch light bulbs

 

[Ana Zaragoza]

I have two power heads in the tank.. and I have two eclipse natural daylight bulbs and two coral blue bulbs, each are 24 inch light bulbs

They’re pretty long bulbs, I got them from vivid Aquariums when I started the tank, I was told they were good for corals

 

[Hemmdog]

Are they metal halide? What do you mean they are 24 inches. Didn’t you say your tank is 350 gallons? How long and wide is it?

 

[Ana Zaragoza]

It’s four long bulbs total, my lights look like this

 

[Ana Zaragoza]

It has a pair of coral blue bulbs and a pair of eclipse natural bulbs

 

[Blackice615]

Im conservative when it comes to my tank. If I had angels, as nice as they are, it's not worth the risk they will eat or nip at your corals that typically aren't cheap

 

[Richard_dicosimo]

I wouldn't worry about your angels. Tons of people have reef tanks with flame angels and coral beautys.
I would probably upgrade my lights or at least add to them. You don't have to go crazy, but what you described sounds like it might not be sufficient. Let us know what the make and model of your light is and someone here should be able to tell you if it's sufficient enough.
Lots of people enjoy fish only tanks because you can be a bit more lax with your maintenance. Im not sure how frequently you do water changes but many people with corals will do a 10% waterchange each week. Just Another thing to consider when adding corals.
I would start with something like a leather coral, colt coral, or toadstool. Corals are not as difficult as to keep as you may think. They take some research and some diligence but are something that tons of people keep. Some corals can grow rapidly so be careful. Green star polyp is one that comes to mind.

 

[Ana Zaragoza]

I wouldn't worry about your angels. Tons of people have reef tanks with flame angels and coral beautys.
I would probably upgrade my lights or at least add to them. You don't have to go crazy, but what you described sounds like it might not be sufficient. Let us know what the make and model of your light is and someone here should be able to tell you if it's sufficient enough.
Lots of people enjoy fish only tanks because you can be a bit more lax with your maintenance. Im not sure how frequently you do water changes but many people with corals will do a 10% waterchange each week. Just Another thing to consider when adding corals.
I would start with something like a leather coral, colt coral, or toadstool. Corals are not as difficult as to keep as you may think. They take some research and some diligence but are something that tons of people keep. Some corals can grow rapidly so be careful. Green star polyp is one that comes to mind.

I’ll check to see the make and model of my lights and let you know [emoji847], thank you!