Coral Plan!

Tristren · Jul 2, 2017

Our tank has been up and running for about three now. With the help of some well cured live rock from my LFS (Marinescape in Ottawa) it is going well and a pair of B&W Clowns, a cleaner shrimp, and a handful of CuC and friendly hitchhikers all seem comfortable. So I am starting to think about adding some coral.

We quite like the aquascape and want to preserve the overall look and also the open space for the fish to come.

So I created this amazingly fabulous diagram detailing the types and locations of all the coral I think we want. I wanted to share it with this group because of how well it turned out.

Well, not really, but it gives me an idea of what I want to look for and I don't have anyone else to share it with : )

Exciting to be at the start of what hopefully will be a long long road.

An actual question though, did you start with a plan or just add as you went?

Cheers, Tony

Mikedawg · Jul 2, 2017

Tristren said:
Our tank has been up and running for about three now. With the help of some well cured live rock from my LFS (Marinescape in Ottawa) it is going well and a pair of B&W Clowns, a cleaner shrimp, and a handful of CuC and friendly hitchhikers all seem comfortable. So I am starting to think about adding some coral.

We quite like the aquascape and want to preserve the overall look and also the open space for the fish to come.

So I created this amazingly fabulous diagram detailing the types and locations of all the coral I think we want. I wanted to share it with this group because of how well it turned out.

Well, not really, but it gives me an idea of what I want to look for and I don't have anyone else to share it with : )

Exciting to be at the start of what hopefully will be a long long road.

An actual question though, did you start with a plan or just add as you went?

Cheers, Tony

Like the 'scape and your ideas/legend. I drew up a plan before I started buying to 1) make sure that I got compatible species of coral that I could place in certain areas of tank ( e.g., an acan garden), 2) left enough room to keep aggressive ones away from others, 3) placement could accommodate expected growth, 4) selected ones that did best under the same water and light conditions, 5) placed certain corals where they would be easy to feed ( to keep shrimp from stealing their food, I temporarily enclose some in a clear plastic drink bottle), 6) added complementary colors and shapes, and 7) left room for a special show piece - in my case a big bleeding apple scoly. And, of course, if you buy several corals at the same time you may be able to get a better deal on prices.

Just like you would create a fish list to make sure you get compatible species which like similar conditions, etc.

Good luck