First Corals to Purchase - Thoughts?

drcrook · May 31, 2018

Hey Folks,

I'm attempting to spend ~$100 on my first corals. I am looking at unique corals; mostly due to reputation and some decent costs for sps and lps and live-plants.com for softies (price for softies is great). I'm open to other ideas. I have a 150 G display w/ 2 reefbreeder 32". My params seem stable-ish and in ideal range.

Total: $125

I'm looking at Riccordea (2 varieties from live-plants) - Total: $10.

From Unique Corals w/ Shipping & Taxes - $115

Elkhorn Montipora
GSP
Red Capricornus Montipora
Green Trumpet
Green Galaxea

https://uniquecorals.com/products/m...monti-1-5-wysiwyg-frag?variant=12430341996603

https://uniquecorals.com/products/p...tar-polyps-1-5-stock-frag?variant=53015754451

https://uniquecorals.com/products/m...i-cap-1-25-1-5-stock-frag?variant=53015747027

https://uniquecorals.com/products/c...mpet-coral-1-5-stock-frag?variant=53015742995

https://uniquecorals.com/products/galaxea-sp-uc-neon-green-galaxea-1-stock-frag?variant=53015863827

Thanks for tips!

tankstudy · May 31, 2018

Are these your first corals ever?

Porpoise Hork · May 31, 2018

I'd start with low requirement corals such as Zoas, Palys, mushrooms, or toadstools especially if the tank is still relatively new. Once you hit the 2-3 month mark and things have stabilized move on to LPS corals like trumpets, galaxea, euphyllia etc. I would highly recommend waiting on SPS or more delicate corals until the tank is at least 8 months to a year as most corals like these are much more sensitive to fluctuations in water chemistry. As such the last thing you want to do is drop a bunch of money on some SPS or similar corals only to have them get wiped out due to a unexpected PH or alk swing that wouldn't impact more tolerant species.

Crabs McJones · May 31, 2018

Looks like a good list

Just be careful with that galaxea and the green star polyps. The galaxea can put out some long sweeper tentacles, and the green star polyps are known to take over a tank quickly, best to put them on their own little island where they can't reach the other rocks

drcrook · May 31, 2018

tankstudy said:
Are these your first corals ever?

They are. Thus tips are much appreciated.

Porpoise Hork · May 31, 2018

drcrook said:
They are. Thus tips are much appreciated.

Then definitely you will want to consider starting with the more forgiving corals first. You can add some amazing color combinations with the list I provided. Just be sure to research the needs of the different corals before you put them in. Also you will want to look at possible adjustments to the lighting if applicable so the new corals can acclimate properly. You don't want to go placing low light corals up near the top of the tank where they will get burned, or bleach because the lights are too intense.

Medic58 · May 31, 2018

World wide corals got 9 frags for $99 dollars. Limit 2 can’t beat that coming from them

Medic58 · May 31, 2018

World wide corals got 9 frags for $99 bucks limit 2 boxes. Can’t beat that coming from them. They also have beginners frag packs

Neo Jeo · May 31, 2018

Stay away from the GSP they are like weeds... Also dont but a full pack starting out. Go slow and see how your tank adapts. Just my thoughts.

Leadfooted · May 31, 2018

Are you in FL?

tankstudy · May 31, 2018

drcrook said:
They are. Thus tips are much appreciated.

I would recommend trying the Red Cap, GSP and just the Green Trumpet.

This will cover the three categories for SPS, LPS and Softies.

Try one of each first, this will save you money in the event something goes or is wrong. For my first couple years in the hobby, I couldn't keep certain corals alive and other hobbyists will say the same about being unable to keep certain corals alive in their systems. These three are pretty hardy from my experience. If they don't do well, you save a lot of money. If they do well, you can start adding more corals knowing you have a higher chance of success.

dutch27 · May 31, 2018

I would stay away from the GSP, that stuff grows like a weed and will blanket your rocks in no time.

Depending on the age of your tank, you may want to stay away from SPS for a little bit as well. The monti cap will likely be okay though, they're pretty forgiving.

The galaxea is nice, and at 150g display you have plenty of room for its sweepers. Trumpets and Ricordea are good choices for starting out as well. You may want to look into euphyllia (hammers, torches, and frogspawns), blastomussa, duncans, and acans as well. Those are all great beginner corals that can also have great colors.

Porpoise Hork · May 31, 2018

dutch27 said:
I would stay away from the GSP, that stuff grows like a weed and will blanket your rocks in no time.

Depending on the age of your tank, you may want to stay away from SPS for a little bit as well. The monti cap will likely be okay though, they're pretty forgiving.

The galaxea is nice, and at 150g display you have plenty of room for its sweepers. Trumpets and Ricordea are good choices for starting out as well. You may want to look into euphyllia (hammers, torches, and frogspawns), blastomussa, duncans, and acans as well. Those are all great beginner corals that can also have great colors.

GSP isn't that bad, provided you isolate it to it's own island rock. It almost never jumps to other parts of the tank like say pulting Xenia. This stuff on the other hand can and will migrate to take over a tank if left unchecked.

Bob Weigant · May 31, 2018

Like a few others have stated the GSP will be everywhere before you know and depending on how many corals you put in your tank that Galaxea will kill everything around it. Lots of corals out there that are pretty easy to care for that wont kill anything around them.

BigJim · May 31, 2018

I started in this hobby 7 1/2 years ago and most of my first corals are still alive ( I have killed many others along the way though). They are GSP, Green and Purple Frogspawn, Green and Pink Hammer, Red Montipora Capricornis and a Sunset Montipora. I lost a Kenya Tree Coral and I think it is because my nutrients were very low back then. The advice above about putting GSP on its own rock is very good advice. It can overrun your tank in a year or two if you are not careful. The only thing I would change on your list is Galaxea because of the long sweeper tentacles. I would replace it with a Frogspawn or Hammer, or also put it on its own rock far from anything else.

tank o tang · May 31, 2018

Instead of listening to everyone telling you what to get, do yourself a favor. Sit back, pour yourself a tall one, and decide where you want your tank to be. Not tomorrow, but down the road. Maybe a year or two. Are you happy with a softie tank? Like the looks of lps? Going for sticks? If you want lps, sticks or mix of the two I would recommend not starting with gsp, xenia, and most soft coral due to they are a pain to get out later without getting rid of all your rock they are on and grow alot faster than expected most of the time. There are plenty of hardy lps you can start with and transition into sps if wanted. If you prefer soft coral most are hardy compare to the lps and sps. We often want to fill up the space then all to soon wish we had the real estate back.

Porpoise Hork · May 31, 2018

Bob Weigant said:
Like a few others have stated the GSP will be everywhere before you know and depending on how many corals you put in your tank that Galaxea will kill everything around it. Lots of corals out there that are pretty easy to care for that wont kill anything around them.

I have had very good success with keeping the sweepers on my galaxea to a minimum simply by dusting them at least once a week with reef-roids. I have three colonies of these about 3" away from my pipe organ colony and they let me know when they are getting hungry. I'll see a sweeper swaying in the current from one one specific polyp head on the galaxea that grazes the pipe organ, but it doesn't seem ti mind it at all.

drcrook · May 31, 2018

Leadfooted said:
Are you in FL?

Used to be; This hobby would have been way easier down there. I'm moving back to Boca in about 2 years.

drcrook · May 31, 2018

Lots of great advice from everybody. Here are some re-thoughts.

Objectives:

Learning (I'll be relocating again in ~2 years and will do a full tear down & rebuild - Some livestock will come with me; rest will be sold - TBD). Light, flow, position, understanding the ecosystem, what works, what doesn't work, equipment that makes stuff easier, inventing new stuff if I need to etc. Also; this is a great learning opportunity for my kids.
Cool Tank w/ decent coverage within a year. Wife + Kids want a visually appealing science project; not just a science project.
Type of Tank: Mixed Corals & Reef - I've been really inspired by the mix of sps, lps and softies and the complete ecosystem feel where the longer you look, the more you see.

I have an awesome (probably over-powered) lighting system that I would like to take advantage of as well and receive A LOT of natural light due to my house is just very bright and airy.

So far; here is what I'm thinking of changing my first purchases to:
1. Riccordea (I think it looks awesome; covers softies and it is inexpensive )
2. Red & Sunset Capri Montipora (another favorite; covers sps and is inexpensive )
3. Trumpets (pretty cool; hardy; covers lps; inexpensive)
4. GSP (looks awesome, spreads; inexpensive; covers softies; inexpensive)
5. Use remainder to amp up my clean up crew (current crew needs a little back up for algae & sand sifting).

This covers softies, lps & sps in a very cost effective manner. The reason I'm pulling back on the purchase list is I do not have a way to measure light the corals are receiving and I definitely bleached a few coral hitchhikers to death already. I'll need some recommendations for placement and a way to better understand if I'm giving too much, too little or just right on the lights. My reefbreeder photon v2's are about 8" off of the water surface. I've got 2 32" ones spanning a 6' tank. (zero shadows if I want).

Question on the various wait periods for sps vs lps vs softies: What is the objective with the wait times and what assumptions are being made? My understanding is week to week stability across all key water parameters, access to proper lighting, water flow & appropriate food sources and an understanding of how to do simple math for mixing solutions of varying sizes containing various quantities of stuff to achieve an end state. Note: Beginner asking question here -> I am a scientist/engineer by trade though; so I can probably understand most of the technical details. In my scenario; the key factor I see here is reefer skill level in setting proper water flow & lighting while providing correct food quantities.