planning coral stocking

[ctreefer]

I'm going to try as best as I can to stock my tank with some favorite corals and let them grow as main specimens rather than create a frag tank. Wish me luck!

That being said, as I await for my tank (60 gallon cube) to become ready for stocking over the next 3 months, I'm trying to identify corals that I really like that will be those specimens. I'm not a brand name guy. I'm just looking for eye catching. As an example, I really like orange caps. Cheap and easy to grow.

I'm hoping everyone will chime in on their personal preferences for each of these species.

I have five goals;
1. Montipora Capricornis: really have always liked these. if you could choose one for your tank and let grow, which would it be?
2. Chalice: again, another of my favorites. I'm a big fan of mummy eyes. your thoughts?
3. Acans: looking for a nice variety. I could probably get 2 or three of these in my tank. What would be your favorites?
4. leathers: OK, one softy in the tank. I used to have a green tree leather. really liked it. Looking for some other options.
5. LPS again! how about a torch or frogspawn? I'm a little hesitant as I know they grow really fast like the caps but are fairly easy to trim. which would be the one you pick?

Thanks for the feedback!

 

[nautical_nathaniel]

That's not a bad group of corals by any stretch, just be aware that some of them can be quite aggressive towards other corals. Your torch will need quite a bit of space so I would plan to place it first and then figure out the range of it's tentacles. You can "direct" the tentacles somewhat based on how you have your flow set up, but this should be done with a bit of caution because random water currents can push the tentacles pretty much anywhere.

The only other thing I can think of is lighting, what are you running on the tank currently and do you have plans to change it in the future?

 

[ctreefer]

That's not a bad group of corals by any stretch, just be aware that some of them can be quite aggressive towards other corals. Your torch will need quite a bit of space so I would plan to place it first and then figure out the range of it's tentacles. You can "direct" the tentacles somewhat based on how you have your flow set up, but this should be done with a bit of caution because random water currents can push the tentacles pretty much anywhere.

The only other thing I can think of is lighting, what are you running on the tank currently and do you have plans to change it in the future?

Good point on the Torch. I had forgotten how their streamers can sting. perhaps I pass on that guy to avoid any issues.

For lighting I'm going to be going LED. I have a unit I build a few years ago from RapidLED. its about 120W with Cree Whites/Blues and Royal Blues with lenses and dimmers.

 

[tdileo]

I wouldn’t do just one cap. I would try and get two at least. If I could just do two I’d do a starburst (pink w yellow polyps) and a grafted cap, or a starburst and Idaho grape (purple cap).
I’m not sure why you’re limiting yourself so much to just 5 coral species, you can get a ton of others in there. Some of my favorites that are pretty easy and are not included are:
- seriatopora
- zoanthids
- monti digitata
- leptastrea
- plate coral
- photosynthetic gorgs
- ricordeas
60 cube is one of my favorite smallish tank sizes. Can’t wait to see what you do with it!

 

[John3]

I think you have this narrowed down pretty well, might be because I have similar taste.

I have 29g cube and I have 4 types of acans(3 small 1 large colony), orange monti caps growing in a couple spots, purple/gold indo torch, and A big Hollywood stunner. Plus another 30 or so corals.

I guess my point is with 60g you will have plenty of room to add some more once you get those 5 main corals placed and growing. Looks like your off to a good start with your planning.