Ready for first corals, what to add? What parameters to maintain?

[AngryOwl]

Just added a reefbreeders photonV2 to my 120g 48x24x24 tank. Going to add two (2) bulb t5 fixtures on each side of that as well in the near future. So it looks like I'm finally ready to start adding some corals. I've been doing a ton of research and will most likely start with softies or LPS like frogspawn. Wondering what everyone thinks about whats best to add first? Also, which corals do best in the sand bed and prefer to be isolated?

Maybe more importantly is maintaining water parameters. How often should I check parameters if I only start with a few small frags?

Last thing is about coral placement. I'd love to try to figure out a way to plan the tank so things make sense. My fear is to put stuff in a random arrangement and then have one thing start shading out the other. Anyone have any tips on this type of stuff? How did y'all plan your tanks? My goal is a mixed reef.

 

[Reefing Madness]

 

[PatW]

I have only worked with hard corals. The euphylla corals are nice: frogspawn, torch and hammer. I feed mine some plankton with a turkey baster and it seems to help them. You want these guys by themselves because they will sting neighbors up to 6” away.

I have also had good luck with montipora corals which are sps but seem to be pretty hardy. I have heard that birds nests are hardy.

Acrophora corals are a bit finicky. They like their parameters stable and nitrates and phosphates low.

For soft corals, read up on them. Some soft corals are pretty invasive and can take over a tank. Also soft corals defend themselves with chemicals. I would think a skimmer and running charcoal would control that.

 

[rkpetersen]

Even with just a few frags, I'd still check water chemistry at least weekly, since it's a young tank.

I'd probably start with some zoas, mushrooms, a leather coral, and a couple of LPS like a frogspawn and a hammer. Nothing overly expensive and no SPS at first.

Last thing is about coral placement. I'd love to try to figure out a way to plan the tank so things make sense. My fear is to put stuff in a random arrangement and then have one thing start shading out the other. Anyone have any tips on this type of stuff? How did y'all plan your tanks? My goal is a mixed reef.

I had no real plan except to try and get everything into approximately the right light and water flow. Now it's starting to look like an aquatic insane asylum and I'm ok with that; it's an interesting experiment. If something starts to shade something else I just decide what to do as needed. For example, a red candy cap monti has been growing at a furious pace and starting to overshadow a nicely growing neon polyp true undata monti, so a few days ago I just snapped a piece of it off; no more risk of shading there for at least a few more months.

 

[AngryOwl]

Even with just a few frags, I'd still check water chemistry at least weekly, since it's a young tank.

I'd probably start with some zoas, mushrooms, a leather coral, and a couple of LPS like a frogspawn and a hammer. Nothing overly expensive and no SPS at first.



I had no real plan except to try and get everything into approximately the right light and water flow. Now it's starting to look like an aquatic insane asylum and I'm ok with that; it's an interesting experiment. If something starts to shade something else I just decide what to do as needed. For example, a red candy cap monti has been growing at a furious pace and starting to overshadow a nicely growing neon polyp true undata monti, so a few days ago I just snapped a piece of it off; no more risk of shading there for at least a few more months.

Thanks for the feedback. On that point about your tank being an insane asylum lol, I'm worried if its a more difficult coral to move. Lets say for instance I set up a little zoa or acan garden and something like a monti starts shading it. How would I go about moving those zoas or acans?

 

[rkpetersen]

Attach the zoa frags and acan frags to larger rocks if you think you might want to move them later.

 

[jhatfield]

Alveopora was my first coral added to my tank last March which has done exceedingly well. They add some really cool movement to the tank. Beautiful flower shaped long flowing polyps/tentacles that have done really well in my tank despite issues with stability. They come in varying shades of purple to green. They're not too common online so you may have to do some searching. WWC has them now.. https://worldwidecorals.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=alveopora

 

[AngryOwl]

Alveopora was my first coral added to my tank last March which has done exceedingly well. They add some really cool movement to the tank. Beautiful flower shaped long flowing polyps/tentacles that have done really well in my tank despite issues with stability. They come in varying shades of purple to green. They're not too common online so you may have to do some searching. WWC has them now.. https://worldwidecorals.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=alveopora

Those look pretty awesome. What are they considered, softie, LPS, SPS?

 

[jhatfield]

Those look pretty awesome. What are they considered, softie, LPS, SPS?

LPS I believe.

 

[A Toadstool Leather]

Alkalinity, calcium and magnesium are the big three for coral growth. Keep nutrient levels within reason and the big 3 stable and you will do great. Read some of the articles in the reef chemistry subforum to get insight into how everything works.

 

[AngryOwl]

So I ended up going with a random zoa pack from Tidal Gardens. Overall really happy with what they sent me. Only thing that bothered me is the frags didn't come with the names, just labeled #1-#10.... some are easy to identify but others not so much. Either way I think it's a good start. I just keep stressing about coral placement. I have a bigger picture look on things knowing that things will grow. Some stuff I just don't know how much it will truly grow.

Thinking of going for some euphyllia next, Frogspawn, Torch, Hammer. I think I'm more attracted to colors other than green for these guys. Also looking at duncans and candy canes. Anyone know a great place to get these?

Thanks to everyone who's provided some feedback and their experience!