Starting My 42g Saltwater Cube...

[SkiFletch]

That's some pretty sufficient lighting and you could keep just about anything you want in there. Obviously, some sensitive SPS may not do well under your light, but just about anything else will be just fine. You could even have a Tridacnid clam with that light if you put it higher on the rock stack.

Anyways, the easier-ones would prolly include any soft coral. I'd put small zoas and yellow leathers (if you choose them) near the top, any/all other softies could go wherever you want them in the tank. As for hard corals, Hammer/Frogspawn/Galaxea/Torch (euphyllia genus corals) would be great. Candycanes, favites brains, open brains, cynarina, blastomussa, acanthastrea, and bubbles are all very "forgiving" LPS. You'll get better luck with Acanthastrea near the top, most others could be anywhere with those lights. Even a few SPS are decent for beginners with that light. Millepora, Stylophora, pocillipora, and Montipora capricornis could all go in the top of the rock stack if you want.

One word of caution, mixing softies and hard corals can be difficult due to aggression issues and varying growth rates, so choose wisely

 

[cuticom]

Thank you so much for that, was beginning to get really confused LOL, just one more question, I've looked it up like a thousand times and still can't remember the meanings of LPS and SPS, what do they stand for again? I know the P stands for polyp...

I definitely want to start out with a Hammer, partly because their the cheapest coral (it's not $100 down the drain if it dies) and also cause I really like the look of them LOL.

 

[SkiFletch]

LPS - Large Polyped Stony
SPS - Small Polyped Stony

They're really just designations we in the hobby generally give hard corals to help identify their growth, behavior, and requirements. It's generally accepted that LPS are easier to keep than SPS and also more aggressive. But as with anything, there are exceptions to that general rule

 

[cuticom]

Test results today

s.g. 1.021
temp 26 degrees
pH 8.0
Ammonia 0.25
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 10

How long until the shrimp begin raising the ammonia?

 

[nanocubeking]

A shrimp shouldnt rise ammonia to much, the food you give the shrimp will.

 

[cuticom]

Uhh it's a dead shrimp...

 

[nanocubeking]

Oh... yeah its best you get it out it will rise ammonia and nitrate.

And just a comment on your fish list. If you want that yellow clown goby you probably will want to reconsider it if you put acroporas or any branching hard corals in the tank.

 

[cuticom]

Uuuh I'm doing a fishless cycle, I added the shrimp to create ammonia to start off the cycle, I was asking when the ammonia would begin to rise...

Fish stock has been decided, I'm getting a pair of occelaris clowns, 2 pajama cardinals and a bicolor dottyback, that was said only a couple of posts back.

 

[cuticom]

That's some pretty sufficient lighting and you could keep just about anything you want in there. Obviously, some sensitive SPS may not do well under your light, but just about anything else will be just fine. You could even have a Tridacnid clam with that light if you put it higher on the rock stack.

Anyways, the easier-ones would prolly include any soft coral. I'd put small zoas and yellow leathers (if you choose them) near the top, any/all other softies could go wherever you want them in the tank. As for hard corals, Hammer/Frogspawn/Galaxea/Torch (euphyllia genus corals) would be great. Candycanes, favites brains, open brains, cynarina, blastomussa, acanthastrea, and bubbles are all very "forgiving" LPS. You'll get better luck with Acanthastrea near the top, most others could be anywhere with those lights. Even a few SPS are decent for beginners with that light. Millepora, Stylophora, pocillipora, and Montipora capricornis could all go in the top of the rock stack if you want.

One word of caution, mixing softies and hard corals can be difficult due to aggression issues and varying growth rates, so choose wisely

Okay, so just flicking through a site on corals trying to add pictures to names as my problem is though I know amny coral names, the names I know are waht their called out on the reefs, and for some reason their given different names in tanks, could just ahve to do with this being a predominantly american/uk site as well and I'm going off the names I learnt while on Lord Howe Island. So a tridacnid clam refers to the reef clams with the magnificant mantles, correct? think I'll skip on those, they look pretty, but look a tad too difficult to keep.

Zoas are the zoanthids, that are corals that look like miniature anemones, that I know as button polyps.
Yellow leathers are corals that I know as mushroom or tree coral.

Then the rest I've never seen nor heard of before LOL.

 

[SkiFletch]

Remember, if you've added LR, you may not see ammonia if the rock is cured. You'll just see a slow rise in nitrate as the shrimp decomposes...

Sorry about the confusion, I mixed a lot of common names in with a few taxonomic ones:

Zoanthids is correct
Yellow Leather - Sacrophyton Elegans
Hammer - Euphyllia ancora or Euphyllia parancora
Frogspawn - Euphyllia divisa or Euphyllia paradivisa
Torch - Euphyllia glabrescens
Candycane - Caulastrea curvata
Closed Brain - Favites genus (many species)
Open Brain - Trachyphillia (radiata or geffroyi)
Button Coral - Cynarina (lacrymalis and deshayesiana)
Blastomussa - Blastomussa (wellsiphyllia and merletti)
Acans - Acanthastrea (lordhowensis, echinata, or hillae)
Bubbles - Plerogyra sinuosa

All SPS were given at the genus or species name

 

[cuticom]

Reding reading reading LOL, my poor eyes.

Am slowly putting a wishlist of corals together, to be added slowly to the tank, as in just now and then when I see one I particularly like so far on the list there is

Hammer coral (anywhere in tank)
Frogspawn (anywhere in tank)
Candy cane (towards the bottom)
Bubble coral (close to top)
Zoanthid (anywhere in tank)

Is that all good? Hmmm this tank is great fun, I've learnt so much. Am trying really hard to convince my parents to go to Lord Howe again for our holiday next summer, that is the most amazing place with pristine reefs, would love to go back, bet I could identify a heap more now.

Also for clean up crews, I've decided to skip hermit crabs, as I definitely do wnat to try corals later on and have read to many horror stories about the crabs ripping at the corals and the corals dying from brown jelly disease.

I definitely want snails though, and are there other crabs that would be suitable for a reef tank? I also won't be getting shrimp, more because they cost a lot more then the corals or the fish then anything else.

 

[SkiFletch]

Well, there are SOME crabs that are reef-safe, but not many. Even those that are reef-safe are rarely 100% so. Its your symbiotic or commensal crabs (like anemone crabs or acropora crabs) that are really the only TRULY reef-safe ones. Even Emerald (mythrax) crabs are sometimes not completely reef-safe.

As for the hermits, remember, they're more of a threat to snails than they are to corals. As such though I don't keep them either

Corals sound good to me

 

[cuticom]

Todays results

s.g. 1.022
temp 27 degrees
pH 8.0
Ammonia 0.25
Nitrite 0-0.25
Nitrate 15

 

[cuticom]

Okies just posting partly so I can get everything straight in my head LOL

So for livestock I'm planning

Fish
2 x pajama cardinals
2 x occelaris clowns
1 x royal dottyback (also know as a bicolour dottyback)
To be added in above order

Inverts
? x Turbo snails
? x astrea snails

Corals (to be added over the course of 12+ months)
Hammer
Frogspawn
Candy Cane
Bubble
Zoanthid

And the basic plan to set the tank up

Now-Allow to cycle and make sure all params are stable
1-2 months time- begin adding snails
3-4 months time- add the 2 pajama cardinals and MAYBE the Hammer coral
5-6 months time- add the 2 occelaris clowns and MAYBE another coral
7-8 months time- add the royal dottyback and MAYBE another coral

That all sounds good right? I wnat to take it slow, partly because I know it'll help with keeping it all stable, and also because being a kid, my allowance ain't that much and I need to wait that long so I can pay for the critters LOL (my parents pay for food, salt and meds, and often test kits, but I pay for the tank, equipment and livestock)

Oh and how many of turbo and astrea snails would you advise?

 

[cuticom]

A whole tank shot, the Aquascaping is really crummy, I'm planning on getting a couple more kg of rocks soon, so once I get that I'm going to pull everything out and redo it

Some algae shots

The strange hydroids/macro algae are enjoying themselves greatly, this is the biggest group of them

A strange rock which I'm assuming was once a clam