Starting My Reef Tank

[hubbard_shark]

So as of tomorrow, I will officially been working on my reef tank. My tank has been setup for about year now, and now I'm finally set to get some corals in. I have a 37gallon, with 2x65 watt lighting, powered by an undertank refugium w/ 700GPH. As of now, I have two clownfish, a sixline wrasse, cerith, turbo, nassarius snails, and reef hermit crabs. I currently have a young fingers coral in the center of my tank. My future list includes:
1)a frogspawn
2)bright color, maybe like a blue, mushrooms
3) open brain coral
4)toadstool coral

so thats what im lookin at, if anyone has any recommendations, or maybe sees a problem with any of these let me know.

also, where these would look best in my tank, top, bottom, middle, and which they can and can't be by.

thx
ill keep u posted with pics when they come in

 

[SkiFletch]

I'd put the mushrooms low town in the tank in a low-flow area and I'd put the brain coral in the sand if possible (they like it there ). Other than that, those corals can go just about anywhere. One question, did you replace your bulbs? If not, I'd think about doing that first since bulbs start going bad after a year's use and give off much less light

 

[hubbard_shark]

wont need to since tom is my LFS annual end of summer sale, and im buying the light setup tom., so it will be running first hand before i buy the corals. yea i planned on putting the mushrooms in my bottom left corner, the brain in the middle, and the frogspawn, or hammer, above the right of my young fingers.

quick ? none of these will attack each other, or my young fingers will they? i just dont wanna put them too close to each other if so

 

[SkiFletch]

The frogspawn will attack most other corals, they are generally one of the more aggressive species. They can really only be kept in direct contact with other very aggressive corals (torch, frogspawn, galaxea, hammer, bubble, elegance) so be wary of that with placement. I banished mine in a little nook in my rocks so it cant sting its neighbors and put my hammer in the corner where it can only sting the glass . Your brain and toadstool wont bother each other but keep the mushrooms away from the brain. I had a mushie land on my favites brain with a less than desireable outcome (almoast lost the colony). Coral aggression is very individual, so always ask first before placing things in contact with each other.

Try not to grab LPS corals by the flesh either. The coral wont like it and they'll slowly start digesting your fingers if they feel like it Your fingers will feel a little slimy and might get swollen if you really manhandle your frogspawn via the flesh so try and avoid that. And dont forget, superglue gel is your friend. Its non-toxic to livestock and cures underwater

 

[Mr.September15]

The funny thing is that I always thought coral werent alive and just a piece of rock and softies were actually plants

 

[SkiFletch]

Lol, they're both actually invertebrate animals

 

[Siamese Fighter05]

Make sure you get some pics up for us

 

[hubbard_shark]

So I felt like a little kid in a candy store today at my LFS end of summer sale . ended up buying the new lighting fixture, which looks sweet in the tank , LR for my refugium, and my second coral, a galaxea. i read ur article a little late ski, as i was takin him out of the bag he got me good, it stung pretty bad, definately learned my lesson . but i put him on the far right of my tank, and my young fingers on the far left, out of tentacle reach. but heres the pics. notice the difference in lighting, from 24watt, to now 130watt. Loving the difference myself.

Day 1: The Beginning

One Year Later

Clowns/Nassarius Snail

The new Galaxea Coral

Ill keep ya posted when more arrives

 

[Mr.September15]

Gorgeous, the first pic looks like what my tank looks like right now

 

[SkiFletch]

Looks great man, really mature and clean after a year . Those galaxeas can pack a nice sting. Good thing their tentacles are short

 

[hubbard_shark]

haha ur tellin me, thx for the compliments. ive been through some rough stages though, for example, my sixline getting stuck in my overflow, still alive though, super hardy fish, than my refugium overflowing, and then today, my tank overflowing when i bumped my overflow over. lets put it this way, i had my own tank on the floor . but in the end, its always worth it.

 

[SkiFletch]

Couldnt agree more

 

[callum_parsons]

that is a nice tank you have there

 

[Siamese Fighter05]

Looking

 

[hubbard_shark]

so today i bought a candy cane coral , its a reddish/brown, w/green. I placed him where my galaxea originally was, and moved the galaxea to the far left. kinda like u did ski, where it only will sting the glass due to the flow its recieving. Its opened up more room for more corals as well. I put the young fingers in the middle, and my feather duster down low. Looks good now, until I get more corals. Also noticed some coralline algae finally growing on the back of my tank, which is a good sign. Does anyone know how long it takes for this algae to grow? And other than calcium, what else makes this algae reproduce in a tank? Just curious, since it seems to be all over my LR, and slowly makin its way to my tank glass. pics will be up soon.