Easy Corals

[MarkW19]

cheers, to be honest I don't really want them to grow much as I'm limited for space as it is I might feed marine snow every other day or something though!

After how many months did you add your corals? Don't want to wait TOO long if I can avoid it

 

[Lance M.]

I think I waited two months before I got some mushrooms and then started filling in the space over the next 5 months. I haven't really bought any new corals in awhile but I did take in $130 worth of xenia frags to my lfs a week ago.

It grows fast.....it's kinda annoying. At first I had only one stalk for like 6 months then I got a galaxea and place it too close to the xenia and it did a number on the xenia. I got rid of the galaxea and thought the xenia was going to die. It recovered in like two weeks and started splitting, and splitting, and splitting til it covered the whole right half of my tank. I got rid of about half of it.

 

[Burks]

Some people consider Xenia a pest coral believe it or not. They keep it in their sumps of all places!

I know you said mushrooms don't tickle your fancy but what about Ricordias? They are easy to keep and very colorful.

With the 96w fixture it really expands what you can keep. Some LPS, tons of softies, and probably no or very, very few SPS. Leathers are quite beautiful corals. There are some of the yellow/gold color ones that are just outstanding and reasonably priced. Frags go from $10-$20 for them.

If you are going to feed heavily, keep an eye on your nitrate levels. I tend to keep my feedings on the lower side since my tank isn't filtered like it should be (for God's sake it's only a 3g!). But I have my corals growing and spreading very nicely, especially my Sinularia. It's tripled in size since I got it. My feedings are a mix between Mysis, Brine, and DT'S Phytoplankton. Kind of whatever I grab out of the frige/freezer that day.

 

[Lance M.]

IMO Ricordeas are high light corals. They may do well in lower light but will not grow. I have several Ricordea floridia in my 20 gallon about 4-5 inches from the surface of the water under 130 watt pc lights and they haven't grown in 9 months. The same goes with my Ricordea yuma, but I have gotten it to spread a little by use of a razor blade. About 6 months ago I lost ~$100 of Ricordea yuma due to infection and it left me with 3 polyps. One of the poylps split so I had four, but now two of them are infected again and slowly dying. So pretty soon I'm only going to have two yumas..... They are so colorful..... That's another thing about Ricordea- the colorful ones are very expensive. I've seen anywhere from $10 a polyp to $100 a polyp. Awhile ago I saw some pink yumas that were like $200.

Yeah my lfs has some xenia in their sump on the 210 gallon reef. I don't think I'll ever buy xenia again unless I get a single specimen that doesn't spread fast.

 

[Burks]

IMO Ricordeas are high light corals. They may do well in lower light but will not grow.

Odd, under that assumption mine should not have grown at all, yet they do.

 

[Lance M.]

Well mine dont grow under 6.5 watts a couple inches below the surface of the water. What do you have yours under?

 

[MarkW19]

I went to my LFS today and they had some really nice corals in.

I liked these, I think they're some sort of leather:-

http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidw49/sets/72157602266355103/

Would they be ok in my 10G nano, with the 33w lighting? I'll probably feed a bit of DT's Phytoplankton every 3 days or something.

Also, they had those really cool green mussels. I've read they're difficult to keep alive though and feed, and they eat a hell of a lot! Would you stay away from them? They definitely look cool!

 

[Jarred Darque]

I had ricordias, very hardy, nice colors. Also what about zooanthids or a hammer coral?

I dont really know their light requirements to be honest, I have them in a 29 gallon tank with 130W lights, they are doing fine at the bottom of the tank.

Green star polyps also look pretty neet.

Anything with green in it looks amazing when just the actinics are on as well

When I had my 10 gallon set up (upgraded it to the 29) I was runnin 40 watts of PC lighting over it with the ricordia and they where doing great.

 

[Innovator]

Sarcophytons can grow rather large and noxious so not suitable in a 10g imo. I'd stay away from the mussels as well. You might be able to get away with Euphyllia...

 

[MarkW19]

Oh I didn't realise they grew that big, and quickly I really like them as well...

I'll definitely stay away from the mussels though.

 

[MarkW19]

I saw a great bright green/brown brain/maze coral yesterday at my LFS, but I've read that they can produce a large amount of mucus. In a 10G nano, obviously this is a concern.

Is this true, should I stay away from it?

In about 4 months, I plan on adding:-

-SMALL wavey Leather (maybe, keeping an eye on it and making sure it doesn't grow out of control!)
-Small group of bright blue/red/green Polyps (that will fluoresce under moonlight lighting)
-SMALL pink plate coral, or red Trachyphyllia open-brain coral (fluoresce)
-Torch coral (black/brown with green tips that will fluoresce)

-Possibly a green brain/maze coral (that will fluoresce)

I'll have 33w lighting, and some form of moonlighting. I also have 2 internal filters which move the water quite a bit, certainly "moderate" level. I'll position them all appropriately, and feed them DT's Live Phytoplankton every 3/4 days.

Sound OK?

 

[MarkW19]

I've been looking at a lot of hang-on overtank lights recently, and I've seen a couple of decent-looking 150W metal halide lamps. I may get one of these...

I know that this has just white bulbs, and not actinic, so unfortunately it won't make my corals fluoresce and I won't be able to do a dusk/dawn, which I wanted to do.

With that, would I be able to keep a clam? One of the bright blue/green ones? And maybe some of the more brighter coloured corals? I only have low-moderate waterflow though as that's the way I like it

 

[MarkW19]

I went to my LFS today, and they've got an absolutely PERFECT little leather in, which I can just place on it's piece of rock on the substrate.

I'd really like to get this...but should I wait? My tank has been running for over a month now, (with SG stable, as well as 0 ammonia/nitrite, and about 2-4 nitrates; the pH has been fluctuating a bit recently, but seems to have stabled at 8.3/8.4 now) with a dottyback and bloodshrimp going in today (my last fish additions).

Can I get it?

 

[austinsdad]

I assume your nitrate is 20 - 40. I'd get that down to 0-20 before I'd add anything else IMO.

 

[MarkW19]

I assume your nitrate is 20 - 40. I'd get that down to 0-20 before I'd add anything else IMO.

Sorry, I meant it's between 2 - 5mg/l.