In over my head... kind of.

[wells923]

I am an experienced discus and plant keeper. However I live next to the Red Sea and it would be just wrong if I didn't have a reef tank as well.

I got a great deal on a BioCube 29 reef. The aquarium is already stocked. The problem is I know nothing about what kind of reefs these are nor do I have the slightest clue on how to take care of them.

I've attached a photo with numbers labelled on all the unknown specimen. If anyone could take the time to help me identify what all this is it'd be a big help.

The aquarium gets delivered in about three weeks. We intend to use water from the Red Sea as that is what it's been getting for the last year or so.

Thanks in advance

-john

 

[dingusplease]

Hello and welcome! Nice looking tank , should be a fun project and you can always come to AA with questions.

Coral IDs:
1- Kenya tree
2- Not sure, close up would help
3- Favia
4- Star polyps (pretty sure)
5- Kenya tree
6- Not sure, close up would help
7- Live rock/dead coral
8- Favia
9- Not sure, close up would help
10- Favia
11- Favia
12- Yes, bubble tip, nice big one too

 

[bribo12]

6 I believe is platygyra, a type of favia brain coral. 9 I believe is a mushroom. Help complete the list a bit lol

 

[wells923]

Thanks so much for your replies. I will begin to research these things and get a good care plan together hopefully.

This and other forums are loaded with so many threads of advice it's hard to settle on which advice to accept.

If I may ask one more question (or two)....

...Are these difficult corals to keep? If so what are the challenges?

Best,


john

 

[dingusplease]

Glad to help! I agree with bribo on 9 and 6 (he's an expert!)

I tried to provide as much useful info as possible for each coral. Hopefully others will chime in, as I don't have experience with some of the below:

Kenya tree - lower light, lower flow. Will grow extremely fast if given the right conditions, dropping branches of itself frequently spread around the tank. A filter feeder, but can be supplemented with an occasional spot feeding of baby brine shrimp, if it's not already growing faster than you want it to .
Favia - Really varies from person to person, individuals have had success with a wide rang of lighting and flow conditions - your's seem to like it just where they are . These are not particularly difficult to keep at all, they're LPS, and can be spot fed small foods such as mysis or brine shrimp (but that's not necessary.)
Star polyps - In my experience, star polyps like a lot of flow and varied amounts of light. Pretty easy to keep, no spot feeding that I know of.
Mushroom - Also pretty easy to keep, can be spot fed things like mysis and brine. Usually like lower light and lower flow.
BTA - An Anemone - does best in an established tank with very good lighting. This the one of the generally more difficult animals in your tank, however it appears to be doing well. It is more sensitive to parameter changes than your other corals.


As a side note, all the corals you have seem to like their current lighting and flow, so although it might be a good idea to remember which corals like what conditions, you shouldn't really need to move anything around for the corals sake.

 

[bribo12]

Haha I am by no means an expert (appreciate it dingus ). I agree they're all pretty easy care beside the bubble tip but it does seem happy.!

 

[wells923]

Are all of these considered LPS corals. I've been looking around and I am quite confused about the actual difference between the two.

 

[BigRedsReefs10]

Most of them are lps, some are softies. And the bubble tip isn't a coral at all. In general it goes soft corals=no skeleton and soft flesh, large polyp stony corals (lps) = hard skeleton with large fleshy polyps, small polyp stony corals (sps) = hard skeleton with tiny fuzzy looking polyps

 

[Gregcoyote]

Loved diving the Red Sea. The water, depending on where you collect it, should be just fine. I might suggest letting it sit in a dark container for a few days without using it to allow some of the parasites to die off, if there are any.

I didn't see any mention of lighting, may have missed that. But if they are happy now, they should still be happy once you move the system.

 

[wells923]

Well, I got the tank. I have had it for a few days. I noticed some of the corals are very healthy. Others are not doing so well. I've attached some photos. If anyone has some first aid advice I'm all ears.

Also, should I post this somewhere else on the forum?