Stocking for my 28 gallon bowfront,24x14x16

[ZacksFlowerhorn123]

Allright i just typed a huge message just for my tablet to be stupid and start backspacing the whole dang thing! So this is going to be short.

The fish ive been looking at are; clownfish, firefish, butterflyfish, gobys, blennys, purple dottybacks, and a fromia starfish.

What combos could i have of the fish that i listed and any other suggestions are welcome.

NOW FOR THE CORALS!

i am getting the odyssea quad t5 96 watt fixture on monday. So what corals are good to start with that wont be really easy? I want a little chalenge(i work with my tanks an hour or more a day)(waterchanges will be done weekly) i would like to start with a lps coral? Any suggestions?
m
oh and my tank is a 28 bow front , 24in long, 16in deep

 

[Readingexcalibur]

Allright i just typed a huge message just for my tablet to be stupid and start backspacing the whole dang thing! So this is going to be short.

The fish ive been looking at are; clownfish, firefish, butterflyfish, gobys, blennys, purple dottybacks, and a fromia starfish.

What combos could i have of the fish that i listed and any other suggestions are welcome.

NOW FOR THE CORALS!

i am getting the odyssea quad t5 96 watt fixture on monday. So what corals are good to start with that wont be really easy? I want a little chalenge(i work with my tanks an hour or more a day)(waterchanges will be done weekly) i would like to start with a lps coral? Any suggestions?
m
oh and my tank is a 28 bow front , 24in long, 16in deep

I would say you could get a clown pair, fire-fish, and a goby! That is an awesome stock! I would be careful with the starfish, not all of them are coral safe Infact most are not.

For LPS, an easier one would be a frogspawn IMO. I think they are full of color and detail. Don't forget you should be spot feeding these guys. If you master that, consider trying a torch (a little more temperamental to work with as it adds more variables). Allot of LpS corals are aggressive and have long sweeper tenticals. Watch for this as it may grab other corals an sting them. I posted to pics of mine, first is a torch, second and third is my forgspawn.

Don't Shoot down softies yet. For example, the pulsating Xenia IMO is one of the coolest corals out there! But some aquarist just can't keep them alive. These guys need a little nitrates to stay alive!

What kind of filtration are you running. Have any power heads?

 

[Nu-Nu the eel]

You cant get a butterfly fish, they are very difficult to keep alive and they are too big for your tank. I would go with 4 fish max if you got 2 clowns, but if you only got 1 clown you might be able to fit in 5 small fish.

 

[ZacksFlowerhorn123]

Sweet!!! Ill get the frogspawn like you said!! And the starfish i checked and it is coral safe. I have a marineland 200 and an aqua clear 20_40, my powerhead i got as a petco brand and it does 225 gph(seems dinky)

 

[ZacksFlowerhorn123]

Thanks nu nu! I thought the butterfly would be a no.

 

[ZacksFlowerhorn123]

So i will return the petco powerhead and buy a maxi jet marineland 900($20 on amazon!!!how many gph in the powerhead should i have to blow the detritus off my corals.

 

[Nu-Nu the eel]

Hmm i think maybe something in the 500s would be good, i personally dont like much flow, and in that size tank i think it would be ok. Maybe get a very small powerhead as well to have flow in differant directions! I definitly reccomend flowing corals.. Hammer, torch, frogspawn

 

[ZacksFlowerhorn123]

So maybe add another powerhead to the one i have? The petco one is stationary... If i got the marineland one i think it can turn... So how should i position them? Frogspawn, torch, and hammer. Ok thanks soo much! Ill look at those in my lfs tomorrow.

 

[ZacksFlowerhorn123]

What would be better? To have 1 koralia powerhead rated for alot of gph. Or 2 other brand powerheads rated each for half?(like the petco one and the maxi jet 600

 

[spoonman]

You dont need to spot feed any of those corals if you are doing your weekly water changes. They will get what they need from the salt mix. Not saying you can't, saying you dont need to.

 

[Readingexcalibur]

You dont need to spot feed any of those corals if you are doing your weekly water changes. They will get what they need from the salt mix. Not saying you can't, saying you dont need to.

Agreed, but spot feeding produced faster growth. For example, i have not fed this Duncan in 2 months. It took only 2 weeks of brine shrimp, and a head is starting. Thanks to everyone who pointed that out!

 

[ZacksFlowerhorn123]

Ok so what do ifeed my corals if i want to spot feed them? Frozen foods?

 

[carried]

Ok so what do ifeed my corals if i want to spot feed them? Frozen foods?

Mysis is good.

 

[ZacksFlowerhorn123]

Ok how about phyto plankton? I have mysis too so ill try that

 

[Flreefer]

I like to use live Phyto, Cyclopeze, Mysis, and H20 Life frozen Coral food. Mixing up the blend, each time I feed. Always spot-feeding.
Some say you don't need to feed at all, but it is dependent on the type of coral and how much light you have.

 

[carey]

One thing to consider when you are feeding corals is the food that you are actually putting into the tank. Excess nutrients in the tank can and will cause issues like algae for one thing. I do not feed my corals at all, well, maybe once a month i feed some mysis to my duncan but thats it. I have had stupendous growth out of most of my corals, the duncan was only 1 head and is now up to like 15 or more, in less than a year.

The more gunk and stuff you add to the tank the more water changes and maintenance you will have to do.

There are some corals like a sun coral that NEEDS to be fed since it is not photosynthetic but those corals are kinda far and few inbetween.

My advice is to keep it simple, easier and works just fine in my experience.

good luck!

 

[Readingexcalibur]

One thing to consider when you are feeding corals is the food that you are actually putting into the tank. Excess nutrients in the tank can and will cause issues like algae for one thing. I do not feed my corals at all, well, maybe once a month i feed some mysis to my duncan but thats it. I have had stupendous growth out of most of my corals, the duncan was only 1 head and is now up to like 15 or more, in less than a year.

The more gunk and stuff you add to the tank the more water changes and maintenance you will have to do.

There are some corals like a sun coral that NEEDS to be fed since it is not photosynthetic but those corals are kinda far and few inbetween.

My advice is to keep it simple, easier and works just fine in my experience.

good luck!

And for this reason, I use an eye dropper and put 1-2 pieces of brine directly into its mouth! Good info Carey!