New to coral keeping

[SGT Henry]

Ok...so I have set up my 20g long tank about three times since I got it...it always goes great...no dead fish..water parameters awesome...evrytime ive set it up its been FO...but Ive taken it down twice cause of space issues...anyways, Its up again...Its been up for about a month and a half, everything great so far.

This time around Id like to put in some soft corals but I need some tips, which one to get first..they need to be easy to maintain and need to be low light corals cause I have a total of 60W of light but the tank is only 12" deep so Its pretty bright (i have a 20w 10000k T5, a 20w actinic T5 and one 20w 10000k T12)

What corals could I have?...The circulation in the tank is pretty good..I have a maxijet 900 and the filter shoots back a pretty strong current too.
live rock & live sand..the usual

Thanks....appreciate any help

 

[melosu58]

Mushrooms and zoos are good starters. They also dont need alot of lights.

 

[AndyH5512]

My first corals were zoo's. I love them. Easy to keep and look great! You cant ask for much more than that. They also come in a wide variety of colors. Good luck!

 

[neilster1]

I think the t5's penetrate very well.. you could do a leather, frogspawn, meat coral.. etcetera.

 

[zenn]

My first corals were zoo's. I love them. Easy to keep and look great! You cant ask for much more than that. They also come in a wide variety of colors. Good luck!

there are some zoos that require high amounts of lighting though right?

 

[Florida8]

I agree, mushrooms & zoo's in a nice variety of color will look great! With your lighting and depth, I think they will do great. I haven't done many higher light need corals yet, but I had loads of color with low light stuff

 

[tecwzrd]

fantasyreef.com has a nice list of corals for beginners with most requiring low to medium lighting

 

[hackteck]

heres a question i have whats the difference between lets say a 400 watt pc lighting systema and a 400 watt metal halide lighting system?

 

[tecwzrd]

heres a question i have whats the difference between lets say a 400 watt pc lighting systema and a 400 watt metal halide lighting system?

PC lighting provides 100% coverage and doesn’t penetrate as deep as MH
MH is more direct and penetrates deeper giving you that pretty random lighting with the currents. It also allows easier placement of low/medium light corals not directly in the path of the MH bulb.

Also the PAR ratings are higher with MH if comparing equal 400w lighting systems.