Coral comparability in 15g cube

[sbiped]

Hi! I'm in the process of creating a nano reef tank and I honestly just wanted to run through my proposed list of corals to see if there are any issues with compatibility or tank requirements etc. I'm new to this hobby and I'm learning a lot and hoping you all can help me out if I'm missing some important info! So with a prime 16hd I'm wanting to put a photosynthetic gorgonian and devil's hand at the top of my tank near the output pump of my aio filter (I'm hoping this is considered high flow for them but if not I can just get a wave pump or something). Around the middle of the tank I'm thinking of putting a plating montipora and a candy cane coral and at the bottom some ricordea florida or rhodactis mushrooms. On another rock also towards the bottom I was wanting to put a variety of zoanthids for a mini zoa garden and a bit further from everything else on another island I wanna put a frogspawn. I'm not sure if this is too much to put in a 15g tank and I'm also not sure if a devil's hand can live in a nano tank because I see leathers always growing large. I also have a cleanup crew consisting of a turbo snail, an emerald crab, 3 dwarf blue leg hermit crabs, and a cleaner shrimp, and I intend to add a few sexy shrimp later too. I'm not going to add any fish because I'm worried about the bio load as is and I'd love to hear thoughts from everyone.

 

[sbiped]

Also for the frogspawn I only intend to get the branching variety so if I do this is it possible for me to just leave it on the plug and put that in the substrate or do I need to attach it to a rock still

 

[bribo12]

That all sounds fine. None of those corals are really high light or flow. Do you have a power head? I’d wait on the monti too for a while until you can keep the tank stable. It’s super easy for an sps coral but it’s still an sps and appreciates stability. Corals and inverts really don’t add much to the bio load so you can kinda load your tank with them. Just gotta avoid warfare between corals.

 

[sbiped]

Okay awesome. I had heard that gorgonians and leathers do best in high light and high flow so that's why I'm keeping them at the top. So do I need more flow then with a power head? I wasn't sure if my output pump was gonna be enough for that cause it seems to have at least a moderate amount of flow

 

[bribo12]

Do you have a power head or just the return from the system? “High” flow and “high” light can be kinda misleading when reading about coral care online IMO. Corals like acropora which are high flow will need a lot more flow and light than a Gorgonian or leather. Both of those people usually keep in low- medium light systems with moderate flow. As long as the leather and Gorgonians polyps are moving slightly it should do fine. Also make sure to light acclimate all corals you get. AI has an acclimation mode on their app too if you want to use that.

 

[sbiped]

I do not have a power head and if I don't need one I'm not going to get one. Yeah I know next to nothing about light acclimating corals other than that I need to do it. How do I light acclimate things and should that be taken into consideration when choosing which corals to put in first?

 

[bribo12]

I usually just start them on the sand bed and then a week later I’ll move them to their spots where I want them. However if I know they’re coming from a tank with intense lights I won’t bother. You can also just use the AI apps acclimation mode for your AI prime. On the power head how much flow do you have in the tank? Like what’s the gph on the pump?

 

[Sniperhank]

Well, reading this and seeing that you don't have a powerhead in the system and just posting in your other thread...the answer here is that we have to straight up stop. We are going a million miles an hour and moving coral into a system that is struggling with nitrates. For success, we need to stop and go through the basics before we get into move advanced topics so you can be successful.

 

[bribo12]

Well, reading this and seeing that you don't have a powerhead in the system and just posting in your other thread...the answer here is that we have to straight up stop. We are going a million miles an hour and moving coral into a system that is struggling with nitrates. For success, we need to stop and go through the basics before we get into move advanced topics so you can be successful.

Well didnt even realize it was same poster. Whoops,

 

[sbiped]

No I already did I hard reset on my tank like I said. I just started the cycle again. I don't plan on getting these corals anytime soon I just like to plan ahead. I even moved my shrimp and crabs and everything into an established tank in the meantime