What should I do Anemone or Coral??

[Reefnoob84]

I have 2 cinnamon clowns and 48 lbs live rock. The wife and I are having a hard time trying to decide on whether we should do coral or anemone. we have a 45 gal bowfront and i'm not sure if I have proper lighting for an anemone. I'm looking to upgrade but can't afford it ATM. 10,000k day 50/50 acticnic 39w. Tank has been cycling for almost 5 days no ammonia spikes trace nitrites good ph and salinity. We wouldn't be purchasing anything for 2 weeks because bills need to be paid.

What are your opinions? soft corals or anemone? proper lighting for the moment? tank cycling long enough when we have extra $$??

Thanks!

 

[melosu58]

IMO I would get the corals. You might get the anenome and the clowns might not host it as there is no guarantee they will.

 

[Reefnoob84]

BTW my skimmer has barely had any filth in it so i know my bio load is very little and my live rock is purpling like crazy and many many sea fans are growing as well

 

[Reefnoob84]

Theres a vid of my tank

 

[all4wheels2]

I have 2 cinnamon clowns and 48 lbs live rock. The wife and I are having a hard time trying to decide on whether we should do coral or anemone. we have a 45 gal bowfront and i'm not sure if I have proper lighting for an anemone. I'm looking to upgrade but can't afford it ATM. 10,000k day 50/50 acticnic 39w. Tank has been cycling for almost 5 days no ammonia spikes trace nitrites good ph and salinity. We wouldn't be purchasing anything for 2 weeks because bills need to be paid.

What are your opinions? soft corals or anemone? proper lighting for the moment? tank cycling long enough when we have extra $$??

Thanks!

Soo...you only have 39 watts on a 45 gallons, or am I reading this wrong??? Because that's not enough light for an anemone - even a rose bubble tip. I'd definitely go with the corals, as many clowns will take to those as well. Besides, anemones move around the tank as they please and if it dies, it can kill all other inhabitants in your tank

You'll know if your cycling is good when you get brown stuff everywhere called diatoms.

 

[weagle117]

I don't think you need to put either in the tank if it is still cycling. In fact, I'm told that you should wait at least 3 mos to even think about an anemone. I have had my 50 gal tub set up for 10 years.... water checks out fine... 36" strip of LED lights (reef capable). My $60 beautiful long tentacle did great for @ 1 wk then just shriveled up and died... very, very depressing... for me & for the clown that loved him so They also tend to do this at the most inopportune times ... I was going out of town for the week-end... trying to decide whether to take him out or leave him in.... just in case he was just "being an anemone"... they do strange things. Anyway, he ended up dying.... I now have a very pretty plate coral and my clown has hosted in him and seems pretty happy. ... not as excited as he was with the anemone but happy.

 

[austinsdad]

I'd wait for 6 months to a year for an anemone. Your tank is gonna go thru changes and you'll learn more before your tank becomes stable. Please don't rush one of them.

 

[Reefnoob84]

Thanks for the advice I will follow accordingly. A I'm not exactly sure how to answer that question All4wheels. I kinda feel like an idiot but my fixtre is designed for freshwater. It's an Aqueon dual lamp t5 36". it came with 2 21w bulbs and i have since replaced them with 39w actinic and a 10000k daylight. So I'm not sure if you combine the lamps for a total or just the wattage itself. I will be upgrading slightly if you want to call it to a cheapo 3 bulb setup with leds from ebay for 80$. It's a T5 HO unit and thats still only temporay till I save enough scratch to get a top of the line light setup.

 

[mr_X]

i wouldn't get any corals until you cycle the tank, and get stronger lighting. how are you cycling the tank? have you added an ammonia source?

 

[needmorecowbell]

Wait, it's not cycled and you have sea fans already?!?! You are really lucky If you do lol. I agree with x about the cycle but if you don't want to get a new light right now, try a mushroom coral. They need about the lowest light for a coral and are pretty. But I'm not event sure if that would be okay with a freshwater light. I would just purchase a light from fishneedit.com . I just checked their prices and they are incredibly cheap.

 

[Reefnoob84]

i wouldn't get any corals until you cycle the tank, and get stronger lighting. how are you cycling the tank? have you added an ammonia source?

im cycling it using seeded water from a very very nice lfs. their one of the best places ive ever seen for marine a aquarium store. when i started the tank i put in 30 lbs live sand 33 lbs live rock i added 17 more the next day =. filled with seeded water topped off with ro water mixed to 1.025 and started the canister and skimmer and circulation pumps. had a very small spike in ammonia today but is gone now and yes i have sea fans starting to grow half of them are almost ready to make their fans!! my 2 fire clowns seem to be extremely happy eating very well playing and i'm pretty sure they are mating!

 

[mr_X]

seeded water? unfortunately, there's no such thing. bacteria resides on surfaces for the most part, not in the water column. you can't effectively cycle a tank using a water change from another tank unless it's a filthy tank and the water is full of nutrients.
the live rock and sand- was this from established tanks or was it uncured rock? how much ammonia did you see? sea fans aren't an indicator that the cycle is over. if you didn't have much of a cycle, you won't have a strong bacteria colony.
so, if i'm hearing you correctly, you are cycling the tank using clownfish? if you had an ammonia spike since you added the fish, then you didn't have an adequate cycle.
i would have a water change ready to save them if the ammonia rises again.

 

[Gti_Leo]

i wouldn't say that no bacteria resides in the water, but its minimal more barcteria in the rocks and even in a filter pad then actually in the water column itself

 

[needmorecowbell]

Ya they should have gave you a stocking of substrate, or a used filter pad. That's the easiest way, there is not much that is beneficial in the water column.

 

[Reefnoob84]

That's true I didn't think of the little bit I was thinking freshwater but still I know it's better to have a used filter or something along those lines. I'll go tomorrow and get a filter sock from the tank I got my clowns from. The ammonia was no higher than .25 ppm whit no nitrites I do have 30 gal of pre mixed ro water w/salt that's at room temp so 20 mins in the bucket with the pump and heater done deal. My rock is un cured unfortunately I was unaware of a curing process luckily my lfs cleaned my rock really well for me because of the situation. He's a swell guy.

 

[Reefnoob84]

I should also add I got two pieces of live rock from a display tank that was running for a year and a half

 

[mr_X]

just keep an eye on the ammonia. stop it before it gets too high with a partial water change. don't add any more livestock for a couple/few weeks at least. it's going to be tricky because you want the ammonia, but you don't want to hurt the fish. so...somewhere a happy medium (if that's possible). good luck.

 

[Reefnoob84]

just keep an eye on the ammonia. stop it before it gets too high with a partial water change. don't add any more livestock for a couple/few weeks at least. it's going to be tricky because you want the ammonia, but you don't want to hurt the fish. so...somewhere a happy medium (if that's possible). good luck.

thanks! the ammonia hasnt spiked over .50ppm and i hear you on the happy medium im not adding anything for atleast 3 weeks as far as livestock.