20 Gal Vertical Hex Tank Looking For Coral

[Bemabc27]

Hello All,

I am relatively new to the aquarium game. As you can see from the picture... hopefully its attached... I have a 20 Gal Hex tank so its more tall then wide. In the tank its got rock bottom, 15 pounds of live rock, and three regular rock hoping to turn live with a dead core (yeah I cheaped out for now).

Fish: Chromis x1, Domino Damsel x1 , x3 clowns (different species), 1 snail, and 3 hermit crabs. Tank is probably maxed out on livestock now. All get along great, nothing attacks anything else, all very active.

I was looking to add some quicker growing corals in there to complete the set up and give it a nice look. As I'm new to everything I had a few questions.

Do I plug in corals to the holes in the live rock?
If it spreads will the live rock still serve it's function?
What kinds are great looking, easy care, and spread quick?
As this is a smaller tank, any levels that get thrown off temporarily from a water change could cause damage to coral I'm assuming... Is there a coral that can handle very temporary water maybe temperature changes and salinity levels? I am very careful but I'm planning for all senarios.

Side note: This tank has been running for about a month now, little over. Only issues were a crab cutting fish in half... Have since got rid of the crab (took it back to store) and restocked. All water levels are optimal.

 

[mr_X]

you can put coral frags in the holes of the rock, glue it to the rock with crazy glue GEL, or use some sort of reef putty.
yes, the rock will still serve it's function if it has corals attached.
i would not suggest a fast growing coral for a 20 gallon tank, but zoanthids, palythoa, mushrooms, soft corals in general without calcium based skeletons grow the fastest.
the picture isn't working, but what lighting do you have over the tank? lighting is important for the photosynthetic creatures you are planning to add.
a hex style tank is a terrible tank for a reef due to the difficulty getting an even amount of flow throughout. if you add some beginner soft corals and find reef keeping as interesting and addictive as most of us do, you might want to start thinking about a different tank. a 30 or even 40 breeder style tank would be my choice. also, any of the bio cube tanks are also ideal for beginner reef keeping and usually come with sufficient lighting.
good luck.