Wanted: Beginner Corals

I am starting to look at acouple diff corals and wanted some opinions on what the get and if anyone has any ideas or corals that would work good for someone just starting out... tank has been cycled for about 4 months now, Everything tests very well as far as Nitrate, Nitrite, Ammonia, phostphate and Ph.. I have a 58 Gal Oceanic tank with 15 gal sump, 250W MH and 4 39W Act T5 bulbs fish are 2 black clowns, diamond goby, scooter blenny, and emerald crab and some snails and hermits... Crushed coral bed... 550gph return and 600gph powerhead...

If someone wants to trade some coral for my scooter blenny to I would do that as I was told it is not good to have him in my tank this soon...

Interested in atleast one coral that is taller to help hide overflow alittle...

You have a lot of light so I would probably start out with some cheap and easy large polyped stonies, like frogspawn, candy canes, etc. Softies are probably easier to keep but also tend to spread very fast and you may regret them down the line, like green star polyps, xenia or cloves. Any leather would do great, for color I like green toadstools and figi yellow leathers.

You'd probably do alright with zoanthids as well. Probably lower in the tank though.

You may want to reconsider the crushed coral before filling your tank up with coral. We had that in our first tank too. (Bought a whole setup from someone and it came with it.) We fought algae in that thing all the time. I feel kinda bad selling it with the cc when we moved on (sorry Seafishin). I didn't realize how much easier things were going to be with a sandbed until we had one. The bad thing is now, you'd have another cycle if you added sand especially since most people don't want to dump the cash into live sand so they start with dry stuff and seed it (which I believe you wouldn't have to do since you have nice seeded live rock in there). I just wish someone had told me the first time so I'm telling you. It might be worth making the changes now rather than down the road.

GoingPostal wrote:.........figi yellow leathers.

BTW, Anyone have figi yellow leathers? I'm weeding out the yellow polyps in my tank and want to put some yellow back in. I don't want to steal this thread but maybe you could pm me if you have some.

blennieluvr wrote:

GoingPostal wrote:.........figi yellow leathers.

BTW, Anyone have figi yellow leathers? I'm weeding out the yellow polyps in my tank and want to put some yellow back in. I don't want to steal this thread but maybe you could pm me if you have some.

Very few people will frag these as they are more fragile and harder to keep. They seem to take damage a lot worse than any other leather.

Oh and I would also kick the CC to the curb, it sucks, looks crappy, holds waste, etc. You would have to siphon it clean if you decide to get rid of it so it doesn't make a huge mess in the tank while taking it out, I have taken out all my CC and replaced with dead sand before, I took out the CC in 3 parts, during large water changes and then put in sand, the bacteria in the live rock was plenty to support the fish in tank already.

If you make it down this way I could help you out with some free stuff. I got xina, kenya, leathers, candy canes.

hey Tinkerman where u from? im inthe same postion i'm starting out my new 125gallon tank and i have cc would it make a diffrence if i put sand over the top of it so i wont have alge problems?? and i also was woundering if mabye i could get some of those free corals i have a pretty bare tank? and i have good lighting i have 3 metal halides and 3 compact 50/50 bulbs!!

I'm in Moorhead. Ya you could If you make it up this direction. I wouldn't put sand over it. I would take it out and replace with a smaller grain size, I got oolite in mine. Cammie pets-r-inn got a couple in the other day if you have to come this way at all.

blennieluvr wrote:

GoingPostal wrote:.........figi yellow leathers.

BTW, Anyone have figi yellow leathers? I'm weeding out the yellow polyps in my tank and want to put some yellow back in. I don't want to steal this thread but maybe you could pm me if you have some.

You could get a frag of the yellow acro that Benihana has. It's a sweet coral. I had one before my tank crashed last year.

To tell you the truth I have thought about taking that CC out everyday!! I would LOVE the look of a sand bed instead but I am not sure how to do it the best way so I have just dealt with it... do I take all my fish out and start sucking or how do I manage this? Also when I put the new sand in wont it be a steady cloud for acouple days?

When you put the new sand in get yourself a chunck of pvc or something that will reach the bottom and pour the sand down the pvc, cuts the cloud down alot. CC is pretty large, I would take a cup and scoop it out, shouldn't make to bit of a mess I think unless anyone has a better way of doing it.

tinkerman, would the coral live for a 3-mabye 5hr drive i'm from Elk river???

Tinkerman oo and the sand i have was live but now its in my grage and its frozen, so if i wash it out do u think it would be any better than my crush coral??

Coral will live for days if properly packed and kept warm, and the sand in your garage is probably fine but you would need to rinse it really well until the water runs clear. When I took my CC out I siphoned it first so it was pretty clean, then scooped out with a plastic cup, I put the sand in with a cup as well but in a taller tank you would probably need the pvc to put it in.

wait i never have siphoned befor so do i stick the big end in the sand while the water is draining out the other end?

chefb_5 wrote:wait i never have siphoned befor so do i stick the big end in the sand while the water is draining out the other end?

Yes