# Starter Corals?



## bigfishy (Jun 19, 2009)

What's the best corals for a beginner to start with? 

Is acropora good to start with, because I want metallic green, neon yellow, red dragon and pink acropora  

Their colors are so brilliant!!!


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## teemee (Aug 29, 2009)

you should wait at least 3-4 months before getting hard corals, if not twice that long... 
In terms of hard corals, I would start with lps and montiporas, which are definitely hardier than any acro. Still lots of variety and colour choice...!


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## bigfishy (Jun 19, 2009)

teemee said:


> you should wait at least 3-4 months before getting hard corals, if not twice that long...
> In terms of hard corals, I would start with lps and montiporas, which are definitely hardier than any acro. Still lots of variety and colour choice...!


"THAT" long!?!   

I don't know if I can hold on for that long, I already got a list of fish and corals that I wanted to buy


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## Syed (Oct 20, 2010)

Never kept SPS corals myself but I've heard that Birdnest and Montipora are some of the easiest and forgiving SPS. Might have to wait a while before getting them though like 4-6 months.


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## JayPetro (Feb 8, 2012)

Yes, six months wait to put acro in new tank. You can get great color from zoas and other softies, but it's really not a good idea to put and sps in a non established tank. They require very stable parameters but like syed said there are some more forgiving sps and some very sensitive ones as well. Do a lot of research never buy on impulse or because you like the look of something. Plan your tank, sps don't like to be close to softies or zoas for the most part as they can and do release slime that is harmful to stoney corals.


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## devin98 (Jan 29, 2012)

If this is your first reef tank I would suggest starting with soft corals (zoo's, mushrooms, leathers etc) they will allow larger swings and lack of stability which is bound to happen with a new reefer.

Without knowing more about your system you may not be able to keep SPS successfully and trying to do this right out of the shoot will only cause frustration and distaste for the hobby.

This can't be said enough but taking things slow is always your best friend.


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## J_T (Mar 25, 2011)

Lots of good advice here. And I agree! Learn the feel for your tank. Then start with harder to keep stuff.

What is your fish list!

Posted with my Xperia, using Tapatalk 2


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## macKRAZY (Feb 15, 2012)

bigfishy said:


> "THAT" long!?!
> 
> I don't know if I can hold on for that long, I already got a list of fish and corals that I wanted to buy


lol im exactly where you are but being as patient as i can! but its true what J_T says.. learn the feel of your tank! i find that better than any advice given by ppl
how bigs your tank? i would love to see some pics!
i personally started my 15 with zoos and GSPs!
im waiting a couple weeks to add xenias... UNLESS i can get a great deal


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## bigfishy (Jun 19, 2009)

J_T said:


> Lots of good advice here. And I agree! Learn the feel for your tank. Then start with harder to keep stuff.
> 
> What is your fish list!
> 
> Posted with my Xperia, using Tapatalk 2


flame wrasse 
snowflake clown



macKRAZY said:


> lol im exactly where you are but being as patient as i can! but its true what J_T says.. learn the feel of your tank! i find that better than any advice given by ppl
> how bigs your tank? i would love to see some pics!
> i personally started my 15 with zoos and GSPs!
> im waiting a couple weeks to add xenias... UNLESS i can get a great deal


27G with 20G sump

I went to a lfs this evening, and the employee lured me into buying a Dendrophyllia Coral frag



no more visiting fish store!!! till the end of July!!!!


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## teemee (Aug 29, 2009)

Alex, your tank is way too small for a flame wrasse...
Sorry!
Get lots of nice small things instead:
Helfrichi firefish 
possum wrasses
jawfish
gobies
etc...


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## Ctp416 (Nov 23, 2011)

bigfishy said:


> flame wrasse
> snowflake clown
> 
> 27G with 20G sump
> ...


How long has your tank been up and running?


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## teemee (Aug 29, 2009)

That is one of the absolutely hardest corals to keep, hands down. My tank is non photosynthetic (NPS) dominated, and I've given up. Good luck, but chances are its not going to last very long. You'd be better off with some zoos - if you want, I can trade for some. But consider it a favor...!


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## bigfishy (Jun 19, 2009)

teemee said:


> Alex, your tank is way too small for a flame wrasse...
> Sorry!
> Get lots of nice small things instead:
> Helfrichi firefish
> ...


I see! but I read from a site, the minimum require space for a flame wrasse is 24" x 12" x 12"

my tank is 27" x 16" x 16" 

I saw little clown grouper and coral grouper going for $20 - $40 ... tempted too... xD lol!

and so are those Great Barracuda at Big Als... <3

I like Scorpion fish, Batfish (Ogcocephalidae sp), frog fish, angels and angler

It's not going to happen till I start converting those 100G+ in the basement

Until then,

I will just stick to a pair of clown fish! ^^


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## teemee (Aug 29, 2009)

I don't know... 
In terms of tan requirements, I usually check on Live aquaria, or Wetweb media... Live aquaria says min. 90g for a flame wrasse... 
And just so you know, there is no such thing as a little coral grouper... they get big... and will probably eat tons of your livestock!
Batfish aren't reef safe, and again, get huge.
Scorpions have poisonous spines (hurt like at @@#$#), and along with anglers can swallow fish up to 2/3~ their size. They kind of need their own tank, unfortunately. 
Some angels are reef safe, some aren't. You could get a dwarf angel for your 27g.



bigfishy said:


> I see! but I read from a site, the minimum require space for a flame wrasse is 24" x 12" x 12"
> 
> my tank is 27" x 16" x 16"
> 
> ...


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## bigfishy (Jun 19, 2009)

Ctp416 said:


> How long has your tank been up and running?


I started it out on Monday

Tuesday, added sand

Wednesday, hooked up protein skimmer and sump, but got a leak and almost flooded the whole hallway

Thursday, I was wondering why cyano bacteria are growing super fast in the tank (purple live rocks changing to dull red)

Friday morning, I discovered my hydrometer was a dud, and the water was nearly as salty as the dead sea

Friday afternoon (took half of a day off work), came home and changed 20G of pure RO water to drop the salinity to 1.0255

Friday evening, walk past a fish store and got lured into the coral frags 

  

I am rushing things again! >.<'' Shame on me! >.<''


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## teemee (Aug 29, 2009)

Not even a week?!?
Its too soon to have anything in there, let alone a dendronepthya!


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## bigfishy (Jun 19, 2009)

It's not dendronepthya, it's some type of sun coral o.o

I know!  I feel bad now! 

In the other hand, it looks so cute! Hmmmmm... Bubblegums


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## iBetta (Jun 19, 2011)

that looks like a sun coral branchy type. how much did that cost? O: well as long as u feed it it should be ok, the tissue will regrow. but u need commitment on those feedings


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## Syed (Oct 20, 2010)

Nice coral. Should be alright in there imo. Even in a cycling tank my hitchhiker zoos and plate coral survived. Keep feeding 'em!


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## shark (Jan 28, 2009)

did u use RO water?


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## cablemike (Jan 7, 2009)

What does ro water matter for? I use tap water with prime conditioner and keep a bag of chemi pure elite in my filter and never had issues. Why does everyone throw the ro/di card when ever someone has a problem. You can have a successful reef tank on tap water. See here one.








And another








I don't think tap water hurt my tanks. They looked happy and healthy right? But if using tap water I would only use prime conditioner and no cheap crap. Also I suggest running a bag of chemi pure elite as it will remove the phosphate and silicates as well as heavy metals and crap. I trust it works based on my results.


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## J_T (Mar 25, 2011)

Tap water....

I too had a nice tank that used tap water. However, why buy chemicals and trust they remove everything (Remove? where does the TDS go? Guess it doesn't remove)

Using a RO/DI I know that the water is 0 TDS. My salt disolves faster, and I know that there is nothing to hinder my tank.


Costs? IMO, likely the same over the life of the tank. Comparing DI changes, prefilters and membrane to the cost of the conditioners, and other items needed to keep the tank "clean"

I think the knee jerk question comes as a reflex. Someone new having issues, and it is easiest to start offering ways to reduce problems. To a new person, conditioning water isn't second nature. Hell, mixing fresh water is done "wrong" (based on the label) by most of us (me included)


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## altcharacter (Jan 10, 2011)

I kinda agree with JT about the water. Why buy Prime conditioner and add it to your water if you're worried about the tap water. It's just another chemical going into the water...not to say that it would harm but it's an extra expense and process that a RO/DI is already doing.


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## cablemike (Jan 7, 2009)

What about all the waste water, water ain't that cheap either. It just seems awfully wasteful to me. And having to replace cartridges every couple months then when the membrane goes its a real expense. My tap water reads 110 ppm anyways.


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## altcharacter (Jan 10, 2011)

Not bad water at all!! Mine reads 187ppm so I have a different problem than you and the waste water gets fed to the plants outside so i'm not wasting.


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## bigfishy (Jun 19, 2009)

cablemike said:


> What about all the waste water, water ain't that cheap either. It just seems awfully wasteful to me. And having to replace cartridges every couple months then when the membrane goes its a real expense. My tap water reads 110 ppm anyways.


RO DI water goes to the shrimp tank and salt water tank

Waste water goes to my tiger datnoids and koi's tank

Dirty water from the fish tank goes to the garden

not a single drop wasted


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## Kooka (Feb 8, 2011)

Beautiful tanks Mike, although you shouldn't say you use tapwater too loudly because the reef-police might hear you and take away your reefing license 

In all seriousness though, this looks very promising. I know a clownfish breeder that uses prime treated tapwater in all of his tanks and let me tell you they are in as good condition as yours. I have no doubt that RO/DI water is a good thing to have, however it isn't a necessity.



cablemike said:


> What does ro water matter for? I use tap water with prime conditioner and keep a bag of chemi pure elite in my filter and never had issues. Why does everyone throw the ro/di card when ever someone has a problem. You can have a successful reef tank on tap water. See here one.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


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## kamal (Apr 21, 2009)

Kooka said:


> Beautiful tanks Mike, although you shouldn't say you use tapwater too loudly because the reef-police might hear you and take away your reefing license
> 
> In all seriousness though, this looks very promising. I know a clownfish breeder that uses prime treated tapwater in all of his tanks and let me tell you they are in as good condition as yours. I have no doubt that RO/DI water is a good thing to have, however it isn't a necessity.


+1 I am a total newbie (less than 6 months old tank) but again have stuck with tap water with no issues.........yet.

Although I must say I fully accept that if I ever have issues in the future I would have to rule out or in the tap water being the issue.


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## advanced reef aquatics (Apr 20, 2009)

the husbandry skills and attention in a tank using tapwater are paramount (as Mike has demonstrated), 99% of newbies will not have success with tapwater since they lack knowledge. plus the cost of elite and any other additives can be the same as owning an r.o. unit.


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## sig (Dec 13, 2010)

cablemike said:


> What about all the waste water, water ain't that cheap either. It just seems awfully wasteful to me. And having to replace cartridges every couple months then when the membrane goes its a real expense. My tap water reads 110 ppm anyways.


who told you that.

I run trough my RO membrane more than 2000 G since January 2011 and I change DI and pre filterers every 6 months in the total cost $60 per year.
I have water waste 2G for 1G and using flow restrictor.

If I will use chemipure (I used it before, but not for 200G of total water) and other stuff to get 0 PPM it will cost me much more that I spend

by the way new 90G membrane cost $48 in MOPS and will last forever on the small tanks

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## cablemike (Jan 7, 2009)

For me this is what works best. I have a very busy life but love my tanks. Its way faster for me to just turn on the tap, add salt and prime and do a 10% water change every Saturday morning then to be testing water all the time to see if calcium, alk, nitrate, phosphate and so on is in check. I test monthly but I know the water changes are replinishing what is needed and also reducing any toxin levels. Plus the carbon and chemi pure elite and absorbing the bad stuff from the tap water and softies. I don't over feed, I don't overstock. So I'm confident it all works this way. I did have an ro unit the last year I had my 90 gallon and I will honestly say the acros started to colour up way more. If your desire is just sps then ro is the way to go but if you want a mixed reef then water that's too clean just won't cut it. Lps and softies actually thrive in a nutrient rich tank. Over skimming is another issue with Lps and softies, but sps love it. So you have to know what your end goal is before you start to strip the water of essentials that certain corals love. Not everyone wants a sps dominant tank. I prefer everything, but that's also tricky as softies emit toxins into the water column and Lps can sting near by neighbours, and god help you if an across gets stung by an Lps because it can fill the tank with a nasty slime that can wipe out the entire tank in hours. My buddies lost 3 tanks in one day as this happened and all three tanks were tied into the same sump so all three tanks were a white stringy mess and 75% of his corals died.


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## sig (Dec 13, 2010)

cablemike said:


> For me this is what works best. .


This is correct and I completely agree with it, but what works for you in most cases does not work for others.

As result most of the tanks that I seen which run with tap water are full of algae and look like a crap. But I should say, what is crap in my opinion for some people is natural tank and they like it

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## cablemike (Jan 7, 2009)

If it was a fresh water tank no one would say anything about tap water. I think people make reef tanks out to be way more complicated then they really are. And I'm not rich, I can't afford all this stuff so does this mean I'm not allowed to be part of the reef club? I can't afford a ro/did unit, an mp10, a controller, a doser, a led light unit, etc... so I guess a basic setup like mine will fail. The topic here was what's a good starter coral.. so I say polyps, mushrooms, leathers, hammer corals, and Xenia. Anyone want advice on how to make a budget tank succeed message me.


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## J_T (Mar 25, 2011)

sig said:


> This is correct and I completely agree with it, but what works for you in most cases does not work for others.
> 
> As result most of the tanks that I seen which run with tap water are full of algae and look like a crap. But I should say, what is crap in my opinion for some people is natural tank and they like it


Cablemike, I think that if you look at what was said here, you would see that we agree, but also disagree. Can you learn to ride a bike without training wheels? Yes, but the learning curve is steep, and the crashes hurt!

This hobby is no different. Using ro water, and quality equipment is like having training wheels. It helps remove possible problems before they can take root.

The term experienced reefer means just that. We can look at the tank and spot problems. Like trouble shooting anything, you first need to remove the most likely culprits.

Now, I would like to agree with the coral choices cablemike has suggested. Most LPS and soft corals are really forgiving. Some even do better in 'dirty' tanks.

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## iBetta (Jun 19, 2011)

for starter corals, zoas/palys and mushrooms (both softies) are the way to go. some palys are just indestructible! 

of course, u can also try gsp...but beware...lol


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## bigfishy (Jun 19, 2009)

this thing is doing pretty well so far! 

but it only open up at night!


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## iBetta (Jun 19, 2011)

opens only at night? sounds like a sun coral then, but it looks more like a dendro !??! i am confused..............lol either way, nice "dendro" family species XD


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## J_T (Mar 25, 2011)

iBetta said:


> opens only at night? sounds like a sun coral then, but it looks more like a dendro !??! i am confused..............lol either way, nice "dendro" family species XD


IMO, branching sun coral. If you feed with lights on, they can be trained topen during the day. Coral will do better shaded. It needs no light to survive. But does require to be fed. Mysis, brine etc.

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