What corals to start with?

[gufynutz]

So if you've read my newbie post, i'll be starting to add some corrals soon to my biocube 29g and wonder what are good and colorful corrals to start with?

 

[salt0727]

some mushrooms, some leathers or some zoanthids

 

[mr_z]

I think zoos r kinda hard because mine keep melting I've had palys do better


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[FishBeard]

I also have had mixed results with zoas, but great success with palythoas. If you go zoas, my best luck is with larger polyp varieties.

 

[Smitty]

Mushrooms, leathers and xenia is your best bet. They all do well with various lighting and water parameters.

 

[mr_z]

I see u in Orland park maybe if I can frag this pom pom Xenia I have I'll give u a frag


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[FishBeard]

Be careful with Xenia, once it takes over it can easily become a nuisance if you change directions with your tank later.

 

[ColaAddict]

keep them xenias on a rock by themselves (Xenia Island) to keep them from spreading.

 

[FishBeard]

keep them xenias on a rock by themselves (Xenia Island) to keep them from spreading.

That doesn't work as well as it sounds, I'm sure plenty of people can verify...

 

[gufynutz]

thanks for all the advice, i've been looking into the nao kits they sell on aquacon and liveaquaria, but shipping is ridiculous and all the local stores in orland are highly over priced imo

 

[Lil BamBam]

Its like a pest that you cant control : )

 

[rattyE36]

Get green star polyps! They could live in tap water with table salt in it! But seriously they are very easy to keep and look great under the right lights and flow. Just be sure to put them in the sand bed or keep a close eye on them because they spread easily and will soon cover a lot more of your rocks than you want. If you were closer I would frag you some of mine for free.

 

[rattyE36]

Heres a pic of my GSP on the left looking pretty great! Its actually two different kinds mounted right next to each other.

 

[Heidi]

So I am just playing devils advocate here but why not "start" by putting what you really love and want in your tank? There is a long thread I put up on 3reef about starter corals. I kinda disagree with putting live stock in your tank that you aren't going to love in 2 years from now. I love acropora, so when I started reefing I set my tank up so I could grow and keep sps. My lights and hard core skimmer show that. I never put any beginner corals into my tank unless they were super cool stuff I wouldn't mind having a lot of. Mushrooms and zoas for example can cover huge sections of your rock. So make sure they are zoas and shrooms you like to look at. GSP will literally take over your tank were ever it is it will spread over everything. Leathers get huge and will take up a huge chunk of real estate... Just a different view point
Heidi

 

[FishBeard]

Heidi makes a great point, if you are not overwhelming yourself out the gate, there's no reason you shouldn't just start with your target coral selection. Some people love the ease and low maintenance of a softie tank while others enjoy an sps dominant system. Realize your goal now and stick to a plan to get there.

 

[ColaAddict]

Don't wast money with buying online. buy from fellow reefers locally and save tons of money. some people are even giving away stuff. Let us know what you are interested in.

 

[gufynutz]

man thanks for all the help already, I'm going to put together some stuff that I like and stick with it(thats some great advice)

 

[ColaAddict]

Great decision to go to this forum. When I first started I wasn't part of a forum and ended up wasting so much money buying online and on craigslist.

 

[Heidi]

You won't always waste money buying online. It really depends on who and where you buy from. There are some really great priced venders online now that even with the 15 or 20 bucks you send on shipping if you are getting something super sweet it may be a better deal then at a lfs. Again with the stirring the pot lol I guess that's what I do
Heidi

 

[Greg]

NEVER use aquacon. Just look at the reviews anywhere (google). It has the worst reviews of any online store I have ever seen.
There is a reason its called aquaCON.



You can trust liveaquaria. In terms of customer service and fish/coral health they are probably the very best in the business.