questions on corals

[windgrace03]

Ok i currently have a 90gal tank. Lighting is 3 65wat 12k day bulbls and 2 65wat acintic bulbs. filtration is a 125 gal pro clear aquatics wet/dry filter. I currently have a pair of true percula clowns/1 manderin goby/1 hawk fish/1 bubble tip anemone which the clowns are living in/1 tiger watchman goby/45lbs live rock/60lbs white live fiji sand/1 bi colored bleny/and 1 cow fish that they called a boston bean but he is still to little to tell what kind he really is. So my question is what kind of corals would i be able to add to my tank that would fit in with all that i have??????

[Bear]

Well, before adding ne coral I would make sure and get rid of the wet dry filter, the hawkfish and cowfish. The will most likely end up hurting ne coral put into the tank. You also need to take the amount of LR you have now and multiply it by 3. What are the dimensions of ur tank? Do you have any powerheads? corals need quite a bit of water movement. In fact I would have at least 2400 GPH running through that tank.

Once u get things all situated with the aforementioned info I would suggest getting Zoanthids and Mushrooms. They are very pretty and not too demanding where light is concerned which is important because I see that you are using powercompacts and that ur tank is 2' deep. You could keep more light demanding corals up the rocks closer to the lights, but to start I would stay with shrooms and zoas.

Where in your tank is the BTA located? How long have you had it? How old is this tank? What are the parameters? I would think that your nitrates would be a little high because you are running what many call a "nitrate factory" (wet dry filter).

Do you have any pics? Im sure im not the only one is would love to see ur tank.

Welcome to the world of corals. From here on you can enjoy lighter pockets and hunting for little animals people think are plants

[Zoe]

Welcome to the world of corals. From here on you can enjoy lighter pockets and hunting for little animals people think are plants

You're my hero, Bear! I love it!


Anyhoo, I have three suggestions for you:
Zoanthids
Frogspawn or Torch or Hammer corals
And then more Zoanthids

There's more than that obviously but IMO those are the best way to start off (it's what I did!); they're colourful and not too demanding.

[windgrace03]

What type of filtration u using bear???? I have 2 power heads 450 gph each. the BTA has been in the tank for about 4 months. MY tank has been running for about a year now i belive. I know i could use some more LR but i live in the middle of know were lol and can't get out of town lol. i dont' have a prob with nitrates so far. But then again i just put the wet/dry filter on a couple of weeks ago. But before that i was only using top filters. I will get some pics of the tank shortly. I am in the middle of building stand for it. Tank is about 15 years old so was on old rod iron bars lol. I will get demensions of tank when i get home from work

[windgrace03]

forgot to add there is a hang on protein skimmer on the tank also. Don't know the brand works pretty good i think.

[Bear]

For filtration all you really want is a ton of LR and a good protein skimmer. If you had a sump I would suggest using a sock that you would have to change out about every to every other day. I don't think those 2 powerheads are really going to be enough. Take a look at SEIOs and maxijets, they are both great and well priced. I would probably just get rid of the ones you have and replace them with new ones. For your LR situation I would just go buy the rest of the rock as Lace Rock. It will quickly seed and and turn into LR.

Take a look at some of the reefs that have been set up here. Check the general SW forum and the journal section. I have a bunch of pictures in the fish pictures forum too.

Just take a look around

[windgrace03]

u know a good web site to buy that lace rock from. And could i just place it into my sump for acouple of months tell it cures???

[Reefneck]

Originally Posted by Bear

...

A Few months ago I offered all of my knowledge to this young man for the asking. He asked a lot but never too much. He listened, He learned & found a few different ways to do things on his own that worked as well or perhaps better than some of mine.

POINT IS:

I almost feel like I'm not even needed here anymore. He constantly expands his knowledge and experience, Shares it with anyone that asks and will listen and Just plain makes me feel like a proud dad!!

Can I adopt you?

P.S. Sorry for the thread hijack.

[Osiris]

Can call Reefneck Pappi

[Bear]

wow...

gave me a warm fuzzy feeling (seriously). Probably the biggest compliment I've gotten in a while.

back to thread :

There are a number of books out there that could help you. I have heard of many and seen many more, but have yet to actually pick one up

Most of what you want to know is usually on line, in threads, articles or within the minds of those more experienced. I would check out the articles on reef keeping magazine (from reefcentral.com) Eventhough most of the posters their are yahoos these articles are very informative. You could also learn much about corals through scientific journals, this will also help when it comes to choosing equipment (can tell you what the corals need from what they have in nature).

The biggest source you have is us

I would do some research and then come back, as away, never stop.

Reefneck, Osiris, FishFirst, TOS, ScubaKid, flamingo, guppyart, and myself

There are many different views, the aforementioned group will give you a huge spectrum, and from learning the advantages and techniques of each you will find you own.

Once again, welcome to the world of coral. It is much different than standard fish keeping, but for the good

[Fishfirst]

The system bear is explaining to you, is called the berlin system, a time tested system that started in europe. A big skimmer and a lot of liverock is essential for this system... if you cannot get liverock where you live, you can also get it via mail order from liveaquaria.com or from several other vendors. Lacerock has its limitations, and real liverock is the better choice IF you have the money.
If you do get liverock from the mail, be sure to quarentine it, use some of those old filters you used to use on your tank to filter the liverock's quarentine which can be as simple as a rubbermaid container or even a food grade trash can.

Just an fyi about some of your fish choices...
the cowfish: produces a toxin when stressed. Have destroyed many aquariums. It would probably be in your best intrest to hand this fish off to someone else as soon as possible.

Hawkfish: won't hurt your corals, but any crabs, shrimps, or other macrofauna you might want will be history eventually.