Coral Placement just Below Surface

[Baby Ray]

I set up this nano lagoon tank a couple months ago and just have a clownfish, bubble tip, and a couple of small zoa frags as of now.

I know I want the right island to be anemone heavy (most RFA for the rest), and the lower part of the left island to be a zoa garden, but I am still not sure what to put on the upper part there.

On average it’s 1-2 inches below the surface and gets medium to high flow.

I think it would be cool to have some sort of sps that grows up to the surface of the water instead of something encrusting if anyone has any suggestions.

 

[KrisReef]

Montopora confusa would encrust and grow branches.

 

[Baby Ray]

I don’t love the look of the branching montipora to be honest

 

[Biokabe]

Do you know roughly how much PAR you'd be getting on the top of that island?

 

[Baby Ray]

Do you know roughly how much PAR you'd be getting on the top of that island?

I don't unfortunately, is there any free way to test for PAR?

 

[Biokabe]

Free? No, other than looking up published PAR tables and hoping that they match up with your real-world experience.

If you have a reasonably modern phone, you can get the Photone app and a waterproof enclosure for your phone, and use that to get at least a ballpark figure (which is good enough for your needs). A pouch will run about $15-$20, and you'll need a one-month subscription to Photone's premium sub to access the reef mode ($7.99). That's probably the easiest (and definitely the cheapest) way to check.

Otherwise, expect to pay anywhere from $200-$600 for a PAR meter. Some local clubs and/or LFS have meters that you can rent, so that might also be an option but it's obviously going to be location-dependent.

If you're getting 175-200 PAR on that island, that puts most SPS within reach. Seriatopora, Stylopora, Anacropora, Poccilopora, and Pavona corals would all do fine in that space. Some Acropora could do well in that spot as well.

Just make sure to relocate any splits from your bubbletip away from there ASAP, as they also tend to like high light and high flow. An oblivious bubbletip settling in on your SPS garden is a great way to lose your SPS garden.

 

[Baby Ray]

I'll look into figuring out what the PAR value is there.

What Acros specifically do you think would do well in that spot if the PAR is adequate?