Fill up the Tank!

[Seafeather]

Hello all!

My parents (bless them) utterly surprised my sister and I with a monetary gift. There’s plenty of things I could get, but the heart yearns for the corals…

So here’s the setup: I’ve got my established 20gal Eden20 tank with a clown, a blue tang [She’s a baby still, and I have a 55 gallon not yet set up - but working on that - that will be her new home, so don’t worry about her outgrowing the tank :)], 1 nassarius snail, 4 hermies, a patch of xenia, a thriving toadstool, a new hammer who is also doing well (wasn’t sure how well it would turn out, it was rough at the beginning), and a space invader pectinia that I won as part of a mystery pick (i want to grow this sucker out as much as possible so I can frag it to get more of a variety of other corals).

And then I’ve got my relatively new micro desk tank that’s maybe 2.5 gallons which will be strictly corals, inverts, and MAYBE a micro fish or two (I’ve seen some mini gobys that might do okay in it). That is where my current coral-eating, xenia fragging pompom crab is…it is crab purgatory at the moment…

Anyway, if YOU had $250 to stretch as much as possible on corals/maybe a fish or two, with these parameters with the hope of buying some cool, fast growing corals to fill up a bigger tank down the line, what would you go for? Where would you buy from?

 

[Seafeather]

Also forgot to add that think of items closer to maybe what you would have gotten when you first started, so mostly beginner corals but maybe a couple that you can learn with as well!

 

[Michael Hughes]

Depends on your goals for the bigger tank. I would do a mix of LPS and easier SPS like Pocillopora, Stylophora, Pavona, and Montipora.

Some of the suppliers I've been looking at include Tidal Gardens, Vivid Aquariums (my first order with them is coming in a couple weeks), Terra Reef, Queen City Corals, and AquaSD. Most of my AquaSD frags are doing well but their inventory right now is pretty wiped out.

 

[Seafeather]

Depends on your goals for the bigger tank. I would do a mix of LPS and easier SPS like Pocillopora, Stylophora, Pavona, and Montipora.

Some of the suppliers I've been looking at include Tidal Gardens, Vivid Aquariums (my first order with them is coming in a couple weeks), Terra Reef, Queen City Corals, and AquaSD. Most of my AquaSD frags are doing well but their inventory right now is pretty wiped out.

Oh I'll have to look into those. The only one im vaguely familiar with is the montipora. What's your experience been like with ordering corals online? I'm super nervous to do it. I was going to place an order with coralsanonymous, but then I watched a few unboxing videos and they never looked good or just were wrong so I dropped that idea.

 

[Michael Hughes]

I'm still new to this too, so I've only ordered corals online twice, and my second order is the one coming in a couple weeks.

The first order was missing some frags but the vendor refunded the missing pieces. All the corals are doing great 2.5 months later (except one ticked off Alveopora). I had relatively low expectations given feedback, but it was a budget vendor so I wasn't particularly disappointed. It helps to have tempered expectations.

I ended up loving the frags I got and all are doing well, even the SPS.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Oh I'll have to look into those. The only one im vaguely familiar with is the montipora. What's your experience been like with ordering corals online? I'm super nervous to do it. I was going to place an order with coralsanonymous, but then I watched a few unboxing videos and they never looked good or just were wrong so I dropped that idea.

It's honestly not bad! Order from reputable people and you will be ok! I've only gotten coral from online and never had issues

 

[Seafeather]

Oh I'll have to look into those. The only one im vaguely familiar with is the montipora. What's your experience been like with ordering corals online? I'm super nervous to do it. I was going to place an order with coralsanonymous, but then I watched a few unboxing videos and they never looked good or just were wrong so I dropped that idea.

It's honestly not bad! Order from reputable people and you will be ok! I've only gotten coral from online and never had issues

I'll just have to find those reputable ones then! There's a few that i know of that always look good or i see them on unboxing videos with no issues. But also my wallet...

I've just always had access to a LFS with nice corals, but since we moved 2 hours away from the closest fish store, it's put a limit on me. LOL

 

[Seafeather]

I'm still new to this too, so I've only ordered corals online twice, and my second order is the one coming in a couple weeks.

The first order was missing some frags but the vendor refunded the missing pieces. All the corals are doing great 2.5 months later (except one ticked off Alveopora). I had relatively low expectations given feedback, but it was a budget vendor so I wasn't particularly disappointed. It helps to have tempered expectations.

I ended up loving the frags I got and all are doing well, even the SPS.

Alveopora are difficult in the sense that you can try everything to fix whatever is wrong with it and it'll still die.

Speaking from experience. Lol but I'm sure there was just something that i missed or not keeping up with water changes.

 

[slogan315]

I’d try and find other reefers near you if possible. Your $250 will go a long way with other hobbiests. Not to mention local frags that don’t need to be shipped often take to the tank better than those that need to be shipped. The tradeoff is selection and pests.

And I’m all for supporting vendors and LFS but if you are really trying to maximize quantity for your budget, it’s hard to beat other hobbiests in price.

Good problem to have!

 

[AlyciaMarie]

Waiting for sales is usually a good way to get more bang for your buck (although the waiting part STINKS!). Some more beginner corals, IMO, would be toasdtools, mushrooms, and zoanthids. Softies are usually more forgiving in general. It may also be worth considering putting the money towards finishing the tank upgrade for the baby tang, assuming you still need to make purchases to set it up. It's surprising how quickly they grow. :)

 

[ruxsir]

Check out premier reefs MN, got a lot of my softies from them. “Frags” more like mini colonies