Stocking and placement of lps

[gotmesalty77]

I was given the keys to an established reef 3 weeks ago. It's a deep blue 80g rimless with 50g sump. I've got maybe 120lbs of live rock and and a aquascape im finally in love with. Since its going to be awhile until I feel comfortable adding more Coral to the tank I wanted to get a game plan but I've hit a wall. I have no idea what I want to put where. Zero creative flow here. Any thoughts?

 

[Iván Olalla]

The looks regarding coral type and colors is your own taste, just a few tips:

1. plan ahead, identify flow and lighting instensity (PAR) in your aquaescape, that will help you to delimit some areas where some species can thrive better than others
1.2 put in consideration two things: coral growth and placement (not every coral will be happy where you want it, so you might need to relocate it)

2. husbandry, in regards of the above mentioned

3. visit the aquaescape forum, i know you already have one that pleases you, but here you can visit threads on topics like color composition, field of depth and take a look at what others have done in their tanks and get ideas and isnpiration, maybe a coral that doesnt appeals you might look different with a "contrasting" neighbor and change your mind

4. You´re not in a hurry, so plenty of time to do coral requirements research, narrow your options and look for better deal (price wise)

5. Enjoy the trip, a full tank is not the goal, but the consequence of your work and husbandry, seeing your frags grow and thrive is very rewarding


Sorry for the broken english, not native speaker here. Feel free to visit my build thread, there you can see the progress and growth of my tank from bare rock aquaescape to full and mature mixed mini reef in just under two years.

Happy reefing!