Taking the plunge into coral

[AUSXMD]

Hi Everyone,

I've kept FOWLR tanks for 30 years but always thought coral would be too much work and it's intimidating as well. My partner has talked me into turning my Waterbox Infinia 230.6 info a full on reef tank. It's now FOWLR with a flame angel, naso tang, blue headed wrasse, blue spot puffer, a foxface, sand sifting star and chocolate chip star, various CUC critters. I have AI lighting, a sump with a fuge full of chaeto, a very big Octopus skimmer and purigen. I use ro/di water.

I guess what I need help with are:

1. Will the flame angel, wrasse and puffer need to go? They all say reef safe "with caution" on the site I bought them from.
2. What are some good beginner corals?
3. What should my light settings be at?
4. Any other advice or things I need to research?

I'm sorry if this has been discussed ad nauseum, or if im posting this in the wrong forum. Just hoping some of you experts can help me get started slowly and steer me in the right direction. I'm in no hurry. I just want to get it right, and learn.

I appreciate it!
Scott

 

[edsbeaker]

Hi, I can give my opinion on some of this.

The angel, puffer, and wrasse could go after the corals. I have kept a flame in all of my tanks over the years, I think I’ve had 6, with none of them bothering my corals. That doesn’t prove anything… it’s just luck! I don’t have any experience with the puffer or wrasse, though, but with three fish that are iffy your odds are lowered.

If you are firm about trying corals while keeping those fish, maybe start by getting cheap easy corals and see what these fish do. Zoas, cheap acans, Kenya tree, Xenia….(caution, it grows crazy fast and is considered invasive, but some love it), are some easy ones to start with. You can get small frags of any of those for $10-$20 each.

Most of the corals I have suggested will do fine under lower to moderate lighting. Is your AI lighting for freshwater or reef? It needs to be a reef light since corals need a different spectrum.

Corals will also need more flow then you probably have in a FOWLR tank so you will probably need to add power heads.

As you add more corals you will have to start testing other parameters that you don’t need to worry about in a FOWLR tank. Calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium are the major ones. The corals uptake those and they need to be replaced to the water column as they are depleted.

Take a look at some of the “stickies” in the forum to research and educate yourself on best ways to set up and maintain a reef tank. There is a wealth of info on here, and too much to cover in this thread.

I do have to say that at any time in the future those fish could start eating the coral and CUC. If it were me, I would probably not play those odds if you want to start adding more expensive coral. Sometimes you just have to choose one or the other.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

What kind of AI lighting do you have and how many and what intensity you have them at now?
Hopefully not primes, primes are made for 15-20 gallon tanks and won't be very efficient in such a large tank.

For coral suggestions I would suggest to list out the parameters if possible. Stable parameters and testing are important for the nicer more expensive corals, but generally, soft corals are named as 'beginner corals" due to they can accept a wide variety of parameters and are more forgiving to changes. Lps corals would be the next step up, and then finally sps.

There is no mention of flow and I agree with above, flow is very important in a reef tank.

Otherwise it all looks good. How about sharing a pic of your fish only tank? Would love to see it, good luck.

 

[AUSXMD]

What kind of AI lighting do you have and how many and what intensity you have them at now?
Hopefully not primes, primes are made for 15-20 gallon tanks and won't be very efficient in such a large tank.

For coral suggestions I would suggest to list out the parameters if possible. Stable parameters and testing are important for the nicer more expensive corals, but generally, soft corals are named as 'beginner corals" due to they can accept a wide variety of parameters and are more forgiving to changes. Lps corals would be the next step up, and then finally sps.

There is no mention of flow and I agree with above, flow is very important in a reef tank.

Otherwise it all looks good. How about sharing a pic of your fish only tank? Would love to see it, good luck.

Thanks for responding. I have AI Hydra 34s. 3 of them and they're what came with the tank. Now I think they offer a different kind of light. Anyway, I copied someone else's lighting that has a nice reef and the same lights. The whites are low. For flow I have a Maxspect wavemaker set on the random mode. At the other end I just have old powerheads, but they put out a nice amount. I'm going to get another Maxspect as it just looks cleaner and works better. Then the outflow from my sump that I use mainly for surface agitation. I have a Reef Octopus elite 200-int skimmer and a fuge. I do have green hair algae and new turbo snails are working away at that. So far, I haven't seen any of the questionable fish nipping at the coral I bought. See attached pic. I forgot it's name.‍I've attached a pic of the tank and the coral I bought. The tanks been up about 10 months. I'll order a new kit that tests for the other things you mentioned and start researching on here. Thanks a lot for helping me out!

 

[AUSXMD]

Hi, I can give my opinion on some of this.

The angel, puffer, and wrasse could go after the corals. I have kept a flame in all of my tanks over the years, I think I’ve had 6, with none of them bothering my corals. That doesn’t prove anything… it’s just luck! I don’t have any experience with the puffer or wrasse, though, but with three fish that are iffy your odds are lowered.

If you are firm about trying corals while keeping those fish, maybe start by getting cheap easy corals and see what these fish do. Zoas, cheap acans, Kenya tree, Xenia….(caution, it grows crazy fast and is considered invasive, but some love it), are some easy ones to start with. You can get small frags of any of those for $10-$20 each.

Most of the corals I have suggested will do fine under lower to moderate lighting. Is your AI lighting for freshwater or reef? It needs to be a reef light since corals need a different spectrum.

Corals will also need more flow then you probably have in a FOWLR tank so you will probably need to add power heads.

As you add more corals you will have to start testing other parameters that you don’t need to worry about in a FOWLR tank. Calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium are the major ones. The corals uptake those and they need to be replaced to the water column as they are depleted.

Take a look at some of the “stickies” in the forum to research and educate yourself on best ways to set up and maintain a reef tank. There is a wealth of info on here, and too much to cover in this thread.

I do have to say that at any time in the future those fish could start eating the coral and CUC. If it were me, I would probably not play those odds if you want to start adding more expensive coral. Sometimes you just have to choose one or the other.

See below. I responded trying to help both of you out that responded with info and pictures. I'll definitely research more. I love doing that anyway. Sometimes I just need guidance as I'm starting If any of said inhabitants start bothering the one coral in there, they will come out. I do have reef lighting you can see on the response here and pics. Thanks so much for your guidance!

 

[Devin6871]

To keep coral your chocolate chip starfish will have to go. It will consume everything it can.

 

[BryanM]

I have recently just learned "Reef safe with caution" is very random. You could be fine, you could be sad. I'm currently in the process of re-homing a dwarf angel, which my wife and I love, but he's a bully and a nipper.

Some people report success by keeping "fat fish", feed a lot, etc. and if they are indeed full, maybe they don't get a taste for coral.... I don't know.

Not worth the risk now for me, as I'm starting to pay up for more expensive, large, or rare corals.

 

[AUSXMD]

I have recently just learned "Reef safe with caution" is very random. You could be fine, you could be sad. I'm currently in the process of re-homing a dwarf angel, which my wife and I love, but he's a bully and a nipper.

Some people report success by keeping "fat fish", feed a lot, etc. and if they are indeed full, maybe they don't get a taste for coral.... I don't know.

Not worth the risk now for me, as I'm starting to pay up for more expensive, large, or rare corals.

Yeah, I'm starting with really cheap ones I guess to experiment. So far none of them have gone after a coral, but I didn't know chocolate chip stars eat coral. I might have to remove him.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Thanks for responding. I have AI Hydra 34s. 3 of them and they're what came with the tank. Now I think they offer a different kind of light. Anyway, I copied someone else's lighting that has a nice reef and the same lights. The whites are low. For flow I have a Maxspect wavemaker set on the random mode. At the other end I just have old powerheads, but they put out a nice amount. I'm going to get another Maxspect as it just looks cleaner and works better. Then the outflow from my sump that I use mainly for surface agitation. I have a Reef Octopus elite 200-int skimmer and a fuge. I do have green hair algae and new turbo snails are working away at that. So far, I haven't seen any of the questionable fish nipping at the coral I bought. See attached pic. I forgot it's name.‍I've attached a pic of the tank and the coral I bought. The tanks been up about 10 months. I'll order a new kit that tests for the other things you mentioned and start researching on here. Thanks a lot for helping me out!

Sounds like you're all set, go grab a couple of leathers and zoa's and try it out. I'm sure you'll do fine.