Safe corals for nanos

[Pinecone_Jeff]

Hey Everyone!
I haven't put together a final list of corals I want in my 10 gal yet. Since I'm hoping they'll grow eventually ;), some of them will "bump" into their neighbors (after which, I'll have to prune). Which corals have you guys found to be less stingy towards others? I was thinking of getting some mushroom anemones, a small leather, more zoanthids, maybe a bubble coral in the corner by itself, caulastrea (sp?) trumpet corals, cynaria... anything else? How about a hardy acropora? I have about 72 watts of PC lighting. Thanks!

[kennerd]

Here's where nano reefing can be fun, Jeff.

I have put together a pretty wide variety of corals into my 12 gallon: all from friends & the LFS. Kepp an eye out @ the LFS for broken frags & orphan singles. most of the time, they are really cheap & allow you to get really small specimens: two of my favorite finds are a three mouthed green/blue/white ricorida mushroom for $8 and a great white/pink hammer frag for $6.

Trumpets are a neat addition, as I have been able to find small, one, two & three polyp trumpets, and have epoxied them onto the rock in specific areas, including 6 in a row between a pipe organ's lower skeleton & live rock. I've also got a green forgspawn that has a skeleton skinnier than the width of a pencil, but the polyps extend about 1".

Although they are reasonable, and reasonably low-light: hairy mushrooms can get VERY large: I have one that I bought about the width of a quarter that is now over 3" across. I also bought a goniopora that had a 3 " skeleton, with 1.5" polyps. He's so damn happy that he now extends his polyps to almost 3.5", and as far as I know, he's NOT fraggable

My suggestion is to pay attention to corals that are easy to frag. (fraggability quotient?) That way you can keep them small & proportional to your tank. Aside from that, small size allows variety, with space in between.

My hammer is all the way in the front corner, to answer your question.

[Pinecone_Jeff]

I already broke off a few pieces of zoanthid polyps from my 6 gal at home. I can't wait to start putting in some small corals and watch them grow. This is such an awesome hobby! There's always something new to learn!

[nanoguy]

Jeff....I kept xenias and SPS corals in my 10 gallon under 72 watts of PC's w/ awesome success. My green striped mushrooms didn't even do as well (too much light I guess). I have pics of them on my site.

[kennerd]

nanoguy:
Man, Xenia, huh? Whew......don't know if I'd let that loose in my tank, but to each his own! Definitely cool stuff!
Any problems with overgrowth?

[Pinecone_Jeff]

Killer tank, Nanoguy! Someday, I hope my tank will look as good! :)

Is that a Skilter? How do you like it? Did you modify it?

[nanoguy]

Kennard.....the xenia's did grow quite fast but I just trim them here and there (about every 2 months) and give them away or sell them. They actually did better in my 10 gallon under 72watts of PC's then they are now in my 30 gallon cube under 150 watts of HQI metal halides.....strange.

Jeff.....thanks for the compliment and yes that is a skilter that you see. I was using a BakPak for awhile until I moved it over to my 30 gallon. Practically everything you see in the pics are now in my 30 gallon cube (including the lights/replaced them w/ a 32 watt CSL smartlite). I did modify it w/ a Lee's wooden air stone and some cheap pump (boy is the thing noisy). It works ok, but ofcourse I'd rather have the BakPak. I'm going to turn that tank into a mushroom and polyp tank.

[Pinecone_Jeff]

Nanoguy,
I was thinking of getting a BakPak 2R. I have one on my 6 gal and, heck, I might as well get one for my 10. It's not exactly a refugium, but at least it has an extra gallon of water capacity! And because the tank is so small, the venturi/air bubbles help increase aeration IMO.

Have you or anyone else here used the Seaclone skimmer? Good? Bad?