Lighting All Set, so begins the stocking, with help of course!

[JRod]

(Sorry, Long)Well I am finally setup, with the help of Brian (Atlantis). Got 2 250w 6500's and am now moving into the hard corals. The tank looks good, only problem is when the halides trun off, that blue is really hard on the eyes, especially since I am ramping up the time the halides are on, they are mostly off most of the day.
My main problem with stocking my tank is my wife. Not that she has a problem with me stocking, the problem is that it has to be colorful. Of all my livestock, I am lucky if I personally have chosen two things. I am banned from brown things, we have too much purple, new pieces have to be blue, yellow, pink, orange, green, and of course all in proper balance. So now begins my frag search. Being I don't have alot of cash to throw around, but would like to begin picking up pieces here and there, who has stuff to sell (now that you know my parameters), being I can't trade much, and how much.

Would love to go to one of these meetings, but I just haven't been able to fit one in. Hopefully, eventually.

[BORECKI]

It'd good that your wife's involved in the tank. but get her a good book on coral husbandry so she is aware about corals stinging each other for space. Let her be aware of sweeper tenticles, chemical warfare and the perils of mixing softies with stonies.
Good luck, Boris.

[katspaw]

Congrads on getting things going. I know your excitement is at an all time high :D The stocking and placement of corals is one of the most important steps you will now take. One question, is this going to be a mixed tank (ie...Softies and Stonies )?? Boris has hit on one thing that is a must in learning. Softies and some LPS coral will and do sting for room. And there are a few SPS that do as well. Now as choices, I think the Montipora would be a good selection to start with. It comes in branching and cap shapes, and the colors range from purple, green and orange. I have several frags of these corals, and they are good growers. My orange monti has pink tips. You might want to talk to Roth, he has a colony of green branching monti. Good luck HTH.

Tracey

[JRod]

I've had my tank up and ruuning for alittle over a year now, and it is stocked some what. Problem is, is that it gets very expensinve to buy corals at the pet shop, so I am stocking slowly. I currently have a mix of hard and soft, but prior to now I was running VHO, so I tended to stay away from SPS and LPS. Now that I have the lighting, I want to branch out. I plan on seperating the tank out, to have soft on the bottom/third of tank, and acroporas up top or so. I have done the readings and been involved in tanks for abit before I got one, didn't want to be naive and have everything die off and wonder why. She is very familiar with sweepers, and chem warfare, my uncle's elegance has shown her that. So I am just looking to populate the tank abit. If I can get a good digital camera, I'll post pics. Thanks for the leads, and tips.