Please help with first coral

[duckhuntboy]

My second nano, a 7g minibow, is stable, and ready for a coral (I hope?). This is also my first saltwater tank that I will attempt corals (first being a FOWLR nano). This might need to go in newbie forum, but because of nano-lighting, I started it here.

I am going to purchase a red sea xenia frag. My lighting is from two 13watt PC's, 1 10k, and one combo. 7 lbs live rock, 2.5" sand bed. Water circulation from whisper HOB with no media, and 100G/H powerhead. No skimmer. Parameters are at good levels, and have been that way for a while. My questions are as follows:

1. Will my lighting be sufficient? I have plenty of room to place it close to my lighting.

2. Will my water flow be sufficient?

3. When I get my coral (from the web), how do I acclimate the coral to my water? (looking for soaking bag, adding water intervals, etc.)

4. How do I "fasten" my coral to the rock once I have added it, without moving my LR?

Please help! Thanks.

-Kyle

[duckhuntboy]

I forgot to ask about initial lighting when introduced to a tank. How is this done? (as far as acclimating to my tank's lighting)

[clowdy]

your lighting is good for softies and LPS but if you intend to upgrade to SPS you'll need more. you do need more circulation in the water. just throw a little Rio or something like it in. also i would advise against xenia as a first coral. they are very particular about water conditions and will kick the bucket in about 5 minutes if anything is off. it is a great coral for a nano, but you might want to hold off for a few months until you get used to having corals. if you do go through with the xenia i would get it local if possible, they dont ship well. i use the water addition method for aclimation but any of the methods you mentioned would be fine.

[mswt5]

I would start off with a some mushrooms. Easy to keep, inexpensive, dont require a ton of light, and there are so many different shapes and colors to choose from. Find a small mushroom covered rock at your LFS. It doesnt need to have a ton of them on it either, just one of two will work. Its easier if there are just a few to try to get the person who works there to give it to you for as cheap as possible. :) They will spread quickly in the right water conditions and because they come on the rock you wont have to try to attach them anywhere. If you can get them multiplying well and looking good then you might try a xenia or something more difficult. And heck if they spread too much just pull one of your rocks with them on it and try to do some trading with your LFS. Work your way up from there. Ive seen some awesome tanks that just have mushrooms in them. Mushrooms mushrooms everywhere! All different shapes and colors. hehe Good luck.