Looks like it's time for my first coral

[Buckeye ME]

I've had my 15 running smoothly for about 3 months now and I think I got the hang of things.

My water parameters have been steady, and as of tonight were

Ca - 420
KH - 8
pH - 8.2
NO3 - 0
NO2 - 0
NH3 - 0

From all I know these are good enough for reef, correct?

And now for suggestion...what should I get? Looking for something good to get started in, and of course reasonably priced. I was thinking of some pulsing xenia, but would love some frogspawn too. With Phishy's sale Saturday after the meeting I figure it's a perfect time to buy.

[TacoKing]

Looks like you're ready. Xenia is an interesting coral.. For some people it grows crazy in there tanks. Others can't keep it alive at all. I wouldn't recommend it for a first time purchase. You might want to get some sort of LPS or softie. Maybe a leather frag or a favia. Zoos and mushrooms are also a good starter.

Good luck and welcome to reefs!

-Rob

[zeppelin]

Originally posted by TacoKing
Zoos and mushrooms are also a good starter.

Good luck and welcome to reefs!

-Rob

Yep. Zoos and shrooms are great to start off with. Easier coral to take care of, and gets some color in the tank. Good recommendation.

Larry

[prance1520]

Hey Buckeye ME,
Congrats on getting your setup going well. Just curious, what kind of lighting are you running, and are you running a skimmer? I wish I wasn't in the middle of a tank move or I'd be willing to frag a couple things for you if you were interested in them.

If you want your more than welcome to stop over my new apartment after phishys and look at stuff so when its a little more stable I can frag you out something.

I'ma have to agree with TacoKing, while I personally like xenia, if your not careful it can overtake a 15g in no time at all. Its the kind of coral that you like till you want it gone, then it just never goes away. I'd look at zoos (can be very cool, grow well, fairly easy to frag). If you have a halide, there are a couple SPS that I've seen do fairly well in a smaller system (I wouldn't start with these, just saying that if your planning out your whole stock list, it's still possible). I like leather frags too, some have really nice shapes to them. Enjoy and hopefully see you saturday.

Matt

[Bcollins111900]

With having a 15 gallon I would be very picky on what I am putting in it. I would pass on the xenia as it has the potential to spread like wild fire which would easily over take a 15 gallon. There are so many things you can get just don't settle for something because it is a good deal, get it because it is a sweet looking coral. Hopefully you can pick up some cool stuff this weekend.

[Buckeye ME]

Good call, forgot to mention I have 96W quad PC, and a DIY skimmer is in the works but not done yet.

[cadams]

lets not forget the obligatory green star polyp! its not a reef until you got GSP growing out of control

[prance1520]

Haha, go go gadget GSP. Next thing you know you it has eaten one of your rocks.

But it sounds like some cool mushrooms to start would work well for you. Once the skimmer is up maybe some zoos if you put them higher up. I'd look for hairy mushrooms, I think they are pretty cool and very hearty. Lots of others out there, just keep your eyes open.

I'd also try to get them off someone who has had them or who grows them under flouresant lighting (PCs, vho) because I've seen that moving from halide to flouresant does funny things to mushrooms. I've seen them change shape, color, and size when moved between the two, so what you buy isn't always what stays. Course, you could get them from under halides and see what cool things nature does to adapt. Anyways, I'm starting to ramble....again.

Matt

[Andrew]

Get some muchrooms or yellow polyps. Something that you don't have to an arm and leg for.