I'm trying to give my tank a good natural look I already have some purple anemone and a xenia colony that doesn't seem to be doing too well... worried about that one too... any info or advice is highly appreciated... being a new hobby I would like to keep things alive for quite awhile... trying to find info on the net about some of these critters is quite difficult and there just isn't any books sold in this area that explain the care of them too well...
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looking for a good starter coral
- Thread starter phantomfisher
- Start date
Tank measure 38"W * 18"D * 24"H, full hood with flouresent and black light lighting, power bio-filter, heater, and mixture of crushed coral and crushed shell gravel... I am new to the hobby I mostly just have had fish but want to try my hand at coral... my purple anemone is doing quite well but doen't like the hermit crabs so I took them out... once I get the hang of this hobby I plan on making a more natural tank of larger size thinking of about a 125 or 150 gallon... but just starting small with the 56 gallon... only have 4 fish in the tank at the moment...
If you care at all what I think...
1) You may consider taking the anemone back, if its purple im guessing it is a condy. It won't survive very long under floresent strips. You MAY consider returning it to the LFS for a credit.
2) If you are planning on coral in the future you should make 2 investments. 1 a lighting system (pretty expensive) and 2 a good skimmer (also kinda expensive)
3) I suggest investing in some good LR. As a general rule a good stand of healthy LR and a good skiimmmer will be all the filtration you will need.
You're smart to start slow. I've had my tank up for a lil over 2 years now and it is just now starting to fill out good.
Be careful of your bio-load. 4 fish, of average tank size, is probably about all you want to keep, reguardless of what the LFS says.
Hope this helps.
B
1) You may consider taking the anemone back, if its purple im guessing it is a condy. It won't survive very long under floresent strips. You MAY consider returning it to the LFS for a credit.
2) If you are planning on coral in the future you should make 2 investments. 1 a lighting system (pretty expensive) and 2 a good skimmer (also kinda expensive)
3) I suggest investing in some good LR. As a general rule a good stand of healthy LR and a good skiimmmer will be all the filtration you will need.
You're smart to start slow. I've had my tank up for a lil over 2 years now and it is just now starting to fill out good.
Be careful of your bio-load. 4 fish, of average tank size, is probably about all you want to keep, reguardless of what the LFS says.
Hope this helps.
B
Thanks snowman for the advice.. I can use all I can get with the info. the fish I know pretty well of their survival care but do want to know as much as I can about the corals... I like the looks of them but of course need to know how to care for them... thanks for the equipment pointers...
Im going slow with a 55 Gl tank and what Snowman said about fish size hits the mark.
Several of the fish I wanted at first wont work because of adult size, so instead of 5 or 6 it,s going to be 2 or 3.
Heck even a dominoe damsel can grow to 5-6 inches which may not seem big till you hold a ruler up against the glass and realize how big a 5 inch fish will really be.
One thing about the "rule" of an inch per gallon..forget it. A better way is to think cubic inch of fish per gallon, and factor in adult size.
A 5 inch trigger does not equal 5 one inch neon gobies when it comes to bioload and room to roam/grow, just something to keep in mind while planning out your tank.
Several of the fish I wanted at first wont work because of adult size, so instead of 5 or 6 it,s going to be 2 or 3.
Heck even a dominoe damsel can grow to 5-6 inches which may not seem big till you hold a ruler up against the glass and realize how big a 5 inch fish will really be.
One thing about the "rule" of an inch per gallon..forget it. A better way is to think cubic inch of fish per gallon, and factor in adult size.
A 5 inch trigger does not equal 5 one inch neon gobies when it comes to bioload and room to roam/grow, just something to keep in mind while planning out your tank.
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