Reddit reviews Aquarium Corals : Selection, Husbandry, and Natural History

Lights are super important, get good lights. I got new eco tech radians a year ago and my coral growth and color went through the roof. You will also need a fish or two in there. Water flow is also a big consideration with coral, some like almost no current some like getting blasted with a pump all day. A in tank pump that creates some wave action will help the corals rid waste and stay healthy.

Check out this book:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1890087475/ref=mp_s_a_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1494196618&sr=8-1-spell&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=coral+husbantry

Most important part of keeping coral is keeping all your water parameters super stable. One of my reactors sprung a tiny leak and my salinity dropped to about 19, I lost two really awesome corals.

It's also important to know who can live by whom. Corals use chemical warfare to claim territory.

Learn Latin:)

Finally be prepared to lose some very cool and expensive coral. They are so fragile I'm always amazed they survive in our polluted oceans. In the beginning get cheap easy coral, as your tank matures you have a better chance at keeping the more finicky expensive ones.

edit: Last one, a good ro system or access to water from a good ro is a must. Disolved metals can kill coral pretty fast. Check out some of the smaller bio cube reef tanks, they might be a better fit for not much more cash. I love my tank but god are they expensive.

Hey mate. Congrats on jumping into the hobby. Firstly, have you measured ammonia recently? You want to be certain that your tank has cycled properly before adding livestock, even though you have added some fish already.

Clownfish are a great start and get along with most other fish. Some are more aggressive and territorial than others. Any kind of tang is a bad idea in your tank, as it's just too small. But there are a huge range of other awesome fish you can keep with the same striking appeal! Fish like dwarf angels, numerous wrasses and schooling anthias are good striking fish to take the place of a tang.

I would chuck in some clean up crew now for sure, and provided you have indeed cycled, do a a water change to bring those nitrates down. Don't go crazy off the bat with the CuC however. If not enough food is present for them, some can die from starvation and worsen your water quality from the start, which is no good. I know some websites in the States sell CuC packages with 100 or so snails in them for 40G breeders. Crazy! Pretty soon, it's more than likely you will start to experience a diatom bloom and various types of algae blooms as your system reaches some kind of biological equilibrium. If there's one thing I've learned in my limited time in this hobby, it's that you're maintaining a true ecosystem. It's all about balance and slow changes. If you tip the scales too much, too quickly, it will all fall on its head.

 

There's no great rush to stock your tank (nothing good happens fast in this hobby), as you've still go plenty to learn. So after adding your CuC, you should be researching a stocking list using forums and websites like reef central and liveaquaria to find suitable fish that will get along. Don't forget that there are several great books on everything about this hobby that, IMHO, are worthwhile having on your shelf. Maybe start with a book like this one to figure out who's who in the zoo. I purchased that book and it's been pretty helpful. Things that you should know before buying a fish, for example are: Do they jump? Do they eat coral (aka are they reef safe)? Do they eat prepared foods? Are they gonna eat my shrimp? Is my tank big enough? Catching fish can be pretty difficult, so you want to make sure you don't have to once they are in. ;)

 

Next. Corals. I bought this book to really get my head around what was out there. You'll buy a few corals first off, like leathers, GSP, maybe a hammer or torch or frogspawn. Maybe an acan because you're starting to like LPS. This book (and other online resources) can make it easier to understand what tank conditions these different corals require. Things like lighting, feeding, territory and flow.
With regards to your flow, ideally you will want uneven and random flow throughout your tank without any dead spots. Dead spots are where detritus will accumulate and break down, causing your water quality to deteriorate. The more flow the better! The things that prevent us from having a whirlpool are fish (they'd get tired), sand (don't want it blowing around) and coral (some types dislike too much flow). So find a happy middle ground. For example, in my tank I have one MP10 and a pretty powerful return. This generates a consistent flow pattern throughout the tank that is strong enough to not let detritus accumulate, but varied enough to have places in my tank for corals that love flow (right next to powerhead/return) or prefer it to be more gentle (other end of tank to MP10 is my hammers, duncans and torches).

 

But enough from me. One series of videos that really helped me can be watched by starting here - BRS 52 Weeks of Reefing Build. It's a great series produced by a reef shop called Bulk Reef Supply in the US. If you are from the US, I am very jealous, as they don't ship to Australia. The vids can come off sometimes as being a bit advertise-y, pushing the products they sell. But on the whole they are very well produced and contain a great deal of useful information for you to take away and research. They hit on everything you really need to know in this series.

 

Best of luck to ya mate. This hobby is a great thing to be a part of.

 

Edited for grammar and linkfail.

I've read a lot of great reef keeping books and am glad to help you out. I think it's really pretty naive for lots of reefer to solely rely on forum and youtube video advice for this kind of things. Books are written by professionals in the hobby and in marine biology. Thanks for looking into books!

Here is the best book on coral specifically that i Know: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1890087475/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Go down the page on amazon and look at the other recommended books and just pick some with lots of good reviews and written fairly recently. Like past 15 years max.

I own this book, https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1890087475/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It's a little outdated, but it has a ton of info and showcases a lot of corals. It's a good book to have just for the reference material, and even as a coffee table book.