Newb needs advice
 

Hello all:

I have started a 29G tank and need some advice:

I would like to have some coral, some fish (Chromis, Cardinal, Clown)
and need some help deciding what species of coral to choose from.

I do have several years experience keeping fish only in saltwater, but am entirely new to the reef experience

Any advice would be good advice. I have the patience to do it right and do not wish to kill creatures by means of stupidity.

29G
36# live rock, 35# aragonite sand and crushed coral
aquaclear 50
Coralife super skimmer 65
2 zoomed rotating powerheads
Coralife 24" lunar aqualife (2x65W)
:biggrin:

i have done well with birds nest and tree corals (my first corals got at frag fest) i found a cabage coral in my tank and is doing great. i was told that leather and sps are my best bet they might do good for you. a good book is aquarium corals by eric h. borneman lots of info.

I see you have PC lighting on your system. With that kind of lighting, assuming you are not upgrading, I would recommend softies, and zoas/zoos. There is also some types of corals, such a sun coral, that are not photosynthetic, and may be of interest to you in the future.

Xenia,green star polyps, most leathers, zoas, palys, mushrooms, frogspawn/hammer. MAYBE some of the less light thirsty sps such as birdsnest, digitata, if placed at the tippy top of the tank.

Thanks
 

Thank you all for the advice.

Any issues between fish and corals I should consider?

With your lighting I would go with softies. Are you planning for metal halides?

Stay away from SPS corals for now. Most of these require high light (metal halides), high flow & extremely high water quality.

Softies and certain types of LPS (large polyp stonies) are well suited to reef newbie tanks since they are much more forgiving of water quality & will do well under your PC lighting.

ive read that using crushed coral in a reef tank isnt a good thing, as it can trap a lot of nitrates.

I agree that softies & LPS are your best bet. You may also want to include an anemone for your clown to host.