Looking for advice on first coral in 6-7 month old tank.

[Xyres]

So my work recently got a bunch of Frogspawn frags from a local reefer. We also have a couple small mushrooms as well as devils hand, a very nice looking brain and a torch. As someone who is just beginning reefing what would be best for me?

My water parameters are:

PH: 8.2
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0.1
Nitrate: 2-3

In my tank I have:

Hermit crabs
Pom pom crab
Orange spotted diamond goby
Red stripe angel
Two ocellaris clown fish
Two cleaner shrimp
Four snails

This is in a 55 gallon with skimmer, LED lighting and high water flow.

[FitoPharmer]

Leathers are always a good choice for beginners, they are very forgiving. Mushrooms are also bullet proof, but some people find they really take over your tank over time leaving little room for anything else. If you can get them local euphyllia corals like: hammer coral, torch, and frog spawn are all very hardy and easy to keep. They are not the best choice if they take a long voyage as they are prone to infections and getting severely pierced during transit. Polyps are another good choice, there are many types, some not as hardy as other. Corals like clove polyps, yellow polyps, and green star polyps are also very tough. While other polyps like zoanthids can range in difficulty from super easy to nearly impossible. Also what type of LED are you currently running?

[Xyres]

Its a Radion set up with the TIR lenses.

And thanks for the great information.

[FitoPharmer]

Well that light is bright enough to keep anything you want. After that it comes down to the flow and water conditions. SPS generally demand cleaner, more stable, faster moving water. While LPS and sofites like slower dirtier water and can stand more variation in water parameters. That being said some SPS like Montipora are very easy SPS and lives naturally with LPS and softies. And many LPS corals are easy to keep, They just do much better if you can spot feed them. Was there some type of tank you were trying to achieve? species tank? Low maintenace? ultra stunning? little bit of everything?

[Xyres]

I would like to do a little bit of everything at the moment. In this tank I am not looking to do anything to spectacular except for caring for what I have properly and then placing them in a larger new tank when I get the money and allowing them to truly flourish with what I can give them. One day I would like to frag my own corals.

[FitoPharmer]

If you look up anything your not sure about you will do fine. I find liveaquaria, a site from the states, has a huge ID section with fantastic pictures and they have most common things listed. If I am not sure what a specific coral, fish, or invert is about or needs I always check to see if they have a page first.

[mandyplo]

Originally Posted by Xyres

So my work recently got a bunch of Frogspawn frags from a local reefer. We also have a couple small mushrooms as well as devils hand, a very nice looking brain and a torch. As someone who is just beginning reefing what would be best for me?

I personally love the looks of hammers, torches, frogspawns etc. I would pick up the torch that came in your work if its still there and give it a shot! The leather is a good choice too if you can afford both - great starter corals, these are some that I also am attempting as a novice reefer.