corals

[cusweatin]

just curious to some opinions when its safe to add some beginer corals tank has been running 2months now fish are doing excellent no die off etc

[VoodooChild]

It really depends on the lighting over your tank, but mushrooms are good hardy ones that don't require alot of light. Alot of pretty blue and green and they get to be decent sized too. If your light is a bit stronger perhaps some xenia or anthelia.

[VoodooChild]

You pm'd 260 w, which is a good amount. The only thing really holding you back now is your tank may not be stable (generally want to wait 6 months). I'd start out with something easy like the shrooms and xenia providing that you have very very low nitrates. I'm not much of a coral expert though, perhaps someone else could chime in.

[mogurnda]

I am not an expert, but that doesn't prevent me from having an opinion. 2 months is too soon to be adding any corals, IMO. The tank is still settling, and there may be hair algae and cyano blooms yet to come. Xenia likes a stable, high pH (>8.1) to be happy. Mushrooms are a lot more forgiving, but you still have to watch for algae overgrowth. If it were my tank, I would wait a little while, just for peace of mind.
The other side of the issue is what you eventually want to have. Once established, xenia and mushrooms can spread quickly, and may crowd other things that you like better. I am not putting them down, I especially think xenia is cool. Just keep in mind that it can be hard to change your mind once they have attached to your live rock.

[cathy]

hi, this discussion is interesting to me as a newcomer. my tank is 5 months; my residents are doing fine, but I am also being scrupulous about maintenance. We did have a pretty good algal bloom early on, including some hair algae. Snails, hermits, and a couple of urchins (that grew out of the rock) made a major contribution to control, though I am finding new homes for the urchins as they are of a size now that is starting to get to the good coralline stuff! Daily I clean the glass. Also daily I gently disrupt the surface of the crushed coral where there is any growth, not enough to make a real cloud or to disturb the lower layer, but just enough to disrupt obvious growth. This seems to be doing the trick, as my clean up detail is getting briefer and briefer; the algal growth has slowed greatly. Any comments on the advisability of this routine?