Corals for beginners?

I amsetting up my first salt water aquarium and I have come to sort or a stand still as far as planned inhabitants. At first I thought that a fowlr setup would be best but then I started considering fish disease and things like that. Then I started thinking about corals. I like them a lot but I sort of lack the resources and experience to really get too in depth with coral keeping. The tank I have picked out for my salt water setup is a 55-60 gallon ( not exactly sure) flat back hex tank. It has an internal filter box with a mesh filter in it ( I have never seen one before until I found this one). I have one power head in the mesh filter that pulls water through to give it the mechanical filtration. I also have a second power head in the tank to provide current flow. I just bought a coralife high output 36inch fixture with actinic abd daylight bulbs. I know this isn't the most powerful light but it fit the price range. I have filled the tank with water and I used a tropic Marin salt mix. I used my well water to fill although I have heard it is better to use ro water. That's pretty much where I stand now. Does anyone have any suggestions as far as corals or fish that I could keep using my current setup? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Shane

do you have live sand and live rock goin on?
how long has ur tank been cycling?
also i would love to see pix of ur hex tank!
im starting a SW hex aswell:)

Yeah I have about 40 pounds of live sand. I put it in when I mixed the water about 4 weeks ago. I just ordered about 45 pounds of live rock from Walt Smith through my local fish store. I have heard the drawback about ordering live rock but the price was better and I figured since the tank is empty I could sacrifice the extra cycle time. I am supposed to be getting the rock in on Thursday and I'm not exactly sure how much clean is enough. I read that you have to scrape off anything that has died during shipping but I really dont know if I will be able to tell the difference. I don't want to clean too much and get rid of all the good stuff. Any Ideas? I was thinking about getting some mushrooms and maybe some star polyps once I get the live rock cycling. I read that they have lower light requirements and are pretty hardy.


Here's my tank:

https://s880.photobucket.com/albums/ac1/smicho2/

howd it go?

Still a work in progress. I have added some stuff since I took those pictures. I got the rock and added a coralife 65 skimmer. Someone told me that the skimmers weren't that good but it was after I had bought it. It seems to be working good for now but I guess I'll just see how long it lasts. A few days after I got the rock I added 12 hermits, and emerald crab, and a blue damsel. I know this wasn't the best idea but I was anxious and my girlfriend was with me : ) The damsel died a few days later and about a week later the crab did, but the hermits are still kicking it. I added 12 initially and idk if I still have all of them because they are all over. I was ok with this initial death because I looked it as some biological stuff for the bacteria on the rock to actually break down. I let the hermits hang out for about 3 or 4 weeks and kept testing my water quality. Finally it looks like it cycled fully so I am ok to add fish. This past week I added some more sand and rearranged my rocks. On Friday I added an ehiem ecco filter for some added filtration. On Saturday I got two clowns. Hopefully I will have better luck with these : ) If they survive for a while I will try another. I talked to a guy at the pet store that has a watchman goby paired with a fire shrimp that he would sell me. I might get them if all goes well. I still need some equipment like a uv sterilizer and a power head and stuff. I also recently got a 29 gallon biocube that I plan on growing some corals and using as my QT tank when I get new fish.

How is your setup coming??


Here are some pics:

Nice!

Looking good! :)

Thanks guys. I just need to get some corals growing and I'll actually look like I know what I'm doing : )

i just started a salt tank my self so far so good it been uo for about 6 months and havent lost anything yet i think salt easier than fresh my self just my 2 cents

What all do you have in it? I'm still trying to decide what all I want to keep

nice!!!! lookin good bro!!
keep us updated on this!!!:)

Smicho2 wrote:

What all do you have in it? I'm still trying to decide what all I want to keep

i just have live sand live rock and sum inverts and a dragonet in it and a clown

nice!!!
dragonetts are baddass!!!!!

I'm keeping zoas, mushrooms, kenya tree, and a frogspawn at the moment in my 29.

Cool! I have been wanting to get a mandarin dragonet but I wanted to get a good copepod colony going first. I was thinking I might buy a bottle of tigerpods soon and let them multiply for a while. I talked to a guy over the weekend that said he would sell a watchman goby paired with a Japanese fire shrimp for 30 bucks. I might get them but I haven't decided. I like the dwarf angels too. I was thinking eiter the coral beauty of the flame angel. I'm trying to only get reef safe fish because I want to get some mushrooms, zoas, and lps later on. I was thinking I would keep the 55 fish only for now and grow out the corals I want in my biocube. Then I can add them/frags to the 55 later.

I liked reading all you have done and its inspiring me to do the same. Can you update us on your tank and maybe show some pictures?