Choosing corals for nano build

[NanoNana]

Hello again. My 24 gallon is cycling,

Total water volume to fill was 17 gallons. Dimensions 17.5” cube.

I have my fish stock list as follows:
Yellow clown goby
Royal gramma or exquisite firefish
Wheeler’s shrimp goby with red banded pistol

Lighting is noo-psyche k7 mini

Corals will be beginner friendly so mostly soft corals, the requisite zoas, some gsp on the back glass and probably some. I thought about maybe some photosynthetic gorgonia or some sinularia near the top as it seems to like stronger lighting but worry about how fast and large they grow??
The hubs likes hammer corals and euphyllia in general but I worry with the dimensions if the tank if they will sting the dickens out of other corals?
I do want to add some other lps with time ( I love blastomusa, micromusa (acans) and favia)
And eventually when parameters are stable some RFA.

Are there any cool easies I’m overlooking or definite no adds in a tank with those dimensions?

I don’t mind running the tank as a FOWLR for a while if it will decrease the likelihood that I will kill corals. I’ve heard everything from wait 6 months to don’t wait at all. Thoughts?

I’d like to eventually stick some feather dusters in their as well and am I correct that those would be an after 6 or so months add?

Thanks in advance!

 

[NotReefsafe]

This is just my opinion so take it as you will!

In the LPS/soft coral tank I like the look of the not super bright crazy colors. You can get a lot of beautiful pink, purple, green, and white colors with Alveopora, gorgonians, Pipe Organ, Xenia, Leathers, and some euphyllia. I think the fluorescence of the GSP and some zoas don't work as well with this color theme. Of course, this is just to give you food for thought! I look forward to seeing the tank and I like the fish you have chosen.

 

[kevgib67]

To give you an idea, this is 6 gallons more than what you have. The picture saves me from listing what you can have. Best of luck, I’m open to any and all questions.

 

[VintageReefer]

I have a 1.1 g pico and if I can keep it in here you can too

 

[NanoNana]

To give you an idea, this is 6 gallons more than what you have. The picture saves me from listing what you can have. Best of luck, I’m open to any and all questions.

Such a beautiful tank! Looks like quite a variety too!
So 30 gallons?
I was a little disappointed honestly that my rock and sand displaced 7 gallons of water. Because I really wanted two fish in the column. I have two on the list that are so small I may try a fourth after the tank stabilizes a bit. How does your damsel do with everyone? One of my grandsons wanted an azure damsel but I replaced it with the clown Goby because so many said they were quite aggressive.

It seems every coral I like is low to moderate light, moderate flow. Lol. Did you have trouble getting the euphyllia you have to acclimate? Or what method did you use?
I hadn’t planned on any sps (and won’t even try it with a clown goby in the tank). I just figured it gives me a reason to talk to hubs into a bigger tank down the road. Lol. I think my problem is there are too many choices. Lol

 

[NanoNana]

I have a 1.1 g pico and if I can keep it in here you can too

Gee thanks. Now I want a pico downstairs……
I do want some polyps. And I honestly love pulsing Xenia as well. Do you find the polyps send babies all over the tank?

 

[VintageReefer]

I figure that out years ago and haven’t kept Xenia since. There is no Xenia in any of my tanks. Maybe you see my firework clove polyps? They don’t spread fast or create spores

 

[NanoNana]

This is just my opinion so take it as you will!

In the LPS/soft coral tank I like the look of the not super bright crazy colors. You can get a lot of beautiful pink, purple, green, and white colors with Alveopora, gorgonians, Pipe Organ, Xenia, Leathers, and some euphyllia. I think the fluorescence of the GSP and some zoas don't work as well with this color theme. Of course, this is just to give you food for thought! I look forward to seeing the tank and I like the fish you have chosen.

I honestly do like the “bland” corals quite a bit. After reading your reply I stated looking for images of specifically soft/leather tanks and found quite a few. This one tank though was phenomenal with pulsing Xenia and gsp everywhere and some sindularia rising out of the Xenia. It looked like meadows leading into to forests. She had just added dabs of color here and there with rodactis and it made me want to completely redo my rock scape. I probably wouldn’t have seen this tank had you not sent me in that direction so thanks so much for tossing that out there.

 

[NanoNana]

I figure that out years ago and haven’t kept Xenia since. There is no Xenia in any of my tanks. Maybe you see my firework clove polyps? They don’t spread fast or create spores

Yes the clove polyps were my question. Thats wonderful to hear. Thank you! I’ve heard that about Xenia and Kenya tree leathers as well. Not thinking I could contain them in such small confines.

 

[kevgib67]

Such a beautiful tank! Looks like quite a variety too!
So 30 gallons?
I was a little disappointed honestly that my rock and sand displaced 7 gallons of water. Because I really wanted two fish in the column. I have two on the list that are so small I may try a fourth after the tank stabilizes a bit. How does your damsel do with everyone? One of my grandsons wanted an azure damsel but I replaced it with the clown Goby because so many said they were quite aggressive.

It seems every coral I like is low to moderate light, moderate flow. Lol. Did you have trouble getting the euphyllia you have to acclimate? Or what method did you use?
I hadn’t planned on any sps (and won’t even try it with a clown goby in the tank). I just figured it gives me a reason to talk to hubs into a bigger tank down the road. Lol. I think my problem is there are too many choices. Lol

It’s a 32g . The yellow tail damsel was added last and is very passive . I did add a tailspot blenny about 4 months ago but all the other fish have been in there almost 2 1/2 years. I don’t have real high par. I placed the torches where they could get a little more random flow and hammers and frogspawn where the flow was a little lower but still moderate. If you are looking for a small fish with a small bioload but a huge personality I highly recommend a tailspot blenny. Happy reefing!

 

[NotReefsafe]

I honestly do like the “bland” corals quite a bit. After reading your reply I stated looking for images of specifically soft/leather tanks and found quite a few. This one tank though was phenomenal with pulsing Xenia and gsp everywhere and some sindularia rising out of the Xenia. It looked like meadows leading into to forests. She had just added dabs of color here and there with rodactis and it made me want to completely redo my rock scape. I probably wouldn’t have seen this tank had you not sent me in that direction so thanks so much for tossing that out there.

That's fantastic. Keep us updated!