Help me pick and source some new corals

Pbh-reef · Jan 8, 2019

Hi R2R!

I’ve had my 10 gallon nuvo since August. I got it used with the following corals - jack o’lantern lepto, Orange Monti setosa, acan, green mushroom, toadstool, pink/orange Goni, and gsp. Since then I’ve only added a Tonga branch with some green zoas (dragon eye or something) and a green birdsnest. The tank has no dosing (2-3 gallon water changes every week) and has a a Kessil A80. Flow is a sicce .5 and jebao at the lowest level.

Since getting the tank I had some issues (lepto bleaching when I moved it to high, Goni losing tissue) but everyone is recovering and the tank is doing pretty ok coral wise. The lepto, acan, Monti and birdsnest have all grown/added new polyps.

I’d like to add some more corals to
My tank but I’m really not sure which ones. I’m worried about coral aggression in such a small tank and I have no prior experience with coral so I’m not how bad it would be. I’d love to get some beautiful encrusting montis and plate montis, but I also don’t know if I really want to get into dosing. Most of the corals that came with the tank are either orange or green, so I would like to steer away from more of those colors and To pinks and blues. I also don’t really want to buy frags much over $20 so I think I’ll need to stick to buying from other hobbiests and the LFS. Any advice about an online vendor to buy from?

So long post to ask - what corals would you recommend to me in this situation? I love the goniopora but don’t relish more super delicate corals. I like do love the way it flows and the delicacy of its coloration. I was sort of thinking about frogspawn, alveoporas, maybe a chalice but I don’t really understand what a chalice looks like when it’s not a frag. Are their soft corals I should look more closely at? Should I not worry so much about dosing? As you can see I’m feeling a bit lost even though I have so little real estate to fill up so any help is appreciated.

Here’s a pic of the tank taken under normal (blue) lighting with the aquariam cam app, apologies it looks so filtered but it’s the best I can do now!

Reefing Madness · Jan 10, 2019

Pbh-reef · Jan 10, 2019

Thanks! To try to summarize my over long post-

I have a 10 gallon with Kessil A80 since August. Got it used with a collection of soft, sps and lps. Corals doing ok and growing.

I am looking for corals that-
- are not orange or green
- will not be super aggressive (unless people think that’s ok) in terms of stinging other corals
-I’m a bit worried about super fast growers in tiny tank, but I’d also like to get those rocks covered! (Yeah I know that’s a contradiction...)
-are not very difficult to care for (I love my Goni frag but it is a drama queen!)
-I’d love to not have to does alk/cal but am willing to consider it for sure
-I’d ideally not like to spend more than $20 a frag - any advice about where to buy?

Corals I like the look of include -
Bubble coral, birdsnest, montis (especially plating), hammers and frogspawn, Goni and alveopora, acans.

I’m pretty knew at corals so any suggestions are appreciated. I just don’t want to walk into my LFS with no strong ideas because that seems like a recipe for disaster.

Contrariwise · Jan 11, 2019

The Bird of Paradise seriatopora (birds nest) is pretty sweet and fast growing. Not a rock cover-er but easy to care for and beautiful.

My playing Monti is growing like a weed. Be careful with placement though as it will cast shadows on the area below. My encrustring Monti is slower growing, but I haven't had it as long.

Have you looked at ricordeas? They tend to grow slower than mushrooms but are visually stunning.

Acans are nice but slow growing, feeding LPS pellets showed good results with mine.

There's always Zoas, hammers and frogspawn.

I shop World Wide Corals, Tidal Gardens and Unique Corals. They have amazing quality and great selection. If you don't buy "originals" colors that are unique to a brand (like the WWC Jello Shot acropora) then can get some good deals on nice corals. Each of these sites have frag packs for a good price and they have live sales on eBay. WWC will usually announce here but sign up for their emails lists.