Issue with my first Coral(s)

[dconyers]

Hello -

First, thank you in advance for taking the time to read this and provide any feedback. I've had my tank established for about 5 years, but it was only populated with a couple of fish and live rock. In the past two months, I've moved my tank to my office (where I spend too much of my time) and therefor have become quite active in the hobby again.

Here are the statistics on my tank:
Size: 42( or maybe 48?) Gallon Hex
Filtration:
[list:64aaef3032] CPR Bak-Pak w/o bio-bale. Runs 24/7
Rena XP2 Canister Filter with Nitrate Sponge and Pillow Batting that I replace weekly.
Circulation
In addition to outflow from filters, I have 2 maxi-jets (600 and 900)
Lighting:
250 W MH on for 10 hours per day.
2x32 W Actinics on for 2 hours before/after.
(should I reduce lighting?)
Temperature:
Low around 77. Hits 81 after lights have been on 10 hours
Live Rock:
~50 pounds. Rock goes from bottom of tank to about 8 inches from water level.
Sand Bed:
About 3-4" Deep. Established for 5 years, though sifted/reset 2 months ago.
Critters:
~30 Blue Leg Crabs
~45 Cerith Snails
~30 Turbo Snails
~10 Red-legged Crabs
1 Emerald Crab (2 months old)
1 Cleaner Shrimp (8 days in tank)
1 Pistol Shrimp (1 month in tank)
Livestock:
1 Tomato Clownfish (5 years in tank)
1 Six-Line Wrasse (2 years in tank)
1 Small Yellow Tang (1 month in tank)
1 Barnacle Blenny (1 month in tank)
Plants
Caulerpa Prolifera - cropped, yet still in tank
Tests (Salifert Test Kits)
Salinity: 1.025
pH: 8.4
Alkalinity: 3.5 meq/L
Ammonia: 0
Calcium: 330 ppm

[/list:u:64aaef3032]

Wow, that was a long intro for a simple question: I'd like to try my luck at adding a coral to my tank and would appreciate some input as to whether my tank is ready for a coral and, if so, what type of coral you'd recommend as my first.

I don't have a calcium reactor, nor do I necessarily desire to purchase one in the upcoming months.

I also don't have a chiller, and I realize 81 is probably a tad warm for corals. That's the extreme and I'm working to get my tank to stay below 80, but haven't quite figured out how to get enough air to flow over the tank... I'm still working on it.

Once again, I'd really appreciate any advice, suggestions, or even links to websites that already answer these questions. I see a number of people have corals for trade/purchase on this site, but I wanted to ask for general recommendations before I started contacting those to purchase corals that might not be appropriate for my tank!

thanks, doug.

[Jeff]

do you want soft corals or sps?

[hobogato]

you could pretty much keep any coral if you get your calcium a little higher. you didnt show test results for nitrite and nitrate, but with your discription, it sounds like you wont have a problem with those either. you could start with some easier corals like mushrooms, zoas, palys, and green star polyps. keep in mind, that those corals tend to take over once they are established, so you may want to have a plan for culling them or isolating them from taking over the entire tank. you could also put in leather corals of various kinds, just keep in mind that they produce some toxins that you may get built up if you arent running carbon. you could also start with LPS, since they are a little easier than SPS. maybe an open brain or a torch, frogspawn or hammer. i guess, it really depends on what you like. after a few months of keeping LPS, you probably would be ok with some SPS, just start with some of the hardier ones, like digitata and caps.

[dconyers]

Thank you all for your help. I [tried] to listen to your recommendations and found that djdubdub (Tim) was selling some mushrooms. I headed over to his house and he really needed to offload all his corals and offered me a super (I think/hope!) deal to take them all. In hindsight, I should have realized that I am a beginner coral-keeper, but I didn't. So, now I'm the new owner of:

1) A whole bunch green mushrooms.
2) 4-5 pieces of recordea
3) A number of small leathers
4) A very large (7") umbrella leather.
5) Devil's hand leather
6) Bubble Coral.
7) Pipe Organ Coral
[As far as the names go, this is as best I could remember them from what Tim told me. I will be sending out 'ID Requests' in the near future!]

That's the good news. I had a lot of trouble situating all these new inhabitants within the limited 42 gallon hex tank, but I finally got everything situated and it was looking pretty good. I placed everything in the tank on Wednesday night and the corals were looking fairly lively by Friday afternoon. The buble coral still wasn't completely open, but it was opening a little more each day. The same was true with the Umbrella Leather - he was standing up a little better each day.

The bad news is that my devil's hand leather seems to have moved this weekend. Do leathers move on their own? He is attached to a small rock (~1/4-1/2 pound), but doesn't seem to have much trouble moving around the tank. Well, he managed to topple himself right on top of the bubble coral and was stuck their all weekend (I was out of town). I picked him up this morning, but about 15-20% of his surface area seems to be shedding and looks white underneath. I've moved him lower in the tank (which seems like where he was heading) and away from the bubble coral. What is the prognosis for him? Will he live, or did the bubble 'sting' him and will he die completely? Thanks in advance for any information regardig how much leather's move as well as the current state of my leather! (BTW- the bubble is mostly closed, but seems to still look okay).

Thanks in advance - doug.

[Richard]

Leathers are pretty hardy so there is a good chance it will recover from being stung by the bubble coral. If it does not and the dead area begins to expand, then what you want do do is cut off all the damaged area with a razor blade. The healthy portion will regenerate.

In the meantime I would brush the area with a soft toothbrush to remove any dead tissue so a bacterial infection does not develop.

[don-n-sa]

Wow, that was a long intro for a simple question:


Actually it saved a ton of time because we would of asked anyway ;)

calcium is a little low...even softies use calcium.

Temp swing is a little much, its not that 81 is all that high, its the swing from 77-81 that concerns me.

If you already have fans then I would sugggest adding a heater , and set it at 79-80 so at night when the lights go off the heater will keep the temp more stable.

[brewercm]

The only concern I'd have with putting the heater in and keeping it at 79 is once the lights come on the temp will most likely spike higher than the 81 he's getting now, basically start higher end higher. Possibly putting a small fan on the same timer you have your halides set to might help.

My old tank used to have a range around the same and I never had any problems with it, maybe some specific species that are very temp sensitive may have a problem though.