Hi, I'm a fish-only guy new to corals

Greetings everyone,

I've had marine tanks for over 15 years. Recently I've been doing some research, and believe I'm ready to try adding some of the hardier corals that don't require intense lighting or pristine water conditions. I'm on a tight budget, so I can't afford top shelf equipment or livestock. As a result, I've had to build my tanks up slowly to where they are today.

My main display tank is 55G with a 15G above-tank refugium. It has about a 5" sandbed and is pretty much full to the top with a combination of live and dry rock. A few rocks are completely covered with coraline. The other rocks have very spotty to no coraline, but they do have little, round, pale lavender sponges. All of the rocks are crawling with brittle stars, bristleworms, and gammarus amphipods. The refugium has about a 4" sandbed with sea shells, live rock rubble, and chaeto algae. The only other filtration is an AquaC Remora HOB skimmer. I also have 2 large powerheads in opposite corners for water movement. A Current USA Orbit Marine LED on a programmable ramp timer provides the lighting. For livestock, I have a Flame Hawkfish, an orchid dottyback, an azure damsel, a green clown goby, and about a dozen large nassarius snails. I also have a 10G nano tank with similar conditions, except it has no refugium and T5 lighting. It contains 2 green gudgeons, a yellowhead jawfish, and 3 or 4 nassarius snais. My water parameters are as follows: SG=1.025, Alk=10.5KH, CA=460ppm, Mg=1350ppm, NO3=7.5ppm, PO4=unknown, but was very low last time I checked (my test kit is expired).

The reason I've joined this forum is to get advice on which corals are available in the general area that would be suitable for my tanks and not too expensive. My lighting probably isn't sufficient for SPS or LPS, but I've been told that zoas, mushrooms, or softies might work. Quite frankly, the selection in the fish stores around Cedar Rapids is pretty pathetic. Most specimens are dull, unhealthy, invasive, or really expensive. Paying $50 for shipping from an online store is not a viable option for me either. So I'm hoping there are people here that can help me with my dilemma, and judging from the posts I've read so far, it seems I've come to the right place. If so, I would be happy to become a dues-paying member of the society.

Thanks in advance,
Eric

 

Thank you for the very generous offer. Definitely in my price range. I had no plans to be in DSM in the near future, but now I might make up some excuse. Based on your offer of free stuff, I've decided to become a GIRS member.

 

Since I'm new at this I'll probably hold off on the SPS for a while. First I would just like to see any coral survive and do well in my tank. I've been looking lots of different places for ideas, including Live Aquaria. I don't care too much about movement, but I would like something colorful that won't take over. I agree that zoas would probably be a good choice.