coral choices

what are some nice coral that require low to med light? it can be hard or soft coral

 

xenia,mushrooms,duncans,most types of polyps,kenya,nepthia,sponge,suncoral.to name a few.

 

thank you that is a good start for me. with a 50/50 65 watt X2 coral life light source, what is the most intense coral i can get with out going to MH?

 

if your looking to start out with a new coral try Kenya tree, this stuff will grow anywhere anytime. It is very pretty, and EASSSSY, great starter, the only think is that is spreads very very easily.

 

i have read that the kenya trees usually die after a few months to a year in captivity, how true is this?

 

i've really never heard that.i have a 3rd generation purple kenya

 

Unfortuneitly you only have a total of 130 watts of 50/50 .
You are sorta limited as to what you can keep successfully in your tank
( most softies and stony's require strong lighting )

And never under estimate the need for proper lighting, it's what corals
depend on most , right next to proper water parameters.

On those lights though I would say you could keep (off the top of my head),
Star polyp grasses ( sevral kinds )
Clove polyps ( sevral kinds/colors )
Kenya tree
Xenia ( but they need to be high in tank , they love light the more the better it seems )
Colt coral ( grows real well under soft lighting )
some leathers such as a toadstool,devils hand,spaghetti ( but they really would prefer more light )
Montapora ( would be the only plating coral i would try with the lights that you have now and high in the tank )

Those above that i mentioned are the only one's i would try under the lighting that you have availible now.
And i'm not so sure some of the leather/monti would prosper/grow all that much.
Really depends on depth of the tank you have,
( spectrum and light intesity changes as depth increases )

Sadly NO stonys will do very well is such soft lighting , they really do require
intense lighting such as MH or T-5 or some mulitible floresents.

Perhaps you may consider a 4x's 65 in the near future.
or move to a combo mh/t-5 ( they make some real nice set ups now days )
I'd really prefer to see ya with a bit more light , I don't want ya to fail at it simply because the light wasint enough.
And it really seems your wanting to keep a varity of corals.

Good luck to you and your tank , it can be VERY rewarding and exciting to see a tank prosper.
Get some OOOOO's and Ahhhhh's when your friends come over and see that tank. lol

 

i would start with a kenya tree, or some zooanthids, you could all so do mushrooms, i have seen some killer colors out there.

 

id go with a frogspawn lps, not the easiest coral to place, but once you find a good spot for it, it is a great coral.it will let you know instantly if it likes the spot in your tank, by opening really wide or shrinking.. the flow is the beiggest thing imo with frogspawn. it likes a very low flow.and you can put it pretty much any depth. it will retain more of its color if its higher up.frogspawn was my first coral under the same light. it went from basball size to volleyball size in a about 5 months,from 3 heads -6.

 

Bull!

(all good advice above...;D)