Long term goals / plans. I need direction please.

Hellloo everyone. TGIF! (doesn't mean much these days, I'm busy everyday, but oh well)

I'm asking for some direction here. I'm not sure what I should do with my tank next, or how I should be preparing to add something new.

At this point in time, I have a 25 gallon tank, with a good...at least 30lbs of LR. I have 2 inch sand / argonite bed. Koralia 2 for circulation, and I'll be getting an aquaC remora HOB skimmer (reviews are amazing) on Monday. I have a coralife lunar aqualite 1x65w white and 1x65 actinic + 2 LEDs.

In the tank :

2 clowns
1 pajama cardinal
1 damsel
2 hermits
2 snails
algae that is loosing the battle, and the war.

(the tank is 3 months old)

I have 3 weeks left of school, but once summer gets here I have a couple plans. I want to make an In-tank fuge, and plant maybe 4 mangroves in it to help get rid of nitrates.

I've been testing the basics : ammonia, nitrates, nitrites, pH, and CA. I have the reef masters test kit from API on the way with the skimmer, should be here Monday, so I can really know what my water chem is like.

I hope to within the next 1.5 months, add my first piece of coral, or, possibly an anemone. Can anyone make any suggestions as to what would be an easy type to start with? I guess I'm looking for the "damsel" of corals. Something that will add some variety to my tank, but can put up with my inexperience. I'd also appreciate some guidance as to what I should be doing now, at this point, to ensure my water is ready to host coral within a month and a half.

Thanks everyone.

Brew

 

no anemones yet please. the tanks too young. my tanks been up for 9 months and i dont want one yet, i will eventually but not now.

easy corals

kenya tree
mushrooms (any kind)
Green Starry polyps
finger leather coral
zoanthids
palythoas
frogspawn
hammer head coral
torch coral
cabbage coral
there are many more, these are my favorites though

harder corals to stay away from till you get your "sea legs"

acropora
goniopora
alveopora
most hard corals (SPS)

any other questions?

 

as for water, the corals that i listed dont need mcuh dosing if you do your water changes. i dont and dont dose, so my corals dont grow too fast. you should get some stuff to check your params though. test kits (im sure your aware, just want to cover the bases).

 

Look into mushrooms, zoanthids, palythoas, clove polyps, leather corals. The PC lighting probably isn't enough for a nem.

 

Thanks a lot. I'll google each one of those.

I'm also going to look into dosing. I do a 20% water change weekly, so hopefully I won't need too, but I use DI water, so I don't see how they could get any nutrients from that.

I did figure it would be too early to get an anemone, but I didn't realize the lighting would be insufficient. Oh well. I'll steer clear for a long while.

Thanks again. K+

 

the salt you use has trace elements in it. 20% is fine unless you have a lot of SPS or a ton of LPS. since your a begginer youll have lots of softies. just do the water change and youll be fine. keep us posted.

 

Ahh, yes. The salt. I forgot to mention, coming on Monday is also a 25G supply ( I wanted to get the 50, but the shipping was high) of Reef Crystals salt. Hopefully that'll be a step in the right direction.

I will certainly keep you posted. I have 3 weeks till finals, but after that I'm free for the summer. I'm planning on building a stand, and putting together a thread to show my progress from empty tank to now. I have been taking pictures all along.