Starting corals in tank

So my 10 gallon tank is around 2 months old with 2 clownfish and a blue damsel. I have an internal filter that does 90 gph. I wanted to start adding coral, and I've heard that LPS are better for beginners. But I've also been told that coral requires great filtration, and in marine tanks that usually means skimming. So, all of that being said, would I be able to keep some mushroom corals in my tank? My lighting is a single t-8 bulb, and on the bulb it says "full spectrum". idk what the "kelvin" rating is on it. It's a 15 Watt bulb.

 

You probably won't have good results with that lighting.A two bulb t-5 fixture wouldn't cost very much and would allow you to keep alot of soft corals and lps.A skimmer isn't really necessary for a tank of that size if you are good about doing frequent(once a week) small water changes.Just be sure to use ro/di or distilled water to avoid algae problems.A small powerhead to add more flow would also help.

 

so even upgrading the lightbulb won't do it? it HAS to be 2 or more bulbs?

 

soft corals are by far the easiest to keep in a tank, and here are some things you may want to think about before buying any as some corals are not cheap. you dont want to lose any pieces for stupid reasons haha.

-your tank is only 2 months old, the cycle is probably just finished. or finishing!
-your tank is only 10 gallons, not very easy to keep water as stable as corals need in that small of a tank.
-your filtration is not exactly adequate to keep water as pristine as corals generally need
-also as said above your lighting is not the best for corals either.

i am in no way trying to get you down as im sure you could easily keep some kenya tree or mushrooms in there right now as is and they would fair ok. but if you want to get into any more advanced corals or if you want them to thrive and grow you should at least make a few changes to your setup first.

easiest one that i see you could change easy is the lighting. just get a simple one bulb t5 fixture if you only wanna keep a few softies. if you see yourself wanting tons of corals in the future that are more difficult you may want to save up for a nicer fixture.

filtration is another thing that really should be upgraded but thats a little harder and possibly more expensive. a sump is really a great thing to have on a tank with coral.

also of course the easiest and cheapest thing to do is to wait a bit longer until you are sure your tank is fully cycled and established and ready for corals.

 

Oh yeah I'm okay with waiting a good 4 more months before adding coral. With THIS tank, I'm not going to be going into complex/expensive corals, just a couple of basic things like mushrooms. For that reason, I don't want to make upgrades to the lighting or filtration, cause I'd rather spend that money towards a bigger tank (30 gallon), and spending money on the 10 gallon would seem like a waste with the mindset that I might be getting a 30 gallon in the near future. So I guess I can wait for my tank to get nicely established and get some mushrooms. thanks for your help!