what corals can i keep in this lighting?

thanks larry for the warm welcome. i think that's enough to scare me off from getting that bubble tip anemone. unfortunately for me, most would say my lighting is no good for corals, and some would (im guessing its for the sake of making a sale). it's really confusing, and with the prices of corals here (about 7 $ up) i'd think twice before i get any coral, if they'd just die and i'd be wanting to get new ones, my wife would kill me. so i'd rather stick with 2-3 corals that for sure won't die for lack of light in my tank.
when you said true feather duster, did you mean there are false ones? would you check out mine please? here's a photo:

 

Mushrooms would do fine. Zoas are marginal. Bubble coral is a no. Xenia is probably a no. I had problems keeping it under PCs. They are a strange creature. Some can keep them under less than optimal conditions, some cannot keep them to save their lives period. Give it a try. A frag only costs $10. I would keep the Zoas and Xenia in the top half of the tank. The mushrooms can go anywhere.

 

Yes thats what I call a real Featherduster.. And a very nice one..
Alot of people will be talking about the wild, little ones, that pop-up and be gone in a few days..
Do as PharmrJohn says, and you want go wrong.. !!

Good Luck, Larry

 

quick question... do corals die of ammonia/nitrite/nitrate spikes?

 

Absolutley they can. If your a creature in which your ancestors have spent their entire lives in an environment in which no ammonia, nitrite, and a negligble amount of nitrate exist, your physiology will call for similar parameters. Just like asking a person, hey can you live next to an active volcanoe that is spewing sulfides....most likely no .

 

yep they can and do very often. I personally think you would be ok with discosoma sp? mushrooms like your standard purples and reds and things like that. I think you would also be ok (maybe) with some ricordia but color might now come out too nice.With zoas, you may be ok but you aren't gonna get any of the really nutty colors that we are starting to see out of them.

 

someone said that corals barely add to the bioload. if this is true, many corals and one fish in my tank will be just fine?

 

ohh goodie! im a snail now! goodbye plankton Jesse! LOL

 

congratulations on your recent promotion

Corals dont add a great deal at all to a tanks bioload, so the stocking guidelines for corals are not as tight as the ones applied to fish

with corals , they need room to grow naturally
and care needs to be taken not the place species that are aggresive next to other species
you also need to know which species are suitable for the conditions you provide

but in essence nobody would say, you can only realistically keep 3 small corals in a 20 gallon system

trick is to be aware of your set ups limitations and start with corals from the begginers list
IMO

Steve

 

my tank is having a mini cycle due to the new LR i added 4days ago. nitrite is up to about 0.5 mg/l or higher (the color result is somewhere in between 0.3 and 0.8 mg/l). i did about 20% water change last night but it doesn't seem to lower the nitrite level. i'm planning on going to my LFS this saturday for my first coral. should i postpone it and wait till my water params are safe? just a couple of days ago my damsel's been kinda sick and won't come out or eat. could it be due to ammonia burn? i'm limited to a nitrite test kit. if i were to get corals, do i need to get all those test kits like KH, calcium, phosphate? sadly some aren't available and others very costly that my wife kinda complains when i spend on my fish. i really wanna go to get my supplies. in case i can't get corals yet, would it be wise to get more LR since others tell me i could only keep 2 fish in my tank( i'd definitely want 2 more). please give me some advice. thanks very much 3reefers!
my damsel:
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