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View Full Version : Looking for suggestions to brighten up my tank so it looks like a reef


isaac1
01-20-2011, 03:14 PM
Hi I'm wanting to brighten up my tank I have a couple corals but aside from them it looks pretty bland, 1 brain coral,2heads of frog spawn,a hammer coral and 2 chromis I want to add more things to covet up the rocks but I'm not sure what to put because I don't want conflict in my tank? 25 gallon reef

lastlight
01-20-2011, 03:21 PM
Some SPS sounds like a must =) Got pics? What's your lighting etc like?

paddyob
01-20-2011, 03:29 PM
Some SPS sounds like a must =) Got pics? What's your lighting etc like?

+1... what lights are you currently running?

ponokareefer
01-20-2011, 04:16 PM
Mushrooms, leathers, and zoanthids are all less demanding but quite colorfull. There are quite a few different colors/shapes of these types of corals as well. You can typically pick up frags for cheap of all of the above.

You could look at pulsing xenia and star polyps as well, but they can sometimes spread too much in tanks.

You'll need decent lighting for SPS and are typically more difficult to keep than the others listed above.

isaac1
01-20-2011, 04:40 PM
I have t5 lights so hard corals are out of the picture and xenia just dies in my tank, I posted a thread a while ago my tank crashed so I'm just rebuilding it up now

Ross
01-20-2011, 04:41 PM
I have t5 lights so hard corals are out of the picture...

T5 or T5 HO?

paddyob
01-20-2011, 04:41 PM
Mushrooms, leathers, and zoanthids are all less demanding but quite colorfull. There are quite a few different colors/shapes of these types of corals as well. You can typically pick up frags for cheap of all of the above.

You could look at pulsing xenia and star polyps as well, but they can sometimes spread too much in tanks.

You'll need decent lighting for SPS and are typically more difficult to keep than the others listed above.

Zoanthids are a tricky coral. Some do very well in any tank... others do not. Requirements can vary a lot from coral to coral.

isaac1
01-20-2011, 04:45 PM
T5ho

FishyFishy!
01-20-2011, 05:01 PM
You can add some neon green candy canes. I did that, and It really brightens up the tank.

Carrera75
01-20-2011, 05:07 PM
Go with rics, yumas, GSP (but keep it isolated), cloves, zoas, yellow polyps (isolate them) duncans, toadstool, green sinularia, yellow fiji leather, Rhodactis mushrooms and regular mushrooms, candy cane, bubble coral and the lost goes on. There are so many nice Softies and LPS corals that are awesome and will add color to your reef. Look at websites like liveaquaria. This site has lots of pics of softies and LPS.

I would personally stay away from SPS. These corals are too demanding and it seems that a lot of people have a hard time with them....oh and they are very pricey too.

Good luck

Ross
01-20-2011, 05:23 PM
You could add a sun coral. Light isn't an issue, but you have to spot feed them.

Very nice looking, but, mine only seems to come out when its feeding time...

ponokareefer
01-20-2011, 05:24 PM
I have t5 lights so hard corals are out of the picture and xenia just dies in my tank, I posted a thread a while ago my tank crashed so I'm just rebuilding it up now

Xenia do the same thing in my 125gallon, but do well in my RSM130. I have heard they can be very hit and miss, but are so cheap that it isn't a big deal.

I'd recommend going to a pet store and looking for a frag tank and pick up a bunch of little things from there, or look for people on canreef selling frags. You could fill out your 25 gallon for pretty cheap.

toytech
01-21-2011, 03:56 AM
get a colt coral or green singularis(sp?) , colt gets big fast is nice and brantched , they move realy nice in the current . I know not the most colorfull coral but they look like coral , and they are so easy to frag and grow .

isaac1
01-21-2011, 07:22 PM
Thanks for all the great suggestions guys I think I'm gunna have to go with frags for now