Looking for suggestions to brighten up my tank so it looks like a reef

isaac1 · #1 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 · #2 01-20-2011, 03:21 PM

Some SPS sounds like a must =) Got pics? What's your lighting etc like?

paddyob · #3 01-20-2011, 03:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lastlight

Some SPS sounds like a must =) Got pics? What's your lighting etc like?

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

ponokareefer · #4 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 · #5 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 · #6 01-20-2011, 04:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by isaac1

I have t5 lights so hard corals are out of the picture...

T5 or T5 HO?

paddyob · #7 01-20-2011, 04:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ponokareefer

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 · #8 01-20-2011, 04:45 PM

FishyFishy! · #9 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 · #10 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