Hello fellow saltwater enthusiasts!
I am currently gathering research on building a 30 gallon reef. I chose 30 gallons because its the largest size I am willing to maintain, and from what I've read, the greater the amount of water, the easier the parameters are to maintain, but even that is still up in the air.
Which brings me to my questions
what has been your experience with coral supplements? Necessary? waste of money? best to stay away until growth stalls?
in your opinion, what are the most vibrant looking fish that are safe to have with corals? assuming a mix of soft and hard corals
Mandarin goby: yes or no?
I appreciate all your advice and insight, experience is the best teacher after all.
Note: I do have previous experience in saltwater, but that setup was a bare bottom 100gl long display, 60 gal Deep sand bed sump set-up, FOWLR tank. (Wanted it to be a shark tank, ended up just having a humu-trigger and some chromis before I had to sell it off piece by piece because of maintenance costs, hence the smaller tank size, and different approach this time around. )
I am currently gathering research on building a 30 gallon reef. I chose 30 gallons because its the largest size I am willing to maintain, and from what I've read, the greater the amount of water, the easier the parameters are to maintain, but even that is still up in the air.
Which brings me to my questions
- Which all-in-one setup is most tailored to keeping corals, and will need the least amount of additional purchases?(i.e. lights, skimmer, etc.)
- Given the tank size remains at 30 gallons, what corals are best suited for a tank this size? given the appropriate amount of lighting and other factors
- What resource can be used to identify which corals need similar water parameters to thrive? the goal here is long term growth, so i expect to be purchasing frags to grow
- SPS vs LPS corals: Safe to mix? Which are easier to maintain? Whats the difference
what has been your experience with coral supplements? Necessary? waste of money? best to stay away until growth stalls?
in your opinion, what are the most vibrant looking fish that are safe to have with corals? assuming a mix of soft and hard corals
Mandarin goby: yes or no?
I appreciate all your advice and insight, experience is the best teacher after all.
Note: I do have previous experience in saltwater, but that setup was a bare bottom 100gl long display, 60 gal Deep sand bed sump set-up, FOWLR tank. (Wanted it to be a shark tank, ended up just having a humu-trigger and some chromis before I had to sell it off piece by piece because of maintenance costs, hence the smaller tank size, and different approach this time around. )