JoeSmo

Hey everyone, I went down to my LFS and talked to the owner about reef tanks. They have a 24 gallon bio-cube full reef and it is SUPER awesome with neon corals and things. BUT, (And I agree with this) the owner was telling me that with coral tanks it is more about the coral; the fish are kind of just there, and that a common misconseption is that the reef tank will have schools of fish swimming through it like it does in the wild. I could go with the 24 gal. bio-cube (it comes with a metal halide light, $500 dollars for the kit). I love coral and wouldn't mind having just a coral tank with a dartfish and mabye a clown and an anenome pair. But I can also get a 43 gal. (MABYE a 55) with T-5's so I could get some softies as well as more active fishes.

Of course, I don't know what fish I could really get for a 55 but I know I could get a dwarf angel, some cardinals, a pair of clowns, and some gobies. I know I couldn't get an anenome because of the lighting issue, but that would be ok. I need your help guys, I like both fish and coral so I need to choose!

Thanks!

sirdarksol

Corals tend to be more difficult to care for than many of the fish, so a bigger FOWLR would be a more gentle shift into marine tanks (presuming you haven't cared for one before).

JoeSmo

Whoops sorry, forgot to add that in... I have no experience with SW what so ever. LOL.

charzar-g

What i'm doing is having a FOWLER. Then when i learn more, i'm moving onto corals

JoeSmo

Thanks for the input. I thought about that, but I figured it'd be easier and less expensive in the long run, to just jump straigh into corals. I'd start with easier softies and mushrooms, then work my way up to LPS and SPS.

sirdarksol

Easier is going to be to start with a larger base tank of live rock. Larger tanks are easier to maintain proper water parameters. You can always be sure to avoid any fish that don't go well with corals, and then add proper lighting and coral a year or two down the road.

Slug

We have 2 threads the same, a mod might want to combine them, not sure?
Reef or FOWLR?

I actually find Coral a lot easier to care for then fish, and the softies and LPS tend to be, for me, more forgiving then fish. Give them light and good water and they grow like plants. You can even spot feed some LPS but its not always needed. Its easy. No medications, no treating for ICH or other parasites, no constant feedings, etc...

Oil_Fan

You can always do what I did. Start with FOWLR and then after 6 months or more, move into adding corals. Take note, that it does involve paying attention to more details. Lighting, calcium, magnesium, pH all become more important.