Ready for corals!

[shovelhead91701]

Well, my new tank is ready for corals finally and I am putting it out to you guys to suggest your 1 absolute favorite specimen so that I can plan out the additions. The last time around I kind of went about it willy nilly and ended up with a very odd assortment! lol I want to plan it better this time since i have been working on this setup for about 3 years now! The tank is built by glass cages and the dimensions are 5' x3' x 32" deep, i am running 4 400watt mh lights on timers to change spectrum all throughout the day. I am pushing 1800 gph flow back into the tank with mag pumps. 1 pump is going to the (2) 1" top returns I plumbed to the top front corners of the tank and the the other is going to a spraybar with (8) 3/8" return jets i placed at the back of the tank. so hopefully i have enough flow w/o using any additional powerheads.(trying to keep extra "junk" out of the display). when I get home tonight I will post some pics to give everyone an idea of the tank rockwork etc.

REMEMBER! I WANT YOUR ONE ABSOLUTE FAVORITE CORAL!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks in advance guys for the help!

[demonclownfish]

well i have 2 that are tied for #1

1) meteor shower cyphastrea-
http://www.captivereefs.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=118&pictureid=556

2) dendrophyllia-
http://www.captivereefs.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=81&pictureid=287

[XSiVE]

Since Im currently rebuilding I don't really have a favorite coral at the moment =( Most are frags. I would like to say that you will probably need more flow, though.. 1800gph into a ~200gal is not that much.

[shovelhead91701]

lol that's why i need your mag 12 for my spraybar setup!

[bigbill]

my fav are nightmare zoas but there not cheap
http://i701.photobucket.com/albums/ww15/bigbill_01/pics333330033-5.jpg

[XSiVE]

lol that's why i need your mag 12 for my spraybar setup!

haha.. I revise my previous statement, I seem to absolutely love most varieties of Acropora Tortousa.

[EMUreef]

i have a lot of favs. i guess i dont have just one.

-Duncan
-Find an awesome frog spawn, i like mine, green with purple tips. or a torch coral
-ELEGANCE!!!!

i dont have but a dendro is going to be something i add next.

[MyNemesis]

Pick the corals you absolutely love and go with those. How can you pick just one? I love my Scoli:

http://i874.photobucket.com/albums/ab310/MyNemesisPhotos/Frags%20%20and%20full%20tank%20shots/DSC03860.jpg

and my favorite growing out frag is my Baby's bottom favia:

http://i874.photobucket.com/albums/ab310/MyNemesisPhotos/Frags%20%20and%20full%20tank%20shots/DSC04015.jpg

[rmalone]

1800g of return flow is more than enough for a 200g. You will still need more flow in the display, so you WILL need extra flow in the display otherwise you will need to make a closed loop, but you have plenty of return flow. The amount of flow you have in your return would be fine for shrooms, zoas and softies, but you are way over on light for such critters.

What kind of corals do you gravitate to. Are you trying to create an sps tank, or do you like lps/shrooms/polyps. Given your lighting, which is huge, you are setup for sps, big time. Except you need more in-display flow.

[XSiVE]

1800g of return flow is more than enough for a 200g.

Oh I definitely agree on the more than enough return flow.. it may even be too much depending on sump size, overflow plumbing.. iy will probably create a lot of bubbles. I was getting at what you said about needing more display flow, I guess I just didn't express it well ;-)

[rmalone]

Were on the same page. The older I get the less I seem to see, on re-reading the thread I noticed that the OP didn't want to add any more in tank flow, so sorry if I seemed to contradict you. His total display flow is way too low for anything that needs, if anything does, that much light. Seems like 3-250w halides would take care of bussiness, IMO 4-400w halides is bit of overkill for a 5ft tank.

[MizTanks]

I love my Duncan!! She'd look great in your 200g 11+ heads and she's for sale :))

[Mike]

Acropora Deswalii is my favorite table coral

[rmalone]

Ora red planet
german blue polyp
20k lokani
purple monster
garf bonzi
pink lemonade
palmers blue milli
These are all very pretty acros, and there are a ton more.

I would also agree that duncans are sweet all the euphillia are pretty neat also. These would all do well in your lower light areas.

[shovelhead91701]

Thanks for the flow thoughts guys.... I hope to be able to ramp up the pump on my "spraybar" setup to get adequate movement through the tank. hopefully in these pics you can see what I designed. There are actually (14) 1/4 inch outlets for water on the "pressure" return. I put 3 "jets" in each rear corner and the remainder are in the center facing all different directions. The rock work is on a PVC stand covered in foam to mimic rock so I have a huge cave under all my rock. There are 4 jets under there to keep it cleaned out. I am a swimming pool contractor so I built these like I would in a pool when I want less flow in certain areas. I decided what areas would be highest flow and fed those jets first and then the rest are in series with the last jets receiving the least flow in the bottom of the tank. I actually have no problems with bubbles getting back into the display with my current flow and hope that I don't have trouble when I up the pump sizes to increase flow. My sump is actually fairly large and I think the size helps. The refugium is 24x24x18deep, the protein skimmer area is 24x18x10 deep with a 3" wide bubble trap. the return area is in the center and measures 24x18x10 deep. The (2) drains in my tank are both 1 1/2" so I am capable of a lot more water draining than I am using currently.

[shovelhead91701]

BTW... the lighting is DIY and I have 4 for redundancy in case of failures. I built them with two ballasts in one case with cooling fans so that each case runs 2 fixtures. that way throughout the day my timers will change over from one set of ballasts to the other and the theory is that with a shorter run time each day the amount of heat destruction on the components is minimized.... also allows me the option to run 4 different spectrum bulbs at different times of the day if I ever thought I needed to....lol

[rmalone]

Given that you haven't filled the tank with rock you may get away with the flow, but don't rule out putting an mp40 in their either, especially if you go sps. By the way that aquascape would be perfect for an sps island, I like it!

[shovelhead91701]

I haven't ruled out adding powerheads in the tank at all.... I just wanted to see if it could be done without them...lol I've never seen a large tank without them before so that is why I am trying it.... I have to do everything the hard way. BTW today I am going to put the 3600gph return pump on the tank and remove the mag 8 that was on the "spraybar" So I will see what happens later today...

[streetrodder007]

Favorite would have to be the good ole' Frogspawn. My next choice would be anything that waves, such as torch, elegance, xenia etc.

[Chelle's Ocean]

Definitely frogspawn..... placed on the sandbed...makes a great focal point

[cg5071]

With that light and size, you could keep a nice carpet anemone! :) sorry if i am projecting,lol but i want one.

My Glass Holes return is set up with 2-1 1/2" returns and is rated for 1500 gph. I am not sure if that is due to the box or pipes? Just throwing that out there.

I also wanted to do my tank with no powerheads but it doesnt seem it will work that way for me. I was doing it for the anemone safety but my tank wasnt really set up that way, I was trying to diy it with what i had.

I really like my lps, frogspawn, hammer, wellso (trach) and favias ect. I am thinking about collecting some sps now that it is older and hopefully ready. Oregon grape monti, the birdsnests, simple to begin with.

[thefishgirl]

My favorite is my black sun coral.