Looking for Advice - Weird or Unusual Corals

[p3rmafrost]

Hello Everyone -

I'm looking for some suggestions/advice. My wife wants to take me coral shopping for Christmas this year. I'd like to pick up something a little weird or unusual for the tank, and I would love to hear your opinions on what to look for. Let's hear what you think would make an interesting addition to the tank. My tank specs, inhabitants, and parameters are listed below.

 

Tank Specs -

Reefer 250 (54g display w/ 11g sump)

Giesemann Aurora V4 hybrid light, 3 LEDs and 4 T5 bulbs

1 gyre pump and 3 standard wavemakers (1 on the opposite side from the gyre, 2 on the back wall)

 

Inhabitants -

2x clowns

1x lawnmower blenny

1x dwarf coral beauty

1x mandarin dragonet

1x royal gramma

1x pistol shrimp (his goby counterpart is in quarantine)

Multiple nems - 1 GBTA, 1x Rainbow BTA (baby) 1 Sebae, 1 Condy, 1 Rock Flower

Large CUC - snails, crabs, worms, the usual

 

Corals -

Mixed tank

Purple Pocci

Green Slimer

Forest Fire Digi

Unknown Acro

Plating corals (not sure what kind, but they're all doing great)

Various mushrooms (also doing extremely well)

Leptos

Kenya Trees (getting out of control)

1x blasto

1x acan (doing very well, and quickly becoming a new favorite)

Multiple named zoas, although I can't recall any of their names

1x red gonipora

4x candy canes (all have at least 10 heads)

GSP (oddly not growing much)

Medium size cyphastrea (this one was in rough shape when I bought it, it is slowly coming back)

1x pink cadilac monti

1x 24k lepto (not doing well)

1x blue/black lepto (frag size but doing well)

1x gorgonia

3x large frogspawn

4x pink hammers

 

 

Tank parameters - see attached ICP test. Trace elements are low, I have ordered a supplement and will begin dosing this weekend. Currently using Aqua Forest probiotic salt and dosing 1+,2+,3+ system.

 

Picture of tank attached. If you have suggestions on where to put something to improve the aesthetic of the tank, I would be interested in hearing your opinion.

 

Thanks for looking, and I'm excited to hear your feedback.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

edited test.pdf

[epleeds]

You could always go for a rainbow chalice. Those are always nice and you have a lot of space in the sand bed. 
 

or a nice meat coral. Just hope the coral beauty doesn’t get a taste ?

[p3rmafrost]

Ok, I legitimately thought "meat coral" was a joke. I just looked them up and was surprised that it's a real thing . Those are pretty sweet. I will absolutely add them to the list. Right now I'm hoping that I can find a local member to buy something from when the time is right. I've had a lot of success with the corals I've picked up here. The ones I got from @thakki are some of the best performers in my system. I picked up a few things from him that I wasn't sure I could grow and they took off like wildfire.

[nburg]

I am a sucker for Platygyra and the other maze brain species or a lobophyllia for the sand bed. Hydnophora are less common but nice too. If you want something weird or different, branching cyphastrea are pretty different along with a pavona like the mint pavona.

[DaJMasta]

A good platygyra is certainly a cool piece, they are slow growers but can have pretty long sweepers, so giving them space is nice.

Not super unusual, but some kind of Favite could give you an usual color or pattern.

Again in the not rare but not all over the place, an anacropora would be a colorful and slightly unusual addition, as would a tubbs stellata monti, and I've always been a sucker for the ORA green birdsnest with bright metallic green polyps.

Maybe some yellow or red porites could be a good choice?  The neat thing about them is that their color mainly isn't fluorescent, so you can get fairly intense colors even under totally white spectrum.

Then you could look for variety in growth pattern instead - a pavona, montipora confusa, or tabling acropora could give you a structure that looks different in the tank.

[p3rmafrost]

On 11/28/2022 at 11:43 AM, DaJMasta said:

A good platygyra is certainly a cool piece, they are slow growers but can have pretty long sweepers, so giving them space is nice.

Not super unusual, but some kind of Favite could give you an usual color or pattern.

Again in the not rare but not all over the place, an anacropora would be a colorful and slightly unusual addition, as would a tubbs stellata monti, and I've always been a sucker for the ORA green birdsnest with bright metallic green polyps.

Maybe some yellow or red porites could be a good choice?  The neat thing about them is that their color mainly isn't fluorescent, so you can get fairly intense colors even under totally white spectrum.

Then you could look for variety in growth pattern instead - a pavona, montipora confusa, or tabling acropora could give you a structure that looks different in the tank.

I don't know how I missed your reply. These are fantastic suggestions. I'm going to start looking around at some examples of these right now. Ideally I am planning on putting a list together then making a post of what I'm looking for. I would really prefer to go "shopping" with a WAMAS member and keep the money in the community.

[nburg]

I have some inexpensive but colorful Favites. They’re super underrated for color and speed of growth (we’ll speed for LPS)

[p3rmafrost]

41 minutes ago, nburg said:

I have some inexpensive but colorful Favites. They’re super underrated for color and speed of growth (we’ll speed for LPS)

I might take you up on that. Didn't you have a few other things for sale as well? 

[nburg]

I've always got something for sale, lol. 

[JulesJacobs]

Hi P3rmafrost,

 

I'm breaking down my tank and have a couple of pretty unusual pieces. More than happy to make deals to fit your budget. I'll post the link below.

[JulesJacobs]

1 minute ago, JulesJacobs said:

Hi P3rmafrost,

 

I'm breaking down my tank and have a couple of pretty unusual pieces. More than happy to make deals to fit your budget. I'll post the link below.

https://lightroom.adobe.com/shares/e247ea2adb1246839c48c84c89a56b26

[p3rmafrost]

Hi Jules,

Funny enough, I saw your post and didn't reply because I figured you're stuff was way out of my price range. You have a beautiful setup. If you're willing to bundle something up I think we can work something out. 

[p3rmafrost]

20 hours ago, JulesJacobs said:

https://lightroom.adobe.com/shares/e247ea2adb1246839c48c84c89a56b26

Hi Jules- as luck would have it, I'll be in Germantown on Saturday. Hit me up if you'll be around and want to sell me a few frags.