lol - - -if you want to see sparce, clic on my pic bud..........I would like to add a few corals to my tank but they scare me . . . . . I had a very bad start up with this tank so I'm a little on the skiddish side about spending large money on things yet . . . I have 3 true percula clowns {small ones} and a large anemone hermit crab....got any suggestions for corals??? i don't care for shrooms or leathers - - I have quiet a bit of current as well so they would have to be pretty stout, Snowboss

Zoanthids and Ricordia can be very colorful and Xenia like Pulsing or Silver Elongata and Clove Polyps. These would probably do well and grow ok with your lighting but would do much better with something like a Nova Extreme T5 high output fixture. I got the 24in Nova fixture for my display refugium for $60 locally.

They are all very hardy coral that prefer more nutrient rich water and the Xenia work very well for nutrient absorption. No need to have pristine water or even very stable water parameters for the corals do thrive.

Probably 8-10 hours. at 4 1/2 months, you're fine to start getting some coral.

Do you have any coraline growth yet or copepods crawling on the glass and rock. These are 2 good signs of a healthy tank that is becoming mature.

Buying aquacultured copepods is not a bad idea at all. Just don't get the wrong idea that a tank could support a dragonette like a Mandarin or Scooter just because someone puts a few hundred copepods in their tank. (just making a general point here)

Copepods are a very good part of a clean up crew just like snails and certain hermits. Thousands of copepods are actually very efficient as a part of the clean up crew but in too small a tank or a tank without a refugium, a pod population can be eliminated by a natural predator such as a Mandarin or Leopard Wrasse in a matter of days.

Most people want pods so they can keep a Mandarin. Pods are of much more benefit than just a food source for a particular fish.