Page 1 of 1

Hydor Koralia - Newbie Reef Questions

Posted: Sat Dec 05, 2009 10:46 pm
by Jivenjune
Hey Folks,

I'm taking preparations to jump start my first attempt at reef keeping. At the moment, I currently have a 60 gallon long with about 25 pounds of rock and 2 inches of crushed coral substrate. I plan to switch out the crushed coral for aragonite sand at a later point by perhaps having a very thin lair of crushed coral covered with a few inches of aragonite sand.

My equipment is as listed:

- AquaC Remora HOT Protein Skimmer w/ Maxi Jet 1200 (upgrading to Rio 1400 soon)
- 48" Quad Bulb Lighting System w/ (x2) 12000k and (x2) actnics & (4) blue LEDs for night viewing
- AquaTech HOB filter w/ (x2) 100ml Bags of Purigen
- Rena SmartHeater 200 Watts at 78 Degrees Fahrenheit
- AquaClear 30 (x2) 174 GPH Powerheads

My water parameters are as listed:

- Ammonia: 0
- Nitrite: 0
- Nitrates: Below 10

The tank itself has been established for about two months now, maybe less. I'm not good at remember numbers. I'm planning to buy a few reef appropriate test kits to make sure my other parameters are within the right area for the corals I plan to keep.

Since I have GSPs in this tank, my selection of coral is limited to xenias, leathers and mushrooms. I'm not sure if there are any other bad tasting corals, but if there are, please let me know.

Anyway, I'm about to purchase (x2) Hydor Koralia Wavemaker/Powerheads. However, I do not know what number would be appropriate for my tank. The corals I have listed require low to medium water movement, at least from my understanding. I'm a bit concerned though because the two AquaClear powerheads that I have seem to push quite a bit of movement and they are only listed at 174 GPH. The Koralia Wavemaker is listed at 400 GPH.

Would (x2) Koralia 1s be too much for my 48" long 60 gallon? Would this be too much movement for the corals I am planning to keep?

Also, is there any other equipment that I might be missing that anyone here can recommend I take a look at before I jump into this?

Thanks-

Re: Hydor Koralia - Newbie Reef Questions

Posted: Sat Dec 05, 2009 11:41 pm
by Mek0ng
Jivenjune wrote: Since I have GSPs in this tank, my selection of coral is limited to xenias, leathers and mushrooms. I'm not sure if there are any other bad tasting corals, but if there are, please let me know.
Ricordia and other mushrooms are terrible tasting to puffers and most fish (Discosoma, Rhodactis)
Jivenjune wrote: Anyway, I'm about to purchase (x2) Hydor Koralia Wavemaker/Powerheads. However, I do not know what number would be appropriate for my tank. The corals I have listed require low to medium water movement, at least from my understanding. I'm a bit concerned though because the two AquaClear powerheads that I have seem to push quite a bit of movement and they are only listed at 174 GPH. The Koralia Wavemaker is listed at 400 GPH.

Would (x2) Koralia 1s be too much for my 48" long 60 gallon? Would this be too much movement for the corals I am planning to keep?
I wish I had a koralia wavemaker... Lucky... Im stuck with my old redseawavemaster pro and 4 mj1200s and one koralia 4 (90g)

I think the two koralia 1s would be fine for a tank that size, I would try positing them at either end of the tank so the currents colide, it might take some time to get right, but its a better choice than the koralia nano for your tank

Re: Hydor Koralia - Newbie Reef Questions

Posted: Sat Dec 05, 2009 11:48 pm
by Jivenjune
[/quote]
I wish I had a koralia wavemaker... Lucky... Im stuck with my old redseawavemaster pro and 4 mj1200s and one koralia 4 (90g)

I think the two koralia 1s would be fine for a tank that size, I would try positing them at either end of the tank so the currents colide, it might take some time to get right, but its a better choice than the koralia nano for your tank[/quote]

Thanks for the input.

Yeah, I plan to keep each Koralia on opposite sides of the tank. One towards the front and the other towards the back. They will be pointing toward each other so that their heads meet contact in the middle of the tank.

The only reason I'm a bit concerned is because Drs. Foster and Smith currently has a sale on Koralia's, and I wanna purchase two before the sale ends... I just want to make sure I'm making the appropriate purchase for my tank.

Again, big thanks.

Re: Hydor Koralia - Newbie Reef Questions

Posted: Sat Dec 05, 2009 11:55 pm
by Pufferpunk
I have a K2 on my 40g tank that is 24" across. I'd go with at least 2 of those or even 2 K3s.

Re: Hydor Koralia - Newbie Reef Questions

Posted: Sat Dec 05, 2009 11:57 pm
by Jivenjune
Hmm...

Yeah, I might go with the 2s. I just don't want there to be too much water current, because my GSPs aren't exactly the best swimmers :( but I also want enough to keep the corals healthy. My GSPs are fat and kinda sluggish and can't seem to swim through waves as well as the tomato clown, so I don't want it to disturb them way too much.

Re: Hydor Koralia - Newbie Reef Questions

Posted: Sun Dec 06, 2009 11:56 am
by CarmenH
I just got 2 Koralia 4's for my 48" 90g and it's perfect. The store guy seemed to have a clue and he recommended either 2 4's or a 4 and a 3 for that tank length...