Beginner corals

[Sylvias]

I am setting up a 30 gallon salt tank and wanting to try my hand at a few beginner friendly corals. The main purpose for this tank is to upgrade my snowflake from his current tank which is pretty bare minimums as far as salt water goes... not even using live rock in there. So I want to move him to a bigger tank and see what else i can do with it. I would like to house some other type of fish with him if it would be possible, looking at a spotted hawk fish or dwarf lion fish, something that wont get eaten but wont eat him either.
but first concern is making it look more oceanic. I want to do a good live rock base and would love to add some easy corals if I can but I am relatively new to the world of coral and not really sure what I can or cant do with it....
My first questions are about lighting as that will determine the fixture and bulbs I get. What type of bulb is best for corals? Should I go with a 10,000k or 420 actinic or 50/50? I honestly don't even know what most of those mean i just know that actinic bulbs seems to be important for reef aquariums....
Will one bulb be work for this or should i get a 2 bulb fixture so i can have 2 types of bulbs on the tank?
and what is the difference in t-5 or t-8.... The things that are easiest for me to get to are single bulb fixtures and t-8 lights, but that isn't really a limiting factor if it's not going to cut it...

 

[MC.Arowana]

not being mean but as of what i seen and heard you can have corals with thoses kind of fish because they usually eat the coral or the clean up crew

but in my bio cube im using 10000k and Actinic lights and for P.C 'power compact you need 2 or more it matters what kind of coral but 2 bulbs should be good
the differences between t5 and t8 is 1. is bigger then the other. 2. is that t5s are way brighter then t8s and t5s are used more in salt because of its brightness and for beginner coral is like mushrooms and polips and some soft coral

 

[Sylvias]

I know that eels and lion fish both will eat any small crustacean in there without a doubt, but I was under the impression they were "reef safe with caution" what this means though, I have no idea. Do corals need crustaceans to survive or would they be alright without cleaners like that?

so I should go with 2 bulbs and t-5s then yes?

I love the look of pulsating xenias but I am not finding much solid info on them. Most of what I am reading is making it sound like it's all up to chance whether they thrive or not.... is there a trick to their success and would they be safe with my predators?

 

[MC.Arowana]

yes you would do good with 2 i seen people do 1 and still grow but ill stick with doing 2 and as of reef safe with caution i just think if it says CAUTION dont touch it haha but i have kept xenias before and they did pretty good but they will spread.. but i never kept predators with corals before but i wouldnt if i were you.. the coral game is really addicting and the more you invest the more better it looks but it can also put money down the drain so i would do a few reef safe fish if i was doing coral. but if you want to keep those fish i would do a fowlr tank "Fish only with live rock"

 

[Pazzoman]

In my 6 month experience lol, I noticed that button polyps and mushrooms are BULLET PROOF

 

[nonstophoops]

You can keep those fish with corals no problem. They aren't going to touch the coral. Having a cleaner crew isn't necessary, but it doesn't help keep everything clean. Definitely go with 2 t5 bulbs. I would look at ATI bulbs if possible, they are the best. For corals, I would start with mushrooms, zoanthids, and other soft corals like leathers. They are very forgiving of water quality and won't die off if your nitrates or phosphates get too high.

Welcome aboard, if all goes well, next year you will look at your bank account and wonder how it got empty...then you will look across the room at your bigger full blown reef and realize that is where it all went. HAHAHA Easily the most addicting thing I have ever done.

 

[Otherone]

Predatory fish usually = messy eaters with leftovers. The leftovers then become dissolved protiens(I'd add a skimmer w/ corals)
As for lighting PC (power compact) for non-photosynthetic feeders - mushrooms, ricodea, polyps,+ xenia.
Larger species that can live under PC's - Georganians. T-5 ( in 30 gal not deeper tanks) + T5ho will let you do Hard corals.

T-8 isn't a real option in my opinion as they burn hotter (T-5 77 degrees, T-8 95 degrees) by like 20 degrees which will heat up the water like metal halide's can meaning you'd need to run a chiller AND they loose intesity faster meaning they need to be replaced more frequently.