new to reefs

hey guys I'm pretty new to salt water reefs, hence "newb93" I have a 75 gallon tank thats been cycling for about five weeks, the tank is filled with live sand and live rock.... and I'm trying to decide weather to use a canister filter or a sump. Also I'm really interested in corrals, I've ben doing my research on beginner corals, and purchased a green leather corral, but unfortunately its not doing so well. but the frog spawn in doing great...... any pointers or advice on how to keep the corrals would be great, thanks!

In order to help - what are your water parameters, like temp, sg, ph, ammonia, trites, trates? Also what else is in the tank like fish and snails, crabs, stars, (clean up crew things) (please list all these) 5 weeks since cycle is QUITE a bit early for corals - since the cycle is never "complete" but usually it takes a bit longer for a tank to be coral ready - unless shortcuts are used like lots of STABLE rock/substrate from an established reef tank.

IME some leather corals are rather sensitive to imperfect water, and I know that frogspawn (Euphyllia sp.) are more forgiving. Keeping corals comes down to light quality & intensity, good water, stable water parameters, proper placement in the tank (light & flow) and feeding.

Post your parameters and other stats, and I;ll try to help. .

Great to have you here! One of my favorite quotes may help here:
"Nothing good ever happens Fast in a reef tank" Good questions TR.
Go ahead a list what you can.. what you can't,, we'll help you figure it out

Welcome 93. I personally think the biggest issue right now is the tank is still to young to be adding corals, thats Just based off the info you have listed so far.

Best rule of thumb is to wait at least 6 weeks. Often longer. Usually you'll have a "diatom" outbreak (little brown hairs that grow all over the rock, sand and glass) and you don't want to add anything until that has run it's course and is gone.

Just like tang said, sometimes live rock from a mature system can shorten that a little (usually live rock purchased from a LFS (local fish store) is no longer mature... shipping reverts that rock right back into cycling mode).

I'd be willing to make you a deal. If you don't add anything else to the tank before our next meeting, I'll give you a coral frag. Maybe some others would be willing as well to sweeten the deal? ;-)

Also, I understand Jason pointed you to the "New to Saltwater" thread over in the general reef section. Those articles are priceless. Knowledge & patience are the only things needed to create an amazing reef tank.