coral ?

[daytonaconnecti]

is their a such thing as beginners corals, if so what to look for, and at what water quality is a must....

 

[badger126]

Good beginners corals are soft corals, mushrooms, zoanthids, palythoas etc.....water quality is always very important, but if your tank is cycled, you have low nitrates, and you have a decent light you can keep those alive.

 

[ciao]

+1 on the above. It's pretty hard to kill the soft corals like the Palys, zoas, mushrooms, green star polyps, xenia, and kenya trees. They grow almost like weeds in some ways!!! I just started my tank a few months ago and I started off with some basic stuff as well as some LPS and now I have some simpe SPS in my tank like birdsnest and some hardier Acros. They seem to be doing well. I think you should do a combination of the softies, LPS, and a few SPS. Since the SPS grow so slow relative to the softies so it's nice to have some relatively faster growing stuff(xenia, kenya trees, etc) and some slower stuff like the SPS to try to experiment with them and see how they do in your tank. After you get the hang of getting your water parameters in line and get into a good routine, you can gradually change the various proportions of each type of coral in your tank. Be warned though that things like mushroom really multiply quickly and you might end up having to pull them out later so don't go hog crazy on buying too many of them. It's easy to get rid of Kenya trees though when you want to pull them out. All I'm saying is to think long term where you'll want things when buying stuff

 

[daytonaconnecti]

cool thanks for all the info

 

[mcoomer]

If you want to get into SPS I'd recommend monti caps and birdsnest. Both are rather tolerant as far as SPS corals go. The birdsnest will generally like to be in moderate to high flow areas with good light. The monti can go low in the tank and likes moderate flow and light. Neither one if real finicky, they're relatively easy to find, and they're not too expensive.

For water parameters, I think the general consensus is calcium >400, alkalinity 7-10dKH, magnesium >1200, and specific gravity of 1.026.

Mike

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

I'm going to go against the grain and say that "beginner" corals is kind of a misnomer. For example, zoanthids are often touted as good "beginner" corals, but there are plenty of instances where folks that have successful tanks with plenty of different, thriving corals can not keep zoanthids. Same goes with some of the soft corals like xenia. Either it thrives and overtakes a tank, or it can't be kept.

The only thing that I'd term as indestructible are mushrooms - just plain ol' mushrooms like discosoma... not ricrodeas or things like that.

Instead of getting "beginner" corals - which often take over a tank before you realize what you've done - I'd recommend seeing what corals you're interested in looks-wise, then researching what it takes to keep them: what kind of flow they want, what kind of lighting they want, etc. If you give a coral what it wants, most corals *can* be beginner corals. Granted, there are some corals that are considered more difficult, but that is a small minority of the corals out there.

 

[TJL]

I just posted to another thread about good books to have and this book "Corals a quick reference guide" By Julian Sprung would be a worthwile addition for you as well. It covers most SPS, LPS and Softies with great pics and a simple graph showing Lighting Needs, Water Flow, Aggressiveness and Hardiness. A perfect companion while learning and shopping for corals.

Todd

 

[Pink Coralline]

Try a Kenya tree, they are very hearty! I accidently smashed one when I first started with coral and thought it was a gonner. I was in like 4 chunks. Needless to say. I had 4 of them come back to life. I clip the one off I have now and give it to my cousin and it grows back. She cant seem to keep them though because shes new to the hobbie and keeps overloading with fish and coral way to fast.