Should a newbie be scared of corals? FYI

[Sk8r]

Nope.
Most are easier than fish, if you are careful about parasites and have a good supplement regime. I have a hammer (stony coral) that started at 3 heads about fistsized, and now it's about the size of a basketball.
You HAVE to pick corals that are ok with your lights: that's the only caveat. Only the fussier acroporas (colored sticks) require MH. The rest are ok with pretty-good lighting, and a few prefer the shade.
Some corals can reach out and fight---with tentacles and such, but very few go assault their neighbor or get into the filter, and they don't get ich. Place them wisely and they grow and stay put.
I'd recommend if you want to start with stony, get hammer, frogspawn, or candy-cane, and watch them grow and divide. YOu do need calcium supplementation: it's what they eat---along with light. Maintain good but not too fussy water.
If you want to go the softie route, a few buttons and frilly softies can make a very pretty tank: they hold their own with mushrooms, etc, and they're not that hard if you just watch your alkalinity buffer, run a little carbon when they get cranky, and maintain good water quality. Softies are hungry critters, and don't mind 'rich' water at all.
If you want to try an exacting regime, go for the acropora stony (the little sticks)---beautiful but cranky about conditions, high flow, etc. Read up on those. Some (montiporas) are quite forgiving. Others---well, you need a good rig, some research, and a scientific sense of committment. But they're gorgeous if done right.

[Sisterlimonpot]

Bump for some good info.

Sk8r,
I love the word choice of "rich" water......

[Snowgrrl83]

I must admit - I'm intimidated.

Which "first" coral do you all recommend?

[Misterchinn]

AGEED! I've kept fish only tanks for years, never venturing into the world of corals, until someone gave me a sump a few months ago. I think until someone walked me through the basics of setting up a sump/fuge/skimmer, I was always afraid of doing it wrong and flooding my house or killing them... and at at least $25 a piece (or a rock with several) it was sort of pricey and scary. But so far, I'm really glad I took the leap and am surprised how it's not that hard.

But, now with forums where you can ask questions (Like RC!) and clubs where you can get stuff for cheap or even free, it makes the hobby much more accessible.

I agree that corals aren't super difficult, but, I do think you need some experience with salt water aquaria. A fairly good chunk of change, I'd say $500 minimum (unless you're willing to hunt around for used stuff), and some time on your hands (not just setting things up, but monitoring, testing, cycling, looking up stuff and asking questions).

I hang out at my LFS some afternoons, and it's pretty common for people to come in who want to plunk down $200 for a kit and expect to have a pair of clowns swimming in and out of an anemone by dinner time. So easy is a relative term I guess.

[Sk8r]

If you want to just enliven your rocks, get some mushrooms and xenia: fish won't eat them, and they're tough and multiply like rabbits.
If you want to get a little tougher, try buttons (and for gosh sakes, DON"T get into the 'rare named zoas' market, just get some pretty buttons and a few mushrooms and some frillly leathers. Keep your alk at 8.3 and you're golden.
If you feel a little braver, get a candy cane and a hammer. They're stony, will require calcium supplement after a while, as they start to grow, but they're a good next step. They'll coexist with buttons and mushrooms ok.
Now---if you want to get into the more esoteric corals, or definitely want to do serious stony, skip the buttons and mushrooms: they annoy stony coral, and you'll want to keep the annoyance to a minimum.
If you REALLY want to go for broke and do acroporas, go to the sps forum and read a LOT before you get into it bigtime: they're pricey, delicate, and fussy.

But the 'rich water' corals like mushrooms, buttons, softies in general, and the lps (large fat stony corals like hammer, candycane and bubble) are very forgiving: I had a piece of hammer live through the cycle. THAT's how tough they are. Don't be scared of them. Just pick a small frag, and treat it nicely re water quality.

[Pcrain]

i started with leather corals 5 years ago and worked my way to sps and i have a full reef now just going sps this last year it was a long transition but now i have a little of everything ( i still have my first leather) and know how to keep it all i like leathers for beginners although they scare you at the start b/c there crap phase lol it makes you research, do a few water test, or do water change.. very good thread bump =P don't be scared!

[Bonta]

Sticky ?

[thompsontwins]

just keep everything stable and double check parameters

[Frick-n-Frags]

when your water is good, everything gets much easier.

just remember fish only converts: low nutrients is a big part of the game. 100ppm nitrates wont work anymore. huge fishloads and big feeding can make for a rough go when fighting algae. get a good skimmer. think " maintenance"

"rawk on!!"

[reefscape15]

Very good thread Sk8r! Great info, and hopefully some people will read and realize that a reef tank is deffinately as acheivable as fish only or freshwater. I did start in freshwater, then had brackish, then moved to reef. I still have a frag of my very first Kenya Tree that I've had for over 6 years now.

BTW Sk8r, is your tank a corner bowfront? Just curious

[ct103]

Proper equipment and ability too maintain water quality is most important before keeping corals, get an RODI unit if you haven't already, that made a world of difference for me. You will have to research the critters you want to keep, find out what there needs are. Test for trace elements and supplement if needed. I wish that I had started keeping corals a long time ago instead of waiting. You are on the right site for support and info. Just research before you add an animal so you will know what it's specific needs are. You will not regret reefkeeping watching your animals and reef grow and mature there wiil be setbacks but don't let it beat you just try to figure out what went wrong and correct it. Good Luck.

[danch]

I had a protopalythoa live through curing my rock.

Duncans are also a good easy hard coral.

[Sk8r]

Re the query, yes: my tank's a 54 corner bow: nice tank for a compact installation, a little small, but I like a coral tank with a lot of the little fishes, like gobies and blennies, that are to scale with the rocks. [There's an urban legend going around that you can't have more than one blenny: correction: you need to do a little research, but many blennies are perfectly peaceful together, as for instance the tailspot and starry].
I succeed mostly with lps because I'm too busy to give my tank the care it ought to have. I've begun to suspect that the monster hammer is intimidating the other corals: corals are like that---they give off intimidating chemicals. A little carbon can take care of that. But this is a tank that doesn't take too much work. The hammer's doubled its size---this is why I'm a wee bit suspicious the fact the others haven't is a clue to who's being pushy.
You only THINK corals are idle creatures.

My typical water parameters: salinity 1.025, alkalinity 8.3, calcium 420, magnesium 1280. I don't dose often, because I drip kalk. This means I set my alk and cal and mg by dosing, then dump Mrs. Wages' Pickling Lime into my regular topoff water (ro/di)---this is a neat deal, because ONLY the right amount CAN dissolve in ro/di water---and that means you don't overdose. Topping off with kalk (limewater) means you can go (in my case, because I have a big topoff reservoir) a month or two without having to dose or futz with the chemistry. And a 5 dollars for a couple of pounds of lime, it's WAY cheaper than 20.00 a bottle for the chemicals on their own. It's a tried-and-true method of maintaining stony coral that's just dead easy to do, and safe: hard to overdose, pretty innocuous if you do, and you DON'T need to buy a reactor to dispense kalk or measure it. Just dump it in the water and let your topoff pump do the delivery.

[Sk8r]

One other nice thing: corals ARE filters. They help out the live rock and sand. Keep your fish load within reason, and their poo feeds the corals what else they need. Bristleworms break down fish poo, and the corals use it to grow, and there you are, ocean in a tank.
The MORE you can keep your fish load commensurate with your tank size, incidentally---you can survive an 8 hour power outage without panic. I've lost power on my tank for that long, no sweat.

[loosecannon]

Originally Posted by Sk8r

Nope.
Most are easier than fish, if you are careful about parasites and have a good supplement regime. I have a hammer (stony coral) that started at 3 heads about fistsized, and now it's about the size of a basketball.
You HAVE to pick corals that are ok with your lights: that's the only caveat. Only the fussier acroporas (colored sticks) require MH. The rest are ok with pretty-good lighting, and a few prefer the shade.
Some corals can reach out and fight---with tentacles and such, but very few go assault their neighbor or get into the filter, and they don't get ich. Place them wisely and they grow and stay put.
I'd recommend if you want to start with stony, get hammer, frogspawn, or candy-cane, and watch them grow and divide. YOu do need calcium supplementation: it's what they eat---along with light. Maintain good but not too fussy water.
If you want to go the softie route, a few buttons and frilly softies can make a very pretty tank: they hold their own with mushrooms, etc, and they're not that hard if you just watch your alkalinity buffer, run a little carbon when they get cranky, and maintain good water quality. Softies are hungry critters, and don't mind 'rich' water at all.
If you want to try an exacting regime, go for the acropora stony (the little sticks)---beautiful but cranky about conditions, high flow, etc. Read up on those. Some (montiporas) are quite forgiving. Others---well, you need a good rig, some research, and a scientific sense of committment. But they're gorgeous if done right.

No, a nobby should do there research

[z34fiend]

I think corals are easier to keep then fish. I have better luck keeping corals than I do fish.I would rather spend 50-100 bucks on a coral than fish anyday because I know it would survive

[lordofthereef]

Great info. here, though I would caution people from touting that this and that coral lived through a crash or a cycle or whatever. Remember info. like this is generally read by newer people just getting into the hobby and IMO you don't want to give them the impression that you can just chuck these things in the water and expect beauty.

[Sk8r]

I'd add---get your params stable before buying corals. Once your readings are identical IN A GOOD WAY [see my params above, plus around an 80 degree temperature day and night, very small swing] ---for a fairly prolonged period, you're ready. Corals do not like change, and they really don't like extreme or rapid change. Getting your tank balanced chemically and in terms of salinity and temperature takes some futzing, but once you get good at it and understand what you need to do to achieve that stability---you are ready for corals. And your fish are going to be a heckuva lot healthier and happier, too!

[syrinx]

I agree skater. The key is researching what you are going to keep. Too many folks feel a SPS style setup is needed for animals that do well in a skimmerless nano. That being said- there is the contingent that want to keeps SPS in a skimmerless nano- so once again research! But never fear!

[reefscape15]

Sk8r - You should introduce yourself on the Reef Central Corner Tank thread.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...698273&page=22

Tons of corner owners with some pretty amazing tanks on there. Check it out!

[mortis13]

i have never even had a marine tank before, i now have two duncans a torch, a plate, a hammer and an awesome purple tipped elegance and their all going strong.

[theyammieguy]

Now, you say that acro's require MH but I've seen lots of tanks here with T5's and acro's.

Whats the way to dose calcium?

[rafa316]

Sweet, thank you for the info. This is very encouraging

[steamer51]

Great info Sk8r! Freshwater is mostly about fish and many people switch to saltwater by cycling their reef and beginning to add fish. Later, when they feel secure, they will start thinking about corals. I believe a reef tank is an ecosystem that has the most long-term stability when it is built slowly from the ground up. When I started my reef there was nothing but live rock with a few hitchhikers. Pods, a couple of hermit crabs, snails, bristle and other worms, asterina starfish and a few small softie corals. Three months later I added a few more softies and leathers from our annual frag swap. Everything at the beginning survived the small cycle I had due to the live rock coming from an established tank and the rock seeded my new sand. Eight months after startup I finally added my first fish. It was a Mandarin, hence the long wait.

My point is you should start with only the smallest organisms (bacteria), wait until they are established and stable (the cycle), and then add the next biggest (micro plankton, pods), then small invertebrates (CUC), then corals and finally fish. As long you take time to let each community get a good foothold before adding the next you won't have the troubles that can happen when you throw an advanced organism (fish) into an unstable environment. A reef tank is like a newborn baby that has to develop before you can feed him a full course meal.

[reefscape15]

steamer51 - Very well stated! I agree with that completely. I know people have had success with just setting up a tank and letting it cycle, then load the crap out of it with tons of frags and fish, but unless you have a very advanced system, this may be unachievable. I also believe in biology over technology. I had my tank up and running for over a year before I added a skimmer. There was a few soft corals, 2 small fish, LR and a clean up crew. I ran that skimmer for about 3 years. I took it off the tank about 5 months ago and have noticed no difference in overall tank health. I have a 2.5gal HOB fuge and about 100-125lbs of LR in my 54gal tank. With building it slowly and picking fish that help with tank maintenance has really helped keep the tank looking beautiful.