Easy Corals

stscream4187 · 08/16/2013, 01:05 PM

I am new to saltwater. Did a lot of research before starting. My 125G has been up and running for almost 3 months now with no issues. I have 5 fish and a large CUC. No ammonia, very low phosphates/nitrates, and salinity at 1.025.

I added a few frags from my local fish store (Duncan and Yellow Polyps Colony) a month ago and they are doing great. I am looking for more easy to keep corals that spread quickly. I have read that xenia, blue clove polyps (?), green star polyps all grow well. My question is where can I find them? I have never ordered anything online and am hesitant to do so for living things. For someone new like me, would I be ok orderin corals online? If so, best recommendations?

I am located in Pittsburgh and live close to Elmer's where I get evereything. That is the only saltwater place in the area that I have been to if that helps.

Thanks for taking the time to read through this.

dunc101 · 08/16/2013, 01:21 PM

Your LFS should have xenia and green star polyps as they are very very common. As far as good starter frags, just about any soft coral will be easy along with the GSP and xenia you mentioned as being ones that can grow very very fast given the right parameters. So much so that many don't keep xenia or GSP in fear that it will get out of control lol.

Ordering corals online is a great step as well. Do some research around here for good vendors as there are many good ones.

Palting · 08/16/2013, 01:21 PM

The problem with easy coral like Xenia, mushrooms , clove polyps, GSP and the like Is that they can overgrow and take over a tank.

What kind of reef coral do you plan to keep in the long run? If it's going to be a mix of SPS/LPS/softies, then I would suggest holding off on the above until later to serve as ground cover. If it's going to be mostly softies, then go ahead with the above easy coral. If you are planning mostly stonies, then I would get some LPS first. You already have a Duncan, go with a candycane and maybe a frogspawn and/or a hammer. These are relatively easy and hardy for stonies. A step up in difficulty would be SPS, but there are still some easy one's, like a green slimer for example.

HTH!!

stscream4187 · 08/16/2013, 01:30 PM

Thanks for the replies!

dunc101 - I have not seen either of them there, and from looking around online it does not seem like they have nice corals or a good selection. Do you have any experience ordering online?

Palting - I got into saltwater mainly for the fish, so the coral will be secondary. I am very interested in anemones so once my tank has matured I will be looking into them more seriously. So to answer your question, I guess a soft coral tank? Would those be fine if I plan for anemones? Also, when you say overgrow and take over the tank, does that mean they will get too large and I will have to maintain them? I was hoping to put a few corals in that would just take off and I could focus on the fish.

dunc101 · 08/16/2013, 01:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stscream4187

Thanks for the replies!

dunc101 - I have not seen either of them there, and from looking around online it does not seem like they have nice corals or a good selection. Do you have any experience ordering online?

Palting - I got into saltwater mainly for the fish, so the coral will be secondary. I am very interested in anemones so once my tank has matured I will be looking into them more seriously. So to answer your question, I guess a soft coral tank? Would those be fine if I plan for anemones? Also, when you say overgrow and take over the tank, does that mean they will get too large and I will have to maintain them? I was hoping to put a few corals in that would just take off and I could focus on the fish.

I have ordered a few times online, but I mainly order just SPS from all SPS vendors.
If you do a google for 'great places to order coral online' you'll get a ton of hits.

One of the 'top rated' vendors that is also a sponser here is LiveAquaria/Divers Den and should have just about anything you would want in stock. They are a little more pricey than other vendors, however.
Vividaquariums is also very good and I have gotten some nice fish and SPS from them as well at a reasonable price for the size frags I received.

I have also had experience with Pacific East Aquaculture but I bought directly from them at a frag swap last year. I was quite surprised at the price and size of the SPS frags I got from them (they also have good softies and LPS for a great price on their website).

Some other sponsors on the website that I have heard good things about is
bluezooaquatics, extreme corals, and unique corals. I personally have not used them however.

Do note that you will usually have to pay $200+ to get free shipping as well on just about any online vendor, otherwise expect to pay $35-$60 just to ship them out overnight. That is the one major drawback with ordering online imo.

thegrun · 08/16/2013, 01:47 PM

Here is a website listing easy to care for corals and their care:
http://saltaquarium.about.com/od/cor...5-Easy-Corals/

stscream4187 · 08/16/2013, 02:02 PM

Thanks dunc101, I have a lot of research to do on those sites now! I appreciate the help.

That's a great link thegrun, I just bookmarked it, thanks.

thegrun · 08/16/2013, 02:13 PM

I should have included this site also which lists many of the common corals in the trade and their care:
https://sites.google.com/a/asira.org/www2/caresheets

Palting · 08/16/2013, 05:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stscream4187

Palting - I got into saltwater mainly for the fish, so the coral will be secondary. I am very interested in anemones so once my tank has matured I will be looking into them more seriously. So to answer your question, I guess a soft coral tank? Would those be fine if I plan for anemones? Also, when you say overgrow and take over the tank, does that mean they will get too large and I will have to maintain them? I was hoping to put a few corals in that would just take off and I could focus on the fish.

When I said overgrow and take over the tank, I meant that they can smother the less hardy coral simply by overgrowing them. If your plan is for fish mostly and the coral are just background, those softie coral mentioned should be perfect. An anemone can stand it's own against them, stinging whatever comes to it.

stscream4187 · 08/16/2013, 06:16 PM

Thank you everyone, I appreciate the help!

robotman · 08/16/2013, 08:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stscream4187

Thank you everyone, I appreciate the help!

Zoanthids are cool to look at. pretty hardy coral.

jamesbaur13 · 08/16/2013, 09:10 PM

+1 Palting hit my concern on the nose.

If you are looking for a good starter for SPS I'd look at birdsnests.

In particular I'd look at ORA green birdsnest. It is pretty darn hardy and looks awesome in person. Tightly packed branches, Neon green polyps which extend around 1/8". Although it's an SPS, given it's form and polyp extension, it has a decent amount of movement. It's as easy as it gets to control.

Monti's are also an easy SPS, but they encrust over your rocks and they grow pretty quick, but still not a bad choice... I would never get more than 1 of them for these reasons, they can become a little too overbearing.

I'd advise to stay away from Pocillopora... it spawns pretty regularly. The stuff is nearly as bad as Aiptasia.

MYDRAAL · 08/16/2013, 09:42 PM

If your main reason to set up a saltwater tank was for the fish ,IDE research what fish you wanted before getting more coral. There's plenty of awesome fish out there (angels) that may not be good with some corals you end up purchasing.

stscream4187 · 08/17/2013, 08:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jamesbaur13

+1 Palting hit my concern on the nose.

If you are looking for a good starter for SPS I'd look at birdsnests.

In particular I'd look at ORA green birdsnest. It is pretty darn hardy and looks awesome in person. Tightly packed branches, Neon green polyps which extend around 1/8". Although it's an SPS, given it's form and polyp extension, it has a decent amount of movement. It's as easy as it gets to control.

Monti's are also an easy SPS, but they encrust over your rocks and they grow pretty quick, but still not a bad choice... I would never get more than 1 of them for these reasons, they can become a little too overbearing.

I'd advise to stay away from Pocillopora... it spawns pretty regularly. The stuff is nearly as bad as Aiptasia.

Yea those are really cool, I didn't realize how easy they were to maintain. The one thing I didn't want to have to get into was dosing calcium or magnesium other than regular water changes. I will look into them some more and see if I can handle them.

Noted about pocillopora, thanks!

stscream4187 · 08/17/2013, 08:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MYDRAAL

If your main reason to set up a saltwater tank was for the fish ,IDE research what fish you wanted before getting more coral. There's plenty of awesome fish out there (angels) that may not be good with some corals you end up purchasing.

I will make sure everything works together before I put them in, but most of the fish I like are the reef friendly ones. Right now I have 2 black oscellaris, an azure damsel, coral beauty angel, yellow watchman goby, and a little niger trigger. I like the foxfaces and would eventually want a mandarin and maybe a flasher wrasse or some anthias. I think all of those should be ok. Thanks for the help!

robotman · 08/19/2013, 06:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stscream4187

I will make sure everything works together before I put them in, but most of the fish I like are the reef friendly ones. Right now I have 2 black oscellaris, an azure damsel, coral beauty angel, yellow watchman goby, and a little niger trigger. I like the foxfaces and would eventually want a mandarin and maybe a flasher wrasse or some anthias. I think all of those should be ok. Thanks for the help!

careful on the mandarin, they are hard to keep as they need lots of copepods,

my lfs said while i was out of town he had 3 that took frozen food

08/16/2013, 01:05 PM	#1
stscream4187 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: Pittsburgh Posts: 122	Easy Corals I am new to saltwater. Did a lot of research before starting. My 125G has been up and running for almost 3 months now with no issues. I have 5 fish and a large CUC. No ammonia, very low phosphates/nitrates, and salinity at 1.025. I added a few frags from my local fish store (Duncan and Yellow Polyps Colony) a month ago and they are doing great. I am looking for more easy to keep corals that spread quickly. I have read that xenia, blue clove polyps (?), green star polyps all grow well. My question is where can I find them? I have never ordered anything online and am hesitant to do so for living things. For someone new like me, would I be ok orderin corals online? If so, best recommendations? I am located in Pittsburgh and live close to Elmer's where I get evereything. That is the only saltwater place in the area that I have been to if that helps. Thanks for taking the time to read through this.

08/16/2013, 01:21 PM	#2
dunc101 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2011 Posts: 758	Your LFS should have xenia and green star polyps as they are very very common. As far as good starter frags, just about any soft coral will be easy along with the GSP and xenia you mentioned as being ones that can grow very very fast given the right parameters. So much so that many don't keep xenia or GSP in fear that it will get out of control lol. Ordering corals online is a great step as well. Do some research around here for good vendors as there are many good ones. __________________ Duncan

08/16/2013, 01:21 PM	#3
Palting Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Ohio Posts: 6,912	The problem with easy coral like Xenia, mushrooms , clove polyps, GSP and the like Is that they can overgrow and take over a tank. What kind of reef coral do you plan to keep in the long run? If it's going to be a mix of SPS/LPS/softies, then I would suggest holding off on the above until later to serve as ground cover. If it's going to be mostly softies, then go ahead with the above easy coral. If you are planning mostly stonies, then I would get some LPS first. You already have a Duncan, go with a candycane and maybe a frogspawn and/or a hammer. These are relatively easy and hardy for stonies. A step up in difficulty would be SPS, but there are still some easy one's, like a green slimer for example. HTH!! __________________ Anything I post is just an opinion. One of many in this hobby. Believe and follow at your own risk of rapid and complete annihilation of all life in your tank :) Current Tank Info: Incept 3/2010, 150 RR, 50g sump, 20g fuge, 150w 15K MH x3, T5 actinics x8, moonlight LED x6, 1400gph return, Koralia 1400 x4, 300 g skimmer, 4 tangs, 2 mandarins, 2 perc, 6 line, 3 cardinals, 2 firefish, SPS, LPS, zoas, palys, shrooms, clam

08/16/2013, 09:10 PM	#12
jamesbaur13 Apsiring Alhcohlolic Join Date: Jun 2011 Posts: 772	+1 Palting hit my concern on the nose. If you are looking for a good starter for SPS I'd look at birdsnests. In particular I'd look at ORA green birdsnest. It is pretty darn hardy and looks awesome in person. Tightly packed branches, Neon green polyps which extend around 1/8". Although it's an SPS, given it's form and polyp extension, it has a decent amount of movement. It's as easy as it gets to control. Monti's are also an easy SPS, but they encrust over your rocks and they grow pretty quick, but still not a bad choice... I would never get more than 1 of them for these reasons, they can become a little too overbearing. I'd advise to stay away from Pocillopora... it spawns pretty regularly. The stuff is nearly as bad as Aiptasia. __________________ 120G AGA Dual Overflow, 40G B Sump, SRO-2000int, 2 Eheim 200w Heater, Eheim 1262 Return, BRS C & GFO React., BR-1000ss Biopellet React., Tunze 5017 ATO, 2 MP-40wes, DIY 76LED (36RB,24NW,6B,6CW,4Moon) Last edited by jamesbaur13; 08/16/2013 at 09:19 PM.

08/16/2013, 01:30 PM	#4
stscream4187 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: Pittsburgh Posts: 122	Thanks for the replies! dunc101 - I have not seen either of them there, and from looking around online it does not seem like they have nice corals or a good selection. Do you have any experience ordering online? Palting - I got into saltwater mainly for the fish, so the coral will be secondary. I am very interested in anemones so once my tank has matured I will be looking into them more seriously. So to answer your question, I guess a soft coral tank? Would those be fine if I plan for anemones? Also, when you say overgrow and take over the tank, does that mean they will get too large and I will have to maintain them? I was hoping to put a few corals in that would just take off and I could focus on the fish.

08/16/2013, 01:47 PM	#6
thegrun Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Garden Grove, Ca Posts: 17,023	Here is a website listing easy to care for corals and their care: http://saltaquarium.about.com/od/cor...5-Easy-Corals/

08/16/2013, 02:02 PM	#7
stscream4187 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: Pittsburgh Posts: 122	Thanks dunc101, I have a lot of research to do on those sites now! I appreciate the help. That's a great link thegrun, I just bookmarked it, thanks.

08/16/2013, 02:13 PM	#8
thegrun Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Garden Grove, Ca Posts: 17,023	I should have included this site also which lists many of the common corals in the trade and their care: https://sites.google.com/a/asira.org/www2/caresheets

08/16/2013, 06:16 PM	#10
stscream4187 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: Pittsburgh Posts: 122	Thank you everyone, I appreciate the help!

08/16/2013, 09:42 PM	#13
MYDRAAL Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: FWB Posts: 396	If your main reason to set up a saltwater tank was for the fish ,IDE research what fish you wanted before getting more coral. There's plenty of awesome fish out there (angels) that may not be good with some corals you end up purchasing.