Sk8r
10/29/2010, 12:04 PM
Corals come in several, even many, classes, but for simplicity, let's consider them as 2 groups: stony and softie.
If you want softie---ie, mushrooms, buttons, zoas, etc, leathers: track your alkalinity principally, do regular water changes, and generally run carbon at all times. When annoyed, softies spit into the water, which in the great ocean is only a local problem. In a tank, goes-around comes-around due to our circulating pumps, and everybody gets the dose. Carbon will calm that down.
Softies take moderate to low light, and don't mind particulates in their water---they regard those as 'food'. Doing regular water changes will generally handle anything they need regarding chemistry. However: should your alkalinity not be in balance, everything will be unhappy, so track that. And figure this: the more you keep your water like ocean water, the happier everything from the ocean will be. Take a page from the stony-keepers' book if you're having alkalinity troubles, and just fix it up stony-style. It's not going to hurt at all, and it may make things a whole lot better. Mushrooms, by the way, crawl. They will get onto your structural rock if you don't watch them, so think whether you want them there.
The good thing about softies is that even coral-nipping fish often leave softies alone.
Stony corals eat calcium like it's going out of style once they start eating at all: they also live on light. No kidding. Light. They actually come in two classes: sps and lps.
SPS are the 'colored sticks': they take very high light, up to MH. They require water so clean it has no particulates, and they eat mostly calcium from the water and light. They're very touchy, and really, I would not suggest sps for a novice reefer. Be very careful what fish you put in with them: they're lunch for a lot of fish.
LPS are the poofy, tentacled stony: they take moderate to high light, but live well in moderate. One, bubble, even prefers low light. They build huge skeletons, and use a lot of calcium: they suck particulates from the water, so they like water not to be too clean-scrubbed: your filter sock is taking what they'd like to eat. Given a choice between 'wall' [solid] and 'branching,' buy 'branching'. Fragging (breaking apart) branching coral is far easier. And take those tentacles seriously. You don't think brain has tentacles? Yep: their 'sweepers,' or feeding tentacles come short and long. Allow 6-8" downcurrent space for ANY lps. Also: some live on the sand (plate, slipper, etc---and these will MOVE.) and some live on the reef (hammer, candycane, etc)
For stony in general, they will ultimately get hungry enough to require daily calcium supplement and careful balance of calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium: there are also some neat automations for this supplementation: under 100 gallons, you can get by with kalk, which is the cheapest, as in, use an old bucket and things you find at home; over 100g you're going to be heading for a calcium reactor, which is pricier, and requires a Co2 tank.
Can a novice keep corals, and how soon?
Yes, with the exception of sps, as advised.
You can do it from the first month of your tank...if you're an old hand water-hobbyist and never goof up your water quality. Give it a month past any likelihood of a serious newbie water-mistake, and you're good to go. They're tougher than anemones---wait 6 months on those. When you make them mad, nems go walkabout and do bad things.
Can you overstock with corals?
No. They ARE filters. But they are also biomass, so if you do something to kill off your tank, the mess will be that much worse.
How fast do they grow? Faster than you think likely. Mushrooms can take a rock---fast. 3 heads of hammer can become 60 within 3 years.
Do they have to be quarantined? Yes and no. They have to be dipped: pests ride in on what they eat, and if they find a lot to eat, you've got a problem. Some pests are nearly invisible (redbug) and very hard to eradicate once into your tank. So dip! Then an intermediate tank where you look over a new piece under strong light is not a bad idea. Anything that's going on with it tends to crawl, and show up under a magnifying lens. If you thought you saw something, keep it in the observation tank, and watch it. But once you're willing to bet it's clean, it can go in.
Don't be scared of corals. They're easier than fish or anemones if you watch your chemistry. At least they don't jump or float into powerheads.
But if you're going to have stony corals, you ARE committing to learn the water chemistry part, and best you ask your questions before you get any specimen---and know about dips before you put something in your tank. Ask your lfs, or reserve a small gallon bucket for that purpose. Beyond that, we're happy to explain it, and it's not that hard. 3 elements, 3 tests. And a log book.
If you want softie---ie, mushrooms, buttons, zoas, etc, leathers: track your alkalinity principally, do regular water changes, and generally run carbon at all times. When annoyed, softies spit into the water, which in the great ocean is only a local problem. In a tank, goes-around comes-around due to our circulating pumps, and everybody gets the dose. Carbon will calm that down.
Softies take moderate to low light, and don't mind particulates in their water---they regard those as 'food'. Doing regular water changes will generally handle anything they need regarding chemistry. However: should your alkalinity not be in balance, everything will be unhappy, so track that. And figure this: the more you keep your water like ocean water, the happier everything from the ocean will be. Take a page from the stony-keepers' book if you're having alkalinity troubles, and just fix it up stony-style. It's not going to hurt at all, and it may make things a whole lot better. Mushrooms, by the way, crawl. They will get onto your structural rock if you don't watch them, so think whether you want them there.
The good thing about softies is that even coral-nipping fish often leave softies alone.
Stony corals eat calcium like it's going out of style once they start eating at all: they also live on light. No kidding. Light. They actually come in two classes: sps and lps.
SPS are the 'colored sticks': they take very high light, up to MH. They require water so clean it has no particulates, and they eat mostly calcium from the water and light. They're very touchy, and really, I would not suggest sps for a novice reefer. Be very careful what fish you put in with them: they're lunch for a lot of fish.
LPS are the poofy, tentacled stony: they take moderate to high light, but live well in moderate. One, bubble, even prefers low light. They build huge skeletons, and use a lot of calcium: they suck particulates from the water, so they like water not to be too clean-scrubbed: your filter sock is taking what they'd like to eat. Given a choice between 'wall' [solid] and 'branching,' buy 'branching'. Fragging (breaking apart) branching coral is far easier. And take those tentacles seriously. You don't think brain has tentacles? Yep: their 'sweepers,' or feeding tentacles come short and long. Allow 6-8" downcurrent space for ANY lps. Also: some live on the sand (plate, slipper, etc---and these will MOVE.) and some live on the reef (hammer, candycane, etc)
For stony in general, they will ultimately get hungry enough to require daily calcium supplement and careful balance of calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium: there are also some neat automations for this supplementation: under 100 gallons, you can get by with kalk, which is the cheapest, as in, use an old bucket and things you find at home; over 100g you're going to be heading for a calcium reactor, which is pricier, and requires a Co2 tank.
Can a novice keep corals, and how soon?
Yes, with the exception of sps, as advised.
You can do it from the first month of your tank...if you're an old hand water-hobbyist and never goof up your water quality. Give it a month past any likelihood of a serious newbie water-mistake, and you're good to go. They're tougher than anemones---wait 6 months on those. When you make them mad, nems go walkabout and do bad things.
Can you overstock with corals?
No. They ARE filters. But they are also biomass, so if you do something to kill off your tank, the mess will be that much worse.
How fast do they grow? Faster than you think likely. Mushrooms can take a rock---fast. 3 heads of hammer can become 60 within 3 years.
Do they have to be quarantined? Yes and no. They have to be dipped: pests ride in on what they eat, and if they find a lot to eat, you've got a problem. Some pests are nearly invisible (redbug) and very hard to eradicate once into your tank. So dip! Then an intermediate tank where you look over a new piece under strong light is not a bad idea. Anything that's going on with it tends to crawl, and show up under a magnifying lens. If you thought you saw something, keep it in the observation tank, and watch it. But once you're willing to bet it's clean, it can go in.
Don't be scared of corals. They're easier than fish or anemones if you watch your chemistry. At least they don't jump or float into powerheads.
But if you're going to have stony corals, you ARE committing to learn the water chemistry part, and best you ask your questions before you get any specimen---and know about dips before you put something in your tank. Ask your lfs, or reserve a small gallon bucket for that purpose. Beyond that, we're happy to explain it, and it's not that hard. 3 elements, 3 tests. And a log book.