Sk8r
12/07/2014, 11:43 AM
1. most eat light. Yep. Light. Non-photosynthetic corals (sun coral, some gorgonians, etc,) don't, and have to get their food from the water. But most eat light. This is why what lights you have matters. SPS (the colored stick type) is so light-hungry that you need to keep your water crystal-clear---translation: have a really topnotch skimmer. LPS (fluffy stony) is more tolerant of less pure water: it gets some of its living from filtering the water. Softies, without a stony skeleton, are also filtering the water for their food and many don't like to be in hyper-strong light. So you can see what lights you get governs what corals will thrive in your tank. You also may adjust light to a specific coral by moving it either higher or lower: the deeper down, the less light-energy reaches it.
2. water and dissolved minerals. Stony coral sucks in water and takes up calcium...an amazing amount of it, and KEEPING enough calcium in the water means having a supply of it in the water (the ocean gets it by dissolving old coral and limestone [really about the same thing.]) And in order to dissolve that calcium, the alkalinity of the water needs to be up around 8.3. This governs the water ph, which helps calcium dissolve. Magnesium is another mineral that needs to be present, at about 1300 or a little more. Stony coral takes in calcium, and builds skeleton, which is no longer alive, and which eventually breaks. The new bits live on as separate corals---virtually immortal in that sense---and the old dead bits dissolve in seawater to feed new bits.
3. organics---ie, what WE think of as food. Yes. Softies are very efficient living filterrs. They don't mind a little particulate in the water. LPS, midway between softie and stony, also relishes a little richness in the water, and a handful, like, say, plate corals, will take real food like a thin slice of shrimp, or sweep pellet into their mouths. SPS in a tank situation...is better helped by keeping the water crystal clear and having proper lighting.
Many people do feed extra for their corals. Some don't, depending on the corals having fish-poo pre-processed by the helpful bristleworms, which reduce particulate to near-invisible bits: some even suggest there is a close relationship between worm-poo and the corals.The success rate MOSTLY depends on supplying light of the right type/strength, keeping the corals firmly fixed to the rock (coral HATES to wobble around,) and keeping the water parameters stable. My tank favors LPS, and I keep my typical numbers in my sig line, for your convenience. Staying in that zone will make most critters happy, be they fish or stony coral. Keeping softies or LPS is not that hard with modern equipment. SPS is still the frontier of what our tanks can do, but if you are of a meticulous nature, and have the top end equipment, it is an interesting frontier.
2. water and dissolved minerals. Stony coral sucks in water and takes up calcium...an amazing amount of it, and KEEPING enough calcium in the water means having a supply of it in the water (the ocean gets it by dissolving old coral and limestone [really about the same thing.]) And in order to dissolve that calcium, the alkalinity of the water needs to be up around 8.3. This governs the water ph, which helps calcium dissolve. Magnesium is another mineral that needs to be present, at about 1300 or a little more. Stony coral takes in calcium, and builds skeleton, which is no longer alive, and which eventually breaks. The new bits live on as separate corals---virtually immortal in that sense---and the old dead bits dissolve in seawater to feed new bits.
3. organics---ie, what WE think of as food. Yes. Softies are very efficient living filterrs. They don't mind a little particulate in the water. LPS, midway between softie and stony, also relishes a little richness in the water, and a handful, like, say, plate corals, will take real food like a thin slice of shrimp, or sweep pellet into their mouths. SPS in a tank situation...is better helped by keeping the water crystal clear and having proper lighting.
Many people do feed extra for their corals. Some don't, depending on the corals having fish-poo pre-processed by the helpful bristleworms, which reduce particulate to near-invisible bits: some even suggest there is a close relationship between worm-poo and the corals.The success rate MOSTLY depends on supplying light of the right type/strength, keeping the corals firmly fixed to the rock (coral HATES to wobble around,) and keeping the water parameters stable. My tank favors LPS, and I keep my typical numbers in my sig line, for your convenience. Staying in that zone will make most critters happy, be they fish or stony coral. Keeping softies or LPS is not that hard with modern equipment. SPS is still the frontier of what our tanks can do, but if you are of a meticulous nature, and have the top end equipment, it is an interesting frontier.