Recommended Corals

[serpentman]

I am looking for recommendations for corals for my 180. Whenever, I read up on "beginner" corals, it seems articles always elude to beginner being synonymous with low light.

Although not ultra high powered, my current lighting is:

2 x 400W MH (10,000K)
1 x 250W MH (6500K)
2 x 96 W actinics

My ultimate goal is to have a mixture of species. I want some SPS, however I like the movement provided by LPS and Soft Corals. Any recommendations?

[Avi]

Your lighting is very good so you shouldn't have any problems with coral if your water conditions are good. I don't know that any coral should really be termed, "beginner coral." I say that because when I started out, I was told that mushrooms are "beginner coral," and so I bought some that were really beautiful at the fish store. After acclimation, I put it into my reef and they refused to open. This was in contrast to lots and lots of other coral, from zoanthids to hydnopora to blastomussa to acanthastrea, etc. which all did beautifully. The mushrooms just languished in my reef and remained shrunken until just a month or so ago, when they opened up and for the first time look like what they did at the fish store when I purchased them. This took over two years since I put them in the tank.

So, don't worry too much about how "easy" a coral is said to be. Watch your water readings and if they're find, just get what attracts you. For the movement that you mentioned you like, I'd look into Clavularias. They sway really nicely with the current in the tank and they're hardy so long as they are placed in good current. Another coral that I think you'd like are Pagodas (turbinaria peltata.) They have polyps on a plate skeleton that look great when the current moves them.

[Loralie]

Your lighting is sufficient for most corals. If you want to go to SPS I would begin planning for that now. I wouldn't put in mushrooms, as mine exploded in my SPS tank and are difficult to eradicate. Most LPs should be fine in your system as long as water quality is good. Try some frogspawn or Hammer.

[m3rcury]

i think by "beginner corals," most people are referring to how tolerant the coral is of flucuations in water parameters. since most beginners face a pretty steep learning curve in terms of identifying what supplements need to be added, and when, and how to keep pH stable, and temp. problems, and everything else that makes this hobby a challenge, some of the more delicate corals will be risky until the reefer learns how to keep everything stable.

now, even though i'm a beginner, that hasn't kept me from getting small frags of hard corals. however, i made sure to get inexpensive frags in case i screw something up. i would rather lose a $10 frag than a $150 show piece.

anyway, this is what other people have told me as i began my reef.

[cw150]

If you plan on keeping SPS, stay away from leathers, or invasive softies like green star polyps, xenia, or shrooms.

[mg426]

Just go slow. I would stay away from flowerpots and elegance corals for agood while.

[smcdonn]

What cw150 said. Xenia spreads like crazy and is taking over my tank. I have a few SPS corals but have to constantly clip the xenia. Pain in the butt.