Beginner Corals

[D.O. Marine’O]

I will be ready to add corals in a few months. I have never kept corals in the past. I know certain trace elements need to be present. Looking for as much info as possible before starting the process.

 

[najer]

I will be ready to add corals in a few months. I have never kept corals in the past. I know certain trace elements need to be present. Looking for as much info as possible before starting the process.

What size tank, how old is it and have you got recent water test results we can look at please?

 

[Mark Bradley]

When I got my tank matured, clean up crew added, fish added I then watched a number of videos about 'easy to keep' and went down that route. Mushrooms, Toadstools, Duncan's, Finger Leathers to name but a few. As I near my second year of my reef I'm looking to be a bit braver!

 

[Reeffraff]

Welcome to R2R! In general, most soft corals are quite hardy. But be aware that some species, if things are going well, can grow quickly and in some cases can over take a tank.

 

[D.O. Marine’O]

What size tank, how old is it and have you got recent water test results we can look at please?

40 breeder, 1month since fully cycled, 0 ppm ammonia, 0 ppmnitrite, ph 8.0, nitrate 15-20 ppm.

 

[najer]

40 breeder, 1month since fully cycled, 0 ppm ammonia, 0 ppmnitrite, ph 8.0, nitrate 15-20 ppm.

Sounds good, mushrooms and zoas are easy and most leathers but research before you buy as a lot of soft corals can be invasive.

 

[schneidergarrettt60]

When I first started I bought a set up already in progress it had mushrooms which are nice and spread easily a toadstool which I enjoyed and they were relatively easy to care for but like others said they can spread quickly and take over a tank so my thoughts would be to isolate them so you can either take them out easily or trim them as needed when you need to.
Good luck

 

[Mark Bradley]

When I first started I bought a set up already in progress it had mushrooms which are nice and spread easily a toadstool which I enjoyed and they were relatively easy to care for but like others said they can spread quickly and take over a tank so my thoughts would be to isolate them so you can either take them out easily or trim them as needed when you need to.
Good luck

My Xenia constantly tries to move off it's island, aided by my urchins, but I trim things monthly and haven't had any issues. My toadstools are growing at an alarming rate but I plan to look at fragging them if it becomes a big problem. I've read of people just cutting these corals away and discarding them - that would certainly be my last option but it is an option.
Seems to me that quite a few of the 'easy to keep' options have the downside of wanting to take over the tank - perhaps spreading/hardiness goes hand in hand.

 

[snowhite]

Basic beginner corals are more than fine with just typical weekly/biweekly water changes. There's no need for dosing or such until you get to harder to keep corals that suck up calcium, etc.

Take care of your tank overall and basic corals will be fine.

 

[New&no clue]

What sort of look are you going for with your tank?

Softies are the easiest, they don't need pristine water and they don't use up much of the big 3 so weekly water changes are all you need to keep parameters stable. However, there are many different types. Do you want something that hugs the rocks and grows out not up? If so I would pick things like Zoas, mushrooms, GSP(green start polyps). This will give you good rock coverage but not a lot of height. If you are looking for things that grow up and out I would suggest Toadstools or Leathers. One thing about softies, they like to use chemical warfare on each other so I like to have a bag of carbon in the sump

 

[FinsFan13]

I will be ready to add corals in a few months. I have never kept corals in the past. I know certain trace elements need to be present. Looking for as much info as possible before starting the process.

I started with GSP on a small rock island, away from my main rock structure. It’s an easier coral, and a good indicator of water quality.