Coral recommendations for Nuvo 40

Sourdoh · Jul 5, 2022

I'll start off by saying I'm a complete beginner. I want a large variety of corals in my tank to be. I know sofites are very good beginner corals from what I've read, so should I stay away from SPS and LPS corals as a beginner? Or are those still options as a new reefer? Branching off of that what would be some light recommendations that could support all the different types?

vetteguy53081 · Jul 5, 2022

Key is to have proper lighting and flow and most coral will work
Some low light species such as candy cane, zoa, Xenia, toadstool and leather will work

Slocke · Jul 5, 2022

I think the general reason that in terms of difficulty it goes softies<LPS<SPS is as follows:
Softies don't make a skeleton so you don't need to worry about depleting elements (water changes and dosing)
LPS do grow skeletons but generally don't need much light or flow.
SPS grow skeletons and generally need a lot of light and flow.

There are however easy and hard corals in each category and difficult mostly determined by how hardy/adaptable they are. I suggest perusing tidal gardens https://www.tidalgardens.com for research.

Easy LPS in my limited experience are: Acans, blastos, and Duncans. Frogspawn are also fairly easy.

SPS's that can be easy are things like pavona's and birds nest corals.

Sourdoh · Jul 5, 2022

Slocke said:
I think the general reason that in terms of difficulty it goes softies<LPS<SPS is as follows:
Softies don't make a skeleton so you don't need to worry about depleting elements (water changes and dosing)
LPS do grow skeletons but generally don't need much light or flow.
SPS grow skeletons and generally need a lot of light and flow.

There are however easy and hard corals in each category and difficult mostly determined by how hardy/adaptable they are. I suggest perusing tidal gardens https://www.tidalgardens.com for research.

Easy LPS in my limited experience are: Acans, blastos, and Duncans. Frogspawn are also fairly easy.

SPS's that can be easy are things like pavona's and birds nest corals.

Now I assume if i stick to softies I still have to do water changed just not as often? I'm a huge fan of blastos so I probably will go for them if possible but still I'm curious.

Slocke · Jul 5, 2022

Sourdoh said:
Now I assume if i stick to softies I still have to do water changed just not as often? I'm a huge fan of blastos so I probably will go for them if possible but still I'm curious.

Water changes are always good and if your filtration doesn't remove nutrients then still yes. But you could get away with fewer certainly in a softy only.

Sourdoh · Jul 5, 2022

Slocke said:
Water changes are always good and if your filtration doesn't remove nutrients then still yes. But you could get away with fewer certainly in a softy only.

Any recommendations on a light for a tank that has both softies and LPS?

Slocke · Jul 5, 2022

You don't need much power for that. I really like the controllability and simplicity of fluval marine lights (they've got bluetooth a great app). Not powerful enough for a full SPS tank but more than enough for a softy and LPS tank. But I'd suggest doing your own research; I know plenty of people don't like these lights.
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Sourdoh · Jul 5, 2022

Slocke said:
You don't need much power for that. I really like the controllability and simplicity of fluval marine lights (they've got bluetooth a great app). Not powerful enough for a full SPS tank but more than enough for a softy and LPS tank. But I'd suggest doing your own research; I know plenty of people don't like these lights.
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Big thanks for the input!

IIDRYWATERII · Jul 8, 2022

Slocke said:
You don't need much power for that. I really like the controllability and simplicity of fluval marine lights (they've got bluetooth a great app). Not powerful enough for a full SPS tank but more than enough for a softy and LPS tank. But I'd suggest doing your own research; I know plenty of people don't like these lights.
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Any chance of an overview pic?