Frustrated, might be in over my head

Wbflyer · Mar 2, 2020

Hey all,

I went to my LFS and asked them for an easy to care for hard coral for beginners since I want to try and start dabbling in LPS since my softies are doing so well. He took me over to a ton of frags and showed me Acropora. I said to him"aren't these the most difficult to keep?" and stated that these were not true acropora and are forgiving. Well, is he correct or full of you know what?

He also sold me plating coral which again is not the easiest to care for.

Potatohead · Mar 2, 2020

It's a (pink) birdsnest, which is an SPS coral, but not acropora. Easier to keep than acropora.

LiveWire · Mar 2, 2020

By the looks of what I can see it seems that you my have a birdsnest coral and that is indeed one of the easier to care for SPS corals out there. As long as you keep your parameter levels steady you will be fine. I have always been a fan of birdsnest corals and they grow fast for the most part.

With that being said if you were asking for LPS im not sure why he would direct you to SPS.

Wbflyer · Mar 2, 2020

OK, thanks!! I feel better that I wasn't lied to. Just curious, what makes this particular coral easier? Seems Birdsnest is more forgiving on light parameters and KH from what I have researched.

Wbflyer · Mar 2, 2020

Yes, I agree and i asked him and stated this coral (birdsnest) was about as easy as LPS.

Potatohead · Mar 2, 2020

Wbflyer said:
Yes, I agree and i asked him and stated this coral (birdsnest) was about as easy as LPS.

I would agree with that

Wbflyer · Mar 2, 2020

Ok, I feel better. I know it's just $30 frag but it's a alive and I hate to kill something just because I am unaware of how to care for it. What about the plating coral, he stated the same for it.

Lorenz725 · Mar 2, 2020

This is my birds nest first pic is when I got it in July. The next is about 4 months later and the last pic was taken a few days ago. I call it my canary when it looks off I know something is going on.

Wbflyer · Mar 2, 2020

Your tank is sweet! Shallow and deep water... love it. what lighting are your using?

Wbflyer · Mar 2, 2020

Also, lighting duration?

Arthacker87 · Mar 2, 2020

Right side of pic is a trick color birds nest. Small 3in frag a year ago. Now bigger than a softball easy. Great coral. I do med to lower flow med to high light.

Wbflyer · Mar 2, 2020

Awesome. I have about 165 watts at max on my 50 gallon so I should be good to go however the light is about 3 feet from the bottom of the tank. Do you supplement with calc, etc? Thanks!!

Lorenz725 · Mar 4, 2020

Wbflyer said:
Also, lighting duration?

This tank I am a kessil A160 tuna blue. Light comes on at 9:30am goes off at 8:30pm. It ramps up then back down. On my other drop off tank I am running a kessil A360 tuna blue.