What are good beginner corals

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Light first, corals second!!

If you ever plan on keeping SPS then I would recommend going with "High output" lights from the get go rather than buying something cheap you would need to upgrade down the road. A T5 only fixture would usually do the trick without breaking the bank, most people seem to prefer LEDs or LED/T5 hybrids.

In terms of corals you could start with some softies and if those do well get Birdsnest, staphylopora or Montipora to dip your feet into the SPS world.
 
Deltec
Pete_the_Puma said:
Light first, corals second!!

If you ever plan on keeping SPS then I would recommend going with "High output" lights from the get go rather than buying something cheap you would need to upgrade down the road. A T5 only fixture would usually do the trick without breaking the bank, most people seem to prefer LEDs or LED/T5 hybrids.

In terms of corals you could start with some softies and if those do well get Birdsnest, staphylopora or Montipora to dip your feet into the SPS world.
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I was actually buying marine loop
 
Morgan Rodgers said:
I was actually buying marine loop
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I had to google it, seems reasonable although most people would probably tell you to buy the components separately so you can swap/upgrade things later without it all being stuck together...

Anyone know anything about the LEDs that come with that setup?
 
They are not bad out of the box lps 1 unit plus supplements or a second unit on most tanks will grow sps on top half of most tanks or so. Depends on how deep a tank you have:
 
WWC
Morgan Rodgers said:
My tank is like a foot deep or so and I was going to have it high up
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Use your phone a free lux app above the waterline, divide by 10-30 for a rough idea what the par is below the surface. Adjust the height accordingly :)

*wide variation in how much factor you need, 1.33 times less par in air than water, your phones sensor ability, just get close
 
Also my list of beginner corals are based on growing your coral list later and having places to put them.

Ricordea mushrooms florida not yumas.
Disc mushrooms, if on their own rock at least easy to remove them unlike kenya trees.

Photosynthetic gorgorians.
As long as they have enough flow these are almost unkillable.
 
www.dinkinsaquaticgardens.com
I know this should go in the lighting section but since you don't have lights yet I just wanted to say that I just put the Chinese black boxes on both my tanks and they are not a bad option
 
I would recommend reading all the articles in the beginners forum. Once you have all the essentials and you get to the buying corals section I would recommend a green stripped candy cane. I still have mine that was the first coral I bought in 2012 with a mushroom that I still have as well.
 
Ecoscape Reef Rock
green star polyps, toadstool leather and blue mushroom are what I started with. I found them very forgiving in my early tank screw ups, lol
 
green star polyps, toadstool leather and blue mushroom are what I started with. I found them very forgiving in my early tank screw ups, lol
 
Chewy.com
green star polyps, toadstool leather and blue mushroom are what I started with. I found them very forgiving in my early tank screw ups, lol
 
Gareth elliott said:
Also my list of beginner corals are based on growing your coral list later and having places to put them.

Ricordea mushrooms florida not yumas.
Disc mushrooms, if on their own rock at least easy to remove them unlike kenya trees.

Photosynthetic gorgorians.
As long as they have enough flow these are almost unkillable.
Click to expand...

I like Gareth's suggestions. you can find cheaper discosoma mushrooms that add great color while you dial in your parms and learn to keep everything stable.

Couple things to consider. Many of the soft corals can be a nuisance later on. So read up on what they are prior to diving in. For example I had to move my leathers away from my LPS due to chemical coral warfare. Even though I run carbon, they were killing all my new lps.

Here is a great video from Tidal Gardens. Than does a great job of explaining it all.


I don't know your budget, but I do think many people spend way too much on lighting initially. Consider buying lights that you can enhance as you go. Maybe buying T5s (softies do very well under them) now and then adding LEDs as you need and you move to more light demanding corals.

Suggest you read the sticky threads on https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/new-to-saltwater-reef-aquariums-post-here.130/ especially on QT. It will save you heartache and expense down the road. - https://humble.fish/quarantine/ - Humble fish is one of the foremost experts on QT.

The Beginner series is great:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/checklist-before-you-start-your-first-saltwater-aquarium.603703/
https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/decisions-decisions-decisions-part-1.679/
https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/decisions-decisions-decisions-part-2.680/
https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/decisions-decisions-decisions-part-3.686/
 
BRS
I started with a frag of 6 green dragon eye zoa's and an unknown mushroom the size of a pencil erasure. that was 60 days ago. the zoa has doubled its head count and the mushroom is the size of a half dollar.
I will agree with the others that the light is key with corals. Most important thing is to GO SLOW.
 

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