What coral should I start with?

[wnnabereefer]

I have had a fowlr tank for 2 years now and I really want to get into growing coral. I have been stressing over my light because I bought it a year ago for $390 thinking "$390 is a lot of money, that should last me forever", now I am looking at radions and realized oh how I was so wrong.

I have a 72" tank and am using an Orbit Marine IC light. I looked at the website and they posted the specs for the light and what they say is I should expect 120-70 par at 6-9'' depth, 70-50 par at 9-12'', 35-20 at 15-18'', and 20-10 at 18-21". I know that is low, so I was thinking of mounting at the highest height of my rock structure which is 9" from the surface. The light is mounted right at the surface of the water, it is not on a stand or anything. I also have an acrylic tank that has a bunch of bracing so definitely the farthest to rimless.

I heard that lps corals don't require as much par as sps so I want to start here. Is there any cheap lps corals that look awesome and don't require that much par?

 

[hds4216]

Duncan corals are an awesome LPS - they look great, are very hardy, and get a great feeding response. It was my first coral.

You could also try some zoas or other soft corals.

 

[fishguy242]

hi,cheap lps?? poss lobo,acan,bubble,fox,

 

[Darren in Tacoma]

Green star polyps grow easily and look good. Cheap too. A lot of zoanthids, but only get the cheap ones of those also. No sense in spending a lot when you are just starting out.

 

[fishguy242]

be sure to dip all corals for pests

 

[wnnabereefer]

be sure to dip all corals for pests

Ill have to look into that

 

[TaiN]

I would say start with corals that are forgiving. For me I started with montiporas because I preferred stony corals but definitely look into the lps as there are a lot of nice varieties out there that are great beginner corals. Good luck and have fun!

 

[ReefRusty]

Following

 

[hds4216]

BRS also has a great article/video on this:

10 best beginner corals. You don’t have to be rich to stock a reef tank

Ryan covers the top 10 corals for beginners that are affordable, easy to care for and ultimately will give your first taste of confidence and success.

www.bulkreefsupply.com

 

[Zoa_Fanatic]

I like candy canes personally. They’re easy to grow LPS and look awesome.