What Corals to get as a Beginner?

[onevarez]

Hi Everyone,

In my current tank I only have fishes and invertebrates. I am looking to start getting corals and wanted to see what are some good beginner corals to get and locations in the tank? Also, how do I get a tank ready for corals? I have also seen the Kent Marine Reef Starter Kit, 3 count. Is that a good thing to put in the tank to help the corals get started? Any advise will be greatly appreciated.

 

[Dsnakes]

What are some details of your tank? That will help for more precise answers. Size, fish, lights, and flow. Also what corals interest you most?

 

[Jakebob]

Hey I’m new into keeping corals and went with the easiest I could and there doing great anyways I recommend hairy mushroom and Kenya tree
I like the hair mushroom more and some say Kenya tree is like a weed but I like it
Hope that helps

 

[onevarez]

What are some details of your tank? That will help for more precise answers. Size, fish, lights, and flow. Also what corals interest you most?

I have a 55 gallon tank with clownfish, pajama cardinals, green chromis, firesfish, diamond goby, just recently set up a Fluval Sea Marine 3.0 light and the flow is from a Sicce powerhead that does about 540 GPH. I do not know much about corals but some that are colorful and easy to take care while I learn on how to take care of them.

 

[Dsnakes]

I have a 55 gallon tank with clownfish, pajama cardinals, green chromis, firesfish, diamond goby, just recently set up a Fluval Sea Marine 3.0 light and the flow is from a Sicce powerhead that does about 540 GPH. I do not know much about corals but some that are colorful and easy to take care while I learn on how to take care of them.

I would get some Zoas, they come in any color you can think of and do not require ‘pristine’ water or too much light. Look into some leather corals and mushrooms as well. Ricordea Florida Mushrooms come in some bright colors.

 

[Super Fly]

mushrooms and hand corals, would stay away from Kenya tree and pulsing xenia as they can spread like weed and over take your tank. Kenya tree will drop branches and spread. Green Star Polyps (GSP) r good easy to grow but they also can spread unless it's isolated on a rock island, which is what I did. GSP's are really nice to look at as they sway in the water flow.

 

[40B Knasty]

Candy Cane, frogspawn, zoanthids. Some zoas can be a pain like Darth Mauls, Blue/Black/Red Hornets. Rasta Zoanthids and Radioactive Dragon Eyes grow very well and are super easy and colorful. I started with 4 rastas and 7 RDE. Now I have 185+ and 200+. Only 1 year and 7 months. They grow at any height.
Rastas on the left

Frogspawn and Candy Cane

RDA

 

[Tuffyyyyy]

My first corals were a Kenya Tree and Mushroom Leather. Indestructible corals that made me feel much more confident in reef keeping abilities than I should have.

 

[onevarez]

Thank you everyone for their advise. What I got from the thread is to get zoas, GSP, leather corals and mushrooms (Ricordea Florida mushroom).

 

[Capitol Reef Corals]

Soft corals: Anything not expensive, low par, med flow
Zoas: Anything not expensive, low par med flow
LPS: Hammers, frogspawn, octospawn, I would hold off on acans lobos and stuff like that. Get euphyllia first and if they do well then get others. Med par, med flow
SPS: Montipora, digitata, birds nest, stylophora, pocillopora. If those do well then you can get some staghorns and tenuis. Then more standard acros if those do well. Med-High par, high flow

Those recommendations for par and flow are general, it definitely depends on the species, individual preference, and type of coral. I'd also start from the top of the list to the botton.

Good luck!

 

[40B Knasty]

Thank you everyone for their advise. What I got from the thread is to get zoas, GSP, leather corals and mushrooms (Ricordea Florida mushroom).

Well you can really get anything if your tank is setup for it. Don't sell yourself short of something you really want. Go to a frag show and really get a great idea of what you want. Prices are cheaper. Also more variety. Like black gold tip Octospawn. You can do them. Just need flow and lights. You have plenty of fish to help feed them with waste. Reef Roids always is a corals best friend.

 

[onevarez]

What should I buy to get a tank ready for corals? Is there a kit or anything that you need?

 

[kswan]

I highly recommend a toadstool leather. It is still one of my favorites and isn't invasive.

 

[lzrlvr]

Hi try a montipora capricornis

 

[40B Knasty]

What should I buy to get a tank ready for corals? Is there a kit or anything that you need?

I prefer T5 lights, because of something someone told me. He said,"have you ever heard of an LED tanning bed? They use T5s for tanning beds. Why would you use something that replicates the Sun less." Made sense to me. Plus T5s are better for reducing shadowing. You want to make sure all of the coral is healthy by giving all the zooxanthellae on a coral light. Zooxanthellae lives on a coral and has a symbiotic relationship with the coral to feed the coral with the right nanometer for photosynthesis. Like an Actinic bulb from ATI. Blue Plus is ATI best color to give you some pop.
If you want a nice bounce on your corals. Get a wave maker. Jebao OW-? or Coral box qp-? "plus."

 

[LiveRockmia]

As some stated i would suggest mushrooms especially rhodactis. Theh come in all colors and can really make colors pop in a tank

 

[ducks4rob]

Here's what I did. I saw aquasd had a 40% off sale a while back. I went on their site and scanned through all of their new arrivals. When I saw something I was interested in I Google it to see its care requirements. They had coral starting at $5. Mostly favias at that price, but all the coral frags you could ever want under $40. No softies at all but a bunch if not mostly lps. Takes a while to go through the site and Google everything, but it's worth it. I think they have 40% off now. I figured at that price, I could buy and practice my husbandy while not taking too big a loss on anything. I'm not soliciting for them, but more for your pocket book and exerience. Good luck.

 

[Katrina71]

Get whatever you are attracted to. Soft corals are going to be your best bet for starters. Try inexpensive first.

 

[Jesterrace]

Frogspawn. Mine has been through: a tank transfer, major rock rescape, a diamond watchman goby stirring the crap out of my sand, overdose of GFO, fluctuating salinity, a bad cyano outbreak, and having some salt from the edge of the tank accidentally dumped directly on it. It has bounced back time and time again from all of these things. My hammer has been pretty resilient too but the Frogspawn has been the champ overall. Just be aware that like any Euphyllia Coral it can sting anything that gets too close to it, so keep it well spaced from any other corals.

If you want a visual, this is what mine looks like after all of the aforementioned (keep in mind it's just a single frag):

 

[lzrlvr]

Hi I paid 20 bucks for this frag and it is doing well in my 15 gallon tank