Why coral?

[ZoWhat]

I'm a true newbie. Technically I'm on my second week off a saltwater tank. My first week I killed a bunch of shrimp thinking they lived in saltwater, now I have some clownfish and corals. I have to ask, what is the benefit of keeping coral in the tank? I'm spending FAR more effort to keep the coral alive than keeping the fish alive. One of the coral was given to me for free because it was dying so maybe that is part of my struggle but when I show off my tank no one has even notices the coral, which is taking up nearly 90% of my time. The dying coral is a torch colony. One of the trumpets was dying due to a screw somehow introduced at the fish store, it fell out while I was holding it upside down to shake out the sand caused by initially using a wavemaker that was way too powerful. Half of the remaining torches were being killed off by barnacles. Not knowing any better I thought they were part of the torch coral, possibly even a method of reproduction. After a lot of research I realized they were barnacles and removed them with needlenose pliers. Now I have 4 healthy torches, and about 6 struggling torches, most of which had barnacles, and 5 that seem to be completely dead/empty. Does keeping these corals provide any advantage to keeping the fish alive because no one seems to notice them, and they are taking up a lot of time and money.

New systems dont have the proper microorganisms nor chemistry / iconic balancing to support the building block of zooxanthellae in corals.

I'm not a marine biologist but I do comprehend that a tank must undergo several months of "curing" to achieve proper chemistry.

This isn't a hobby of quick success due to your own efforts. You cant work harder nor work smarter to self-will a tank into an successful ecosystem in the matter of weeks.

Much like a farmer cant grow a field of corn in 2 weeks.....it takes months of planning and execution based on a wealth of experience

Patience and the Husbandry skills to make educated, timely decisions are key. It's the only path to the mountain top

Advice from R2R is one awesome toolbox to support a shorter learning curve. Soak up as much advice as you can stand

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