So much Coral, so lost. Please Help!!

Discussion in 'Coral' started by CoLoMbIaNo1LiFe, May 17, 2010.

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  1. CoLoMbIaNo1LiFe

    CoLoMbIaNo1LiFe Flamingo Tongue

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    Hey everyone,

    I'm doing research, not really to buy just yet, but to get the best and most knowledge I can get about all the types of coral I would be able to put in my 72 gal. Bow tank. I keep looking around the forums to learn about coral. I'm completely lost with the categories of coral there are depending on strong light and no light at all.

    I know that some coral are sps, lps, hard and soft coral, mushrooms, polyps, etc. but what does all these names mean?

    I currently have a lower level lighting system from coralife but am looking to buying a t5 setup consisting of 6 bulbs and 4 LEDs. But all this is way further down the road.

    I wanted to know what are the categories of coral

    what the names stand for (sps,lps, soft, hard)

    the rating of coral from easiest to hardest to take care of

    what lighting goes with what coral

    Also can all coral be placed together and live well with eachother?

    Can all coral live well with all fish?

    If you can provide me with any info, even a forum or online website that would provide me with all coral able to be placed in a tank and what you need to do to care for it, I'd really appreciate it tramendously. Just trying not to mess up everything by not getting as much info as possible.

    Thank you all so much
     
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  3. blackraven1425

    blackraven1425 Giant Squid

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    SPS are Small Polyp Stony corals; LPS are Large Polyp Stony corals. They're bucket groups with no scientific meaning, used to give a general idea of care requirements. The members of each are somewhat debated, as Acropora falls into SPS and Euphyllia fall into SPS, but where do chalices/some brains fall?

    Those are both the "hard" coral categories, as they have skeletons.

    The soft corals I'm not too familiar with, but they tend to be divided into polyps, mushrooms, and leathers. Again, the soft coral group doesn't necessarily show all of their specific requirements, but gives a general idea.

    Soft tends to be easiest, as the water doesn't tend to need to be as perfect in quality. SPS tend to be the hardest. There's some in every category that will be easy or hard, so do research into each species (or genus, if you can't ID to species). SPS tend to need the most light, and soft tend to need the least. The same goes for flow.

    They can't all live together in a captive system without lots of special consideration; while most soft corals will be found with SPS on the reef, they release chemicals that will affect the SPS, especially in the closed aquarium setting. LPS can often sting other corals if placed too close, and some also do the chemical warfare thing.

    You should really look into what kind of corals you want to have, then research that area; there's too much to take in about corals to do it this way.
     
  4. Seano Hermano

    Seano Hermano Giant Squid

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    What was just stated above is good info, but you will have to decide on what types of corals you want before we are able to be much more informative, as there is such a great variety.

    Here's a link to give you an idea of some corals you could have and the care requirements needed for them.

    Aquarium Fish: Tropical Freshwater Fish and Saltwater Fish for Home Aquariums

    There's fish on there too if you're interested. Just click the link then go to corals. You can find the specimen you may want & or can have your your system according to things you can set, such as: temperament, care level, reef compatible yes/no.
     
  5. CoLoMbIaNo1LiFe

    CoLoMbIaNo1LiFe Flamingo Tongue

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    Yeah cool. Thanks. Are there any other information websites about fish and coral?
     
  6. blackraven1425

    blackraven1425 Giant Squid

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    wetwebmedia.com is pretty good.
     
  7. CoLoMbIaNo1LiFe

    CoLoMbIaNo1LiFe Flamingo Tongue

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  9. GuitarMan89

    GuitarMan89 Giant Squid

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    Some good advice so far. Sps and lps are both hard corals, they have a hard, carbonate skeleton. Soft corals do not have a hard skeleton, they are just flesh. As mentioned, soft corals are generally very easy to keep. Mushrooms, zoas, palys, green star polyps, xenia and others are very easy to keep and grow quickly. LPS really aren't much harder, they just need a little more light, at least most of them. Sps require cleaner water and higher light. However, keep in mind there are lots of exceptions. Some soft corals are almost impossible to keep long term, carnation coral, the same goes with some lps, gonipora comes to mind. Some sps are pretty easy to keep too, montipora, some acros etc.

    You can keep all 3 types together in the same tank, but you need to take certain precautions such as running carbon, keeping sps up stream of soft corals and making sure some more aggressive lps/sps are safe distances from other corals.

    You may also see that some corals can be spot fed, such as many lps. IME, that's good to help with growth, but in a reef tank, it's not required. Sps can also be fed with filter feeder food, but again IMO, isn't required.

    Do be aware that the more hard corals you have, the more your Ca and Alk will be used, so you will need to test and dose accordingly.