basic care of shrooms/softies?

[deathmatch782]

I'm getting some starter frags from a local sw guy. He has Green star Polyps, paly's, zoa's, shrooms, lots of LPS, softies, GSP's
Looks like the easiest/best for me would be shrooms and softies. My lighting isn't the best yet, but that is soon to be upgraded.
So....are there any basic tips for caring for shrooms and softies that i need to be aware of other than keeping water parameters good???
tia

 

[Fluff]

What types of lights do you have? Are they the standard NO lights like for fw? NO bulbs or 50/50? CP lighting? What size tank? Knowing more about your tank/lights will help in suggestions for your tank. There are some corals that will tolerate low lighting but some of it will depend on depth as well as wattage. As for basic tips, most corals survive on light only. Putting them under lighting that is to dim, could result in bleaching. Care is as simple as lighting for most. But, you can also feed them if you wish. Adding some phytoplankton a few times a week, and/or some cyclops-eeze is appreciated by most corals. If an upgrade is in your near future, I would urge you to consider holding off on the corals til then. A strong change in lighting from dim to bright can be hard on some corals. If you do choose to go ahead and try some, a slow acclimation over to the brighter lights is suggested.

 

[deathmatch782]

I have a 20 high tank w/ a coralife 50/50 bulb.

 

[seaham358]

Is that a PC light or the regular strip light that comes with most tanks..

 

[deathmatch782]

i dont know... is there a certain way to tell the difference?

 

[Konrade]

PC's get hotter quicker and are a lot brighter, and have different looking "tubes" and have either a square pin base or a straight pin base.

 

[seaham358]

If you have the light that comes with the standard tank then it is probably regular florescent bulbs and not enough for corals.
PC- power compact the bulbs are different the florescent bulbs, they are more a rectangular shaped bulb and have a large ballast either built into the light or on the cord.