How does a person get going with corals

[the grim reefer]

I am eventually going to be putting corals in my tank...few months yet and am doing research...but I know absolutely nothing about corals..so I am hoping that you guys will help me with everything there is to know..you always point me in the right direction. This might sound totally stupid but how do they stick to your rock? Do they affect your bioload? How many can a person have in there tank? I just recently purchased another 20 lbs of live rock (curing right now) so I am up to 67 pounds in my 56 gal. I look at some of the galleries you guys have posted and am in total awe..that is my goal to have something like them in time...how the heck do you feed them too? Told you I know nothing...

Any advice will be greatly appreciated..

Thanks Grim

 

[melosu58]

http://www.fantasyreef.com/showthread.php?t=86

Read these as far as the feeding part of corals. Pretty extensive reading here. As far as getting started I would go with the simple ones first like Mushrooms and Button or yellow polyps and colt corals. Experience helps you progress to more indepth corals. The added rock will definitely help as far as biological filtration. Again start with the easy and move up. You can check my tank in my gallery and you`ll see nothing but easy corals. Soft corals and LPS corals.

 

[the grim reefer]

Thanks Melosu..you have beautiful tanks...they are a whole different world...I thought starting the tank had me confused...that was just the starting point for coral...

Thanks Grim

 

[melosu58]

What type lighting do you have or are you going to get?

 

[Devilishturtles]

Just to add to what melosu said, corals are easy to care for as long as your water quality is good and your lighting is good. Most come mounted on rock already, so you just place it in the tank. If for some reason you can an unmounted frag (not attached to anything) break of a small chunk of liverock and use some superglue to attach it. Most corals are pretty hardy and have a good ability to adapt to their surroundings. I think fish are actually probably harder to care for and worry about than most corals are, if that is something you can use to compare.

As far as feeding, it depends on the coral. Some need lots of food, some don't. Some get their nutrition from the light, some don't. But for starting out...mushrooms, zoanthinds, and polyps are pretty easy to care for.

HTH

 

[the grim reefer]

My LFS guy and I are just in the process of figuring it out what type..he says that I am further ahead to get a really good fixture now because there will most likely come aday when I want to try the the higher light corals or even a clam so we are looking at a MH kit that we would put into a cabinet that we made..magnetic?? does that sound right..I am just learning about the lights right now so pardon my ignorance. I was going to get a PC light but my tank is 24 in tall so that was going to limit what I could put in and its only 30 in long so there are not alot of 30" strips so that is why he suggested constructing my own. So we will see he said he will price out the 175 w and the 250 for me. Then take it from there I guess.

 

[melosu58]

He is right that if there is a day you want SPS corals or clams then you`ll already have the lights for it. You wont have to buy PC`s now and then buy MH`s later on. Really the best thing is for you to sit down and draw up a plan for your tank as far as what type corals you want. I decided a long time ago that I just wanted soft corals and LPS corals and I have the appropiate lighting for that type tank. I wish you the best on your jump to corals. Remember start with easy ones.

 

[afilter]

It sounds like you are on the right track asking good questions before you leap in.

Have you looked for any reef clubs in your area? I have been into corals for about 18 months now and I just attended my fist frag swap today. Bout about $200+ (retail) coral frags for about $50. Best part was all the questions I was bale to ask of experienced reefers who were not out to make any $ off me.

Keep doing you research on sites like this one and see if you can hook up with a local club.

Good luck,

 

[the grim reefer]

Thanks for the encouragement...wont be getting into them for while yet...still researching..I have an idea what I want but am in awe with clams and my LFS guy knows that I guess..on my whole tank I have overbought on my equipment to help in the event of a disaster..so we will see with the lights...my plan is to get the tank stocked with the fish I want 1st make sure that the water is completely stable and then venture into corals.

There is not a club where I live but there is a forum that people from here use to get rid of stuff and I will definately be checking it out...I need to learn more about them 1st so I know what the heck I am asking..

Thanks again
Grim