corals

[Mercury64]

Hi all, ok I tool the plunge after buying good lighting and bought some corals
I was told mushrooms and polyps are easy but I also bought some flower pots and an open brain and a plate coral, heard the plate coral is hard
Any advise anyone can give me would be helpful, I did buy all the additives for the water also calcium buffer
my calcium now is at 450.00
before I bouht the corals and was trying to get my calcium up I tried the kent produts and they were not very affective so I switch to tropic marine and boy they work fast so I went with there suppliments
anything else I need to do cause i'm confused what makes some corals harder to do then others?
isn't it all about water quality and suppliments as well as lighting?

[lando]

mushrooms and polyps

Easy and hardy. You should have no trouble with these.

flower pots

Do you mean Gonipora? Very difficult to keep alive. They have a dismal survival record in captivity. Not looking good.

open brain

Likes the substrate and needs to be "dusted" on a regular basis to keep sand and detritous out of it's folds.

plate coral

Needs to be in the sand. They have a tendency to move around so do not put in on the rocks where it can fall.

isn't it all about water quality and suppliments as well as lighting?

Lighting is very important. Most corals derive energy from light. The best way to keep water conditions high and trace elements up is to do regular and frequent water changes. If you do this you should not need to dose anything extra.

[Mercury64]

is it normal for your corals to close up when you buff the water, I added some calcium buffer to get my calcium up a little and my corals closed up, hope there ok

[lando]

How did you add it? It is best do dilute it with [acronym:00c612f32b="Saltwater"]SW[/acronym:00c612f32b] or [acronym:00c612f32b="Freshwater"]FW[/acronym:00c612f32b] and add it to a sump if you have one.