Coral

[amphibianboy528]

How do you take care of corals.Also what types of corals are good for beginers?

[Edmonton Eskimo]

do a google search for begginer corals and you can find out what you want and how to take care of it.

[amphibianboy528]

well,I heard that some websites are untrustworthy and forums are better at answering questions.

[fishfreek]

The book "Aquarium Corals" is a great desk reference book to have for anyone interested in keeping corals. You can find an amazon link in our Book Library above or below is a quick link.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...&link_code=as1

This book outlines all of the common aquarium corals and gives information about their wild habitat and husbandry techniques.

Some good beginner corals would include softies like leathers and toadstools, mushrooms and star polyps. PLease describe your tank and specificly your lighting setup as your lighting will have a significant impact on what kinds of corals you can keep.

[Edmonton Eskimo]

Yes some websites are untustworthy but there are some reputable ones too. I find that sites that sell there livestock online will most likely give you the right information on caregiving. They don't want to have to replace dead livestock.

[amphibianboy528]

okay but how do I tell it is easy to take care of...I am only 13!

[fishfreek]

Like I said most softies like leathers and toadstools as well as mushrooms and polyps are easy to take care of as long as you have adiqute lighting, water flow and water quality. Corals get their food from a few sources. First they collect it from the flowing water and second they get sugers from the companion algae that lives within their cells. This algae needs light to survive and thus the coral itself needs light.

Nothing beats a book for obtaning general knowlege. Its great to use the internet and to use sites like this one but there is no replacment for having something that you can physically reference and look at like a book. Aquarium Corals is wonderful also because it includes photos of all the major corals so when it comes time to identify a coral you have and your not quite sure on you can reference the photos from the book.


Please provide info on your tank and your lighting setup. Then we can go further in giving you info on what corals you could wet your feet with.

[amphibianboy528]

well i need my uncle to fix my hood so I can get corals untill i get a new hood.Right now I am using a regular flourescent bulb you can buy at a hardware store.

[Edmonton Eskimo]

what kind of lights are you going to have. How many watts?

[malkore]

Go ahead and tell us how big the tank is (either in gallons, or measure length, width and height in inches)
Find out what the wattage is on the hood your uncle is fixing. Corals need a lotta light..the regular light you have on there isn't enough for corals...if you have three of those bulbs, you'd be able to keep some shrooms. You basically need at least 3 watts of light for every gallon of water the tank can hold, as a minimum lighting level. 5watts per gallon would be better.

[amphibianboy528]

well 15 watts and 20 gallons

[Edmonton Eskimo]

That is going to limit you substantially. The good news is for a 20 gal lighting can be pretty cheap.

[amphibianboy528]

Well,I am a beginner at marine aquariums,my cousin inspired me by making hers but it sadly died.So I'll wait till I get experienced enough to maintain a larger ecosystem.I studied the book "The New Marine Aquarium"By:michael S. Paletta.But I irresponsibly lost it.

[Edmonton Eskimo]

The first thing you can do is learn from the mistakes your cousin made. It really isn't that difficult if you take your time and do some research. Look at the articles on this site and other sites. You can learn a lot!

[amphibianboy528]

ok