Beginner Coral

[slavsquatdoobie]

I'm going to get some coral(s) for my 5 gal pico. I've only done fish and CUC before so do you guys have any suggestions for a forgiving beginner coral?

[Snow_Phoenix]

Mushrooms are pretty forgiving. Leather corals and zoas are also easy. 

[WV Reefer]

3 minutes ago, slavsquatdoobie said:

I'm going to get some coral(s) for my 5 gal pico. I've only done fish and CUC before so do you guys have any suggestions for a forgiving beginner coral?

What about some type of mushroom?

Just now, Snow_Phoenix said:

Mushrooms are pretty forgiving. Leather corals and zoas are also easy. 

You beat me to it. 😄

[slavsquatdoobie]

Just now, Snow_Phoenix said:

Mushrooms are pretty forgiving. Leather corals and zoas are also easy. 

 

Just now, WV Reefer said:

What about some type of mushroom?

Mushroom it is. I've read good things about those, maybe i'll try zoas too. I'm pretty religious about water parameters, so i'm assuming it shouldn't be too bad. Would calcium supplements hurt/help? i'm using them for my turbo snails.

[Snow_Phoenix]

2 minutes ago, slavsquatdoobie said:

 

Mushroom it is. I've read good things about those, maybe i'll try zoas too. I'm pretty religious about water parameters, so i'm assuming it shouldn't be too bad. Would calcium supplements hurt/help? i'm using them for my turbo snails.

I don't think dosing calcium is necessary in such a small tank, especially with no SPS involved. Regular weekly WCs should replenish your calcium levels. 

[slavsquatdoobie]

Just now, Snow_Phoenix said:

I don't think dosing calcium is necessary in such a small tank, especially with no SPS involved. Regular weekly WCs should replenish your calcium levels. 

Good to know. Thanks for the help!

[mcarroll]

On 2/17/2019 at 8:56 PM, slavsquatdoobie said:

 

Mushroom it is. I've read good things about those, maybe i'll try zoas too. I'm pretty religious about water parameters, so i'm assuming it shouldn't be too bad. Would calcium supplements hurt/help? i'm using them for my turbo snails.

Mushrooms are the dandelion of the coral world — nice looking but a weed. Make sure you want them as a feature in your tank and you are not just getting them because they are considered easy.

 

Zoanthids are one of the most temperamental corals in the world  and seem to be a somewhat frequent carrier of pests.  I'm not sure how they got the reputation of being easy… They aren't even that hard to kill off.  Again, make sure you are getting them because you want them as a feature in your tank, not because they are regarded as easy.

 

The only condition under which you would need to worry about calcium or alkalinity is if you keep leather corals or stony corals. I consider both of them pretty easy in general so if you like them, consider them. Just keep in mind the dosing requirements. (Not any harder than feeding fish, so don't be intimidated.  BTW, your snails are unlikely to use an appreciable amount of alkalinity or calcium. If you dose either one, make Sure you test first and make sure the tank actually needs it.)

[Jesterrace]

Personally I have had much better luck with Hammer Corals than Mushrooms.  A Mushroom is generally considered about as easy as they get though.  

[mcarroll]

59 minutes ago, Jesterrace said:

Personally I have had much better luck with Hammer Corals than Mushrooms.  A Mushroom is generally considered about as easy as they get though.  

I agree!  Almost any Euphillia/Hammer Coral makes a great beginner coral IMO.

 

Soft corals have their role, to be sure.  They also deserve to have fans, like any other group of corals.  But I don't know many soft corals I'd really recommend to any given newbie -- easy or not.  Most of the ones I would consider are leathers...which are near-stonies.  :-)

 

I think stonies in general don't get enough play as "beginner corals".  

 

I argue that, generally speaking, taking care of stony corals is easier than taking care of fish. 

 

It's been both possible and easy to keep stonies, more or less, since accurate home test kits for alkalinity, calcium and magnesium became more widely available.  (Late 90's-ish, depending on locale.) 

 

With the more recent introductions of hobby-priced dosers like those from Jebao and auto-dosers from numerous makers that do all the testing (and dosing) for you, it's never been easier or cheaper to do stony corals with minimal fuss and high accuracy. 

 

I wish there were comparable tests for fish....nitrogen and phosphorous testing are poor barometers and do very little (if anything) to make fish keeping easier or more successful. 

 

We'd need something like tests for Ich/other pathogens and tests for fish stress to have comparably useful tests on the fish side.  All hypothetically possible but do not exist.  There are basically no tests that do you any great service in terms of fish keeping.  No comparable "trifecta" of calcium, alkalinity and magnesium as for corals. (Whether in lux or PAR units, even light measurements are becoming more and more the norm in coral tanks, so even the minor guesswork associated with lighting a coral tank can largely be taken out of the equation with a little appropriate testing.)

 

That lack of ability to test for anything useful in fish keeping leaves a lot of room/necessity for more guesswork, which predictably yields the mixed results people have with fish.  With the low rate of book reading, actual information sources have become more and more diluted over time, making matters for the newbie worse. 

 

Fish keeping is very un-objective.  Not easy.  Not compared to coral-keeping anyway.  

[LazyFish]

Here's some of the "easy"  things I've liked over the years. Or the things I have found easy at least. You seem to realy want some hard corals so I will also suggest some that arnt too hard but you should still do plenty of research on them.

Leathers are probly easyest some varieties branch or some toadstools have longer swaying polyps some come in shades of bright green most would be good beginner candidates. 

 

Palyotha Grandis way tougher than zoas. I have a colony that's atleast 15 years old. At one point came back from hard rubbery nubs after over 6 months if being closed up due to poor tank keeping and minimal light in my first reef tank. 

 

Brown button pallys are also very tough to kill I have some from a tank 15 years ago although they are mostly outcompeted by other corals at this point.  

 

Cyphaestrea dose prety well its entrusting lps hard coral prefers to be at the bottom or in a system with overall lower light but dosnt do well in direct shade. Not too demanding with flow. It can be a good water quality indicator will usualy recede if things are off in the tank often before leathers or some other "easy " corals show stress. Was my first successful hard coral that grew realy well.  Likes small foods like reef roids will sometimes grab bits of fish food. Some people have had trouble with this coral mostly from it being stung or due to improper placement if too much or too little light once established seem to do well. Mine are doing well with no skimmer no dosing and biweekly water changes.

 

Mushrooms are nice beginner coral and colorful but tend to eventualy walk slowly across the rock leaving little mushrooms behind everywhere. That's not allways a bad thing but something to be aware of. They also can get out competed by some other corals and ca. Sometimes irritate corals if they are touching them.

 

Rock flower anemones arent coral but are prety tough and colorful and don't usually bother fish unless its alredy very sick or dead and it happens to be close enough to grab it. Clowns wont host them but some crabs and shrimp will. They can wander but seem to do it alot less than other nems. They do require decent lighting but dont care as much about the flow unless they are being blasted or something they like to be just about anywhere on the rocks or in the sand. They like to be fed and will gladly consume coral or fish foods of most varieties mine occasionally get chopped bits of crill.

 

Chalice coral seems to be a bit more demanding than the cyphastrea but not too very much needs good lighting mine are higher up in the tank and they need decent flow also likes fine food like reef roids to feed on. It can have a nasty sting so give it lots if room from other corals. Ive never seen sweepers on mine more than an inch but I hear that they can get prety long and go after close by corals. Mine do well with smallish bi weekly waterchanges in a mixed reef with few calcium demanding corals and no skimmer.

 

Trachyphillia is not too particularly demanding hard coral but more so than the chalice in my opinion. It likes to sit on the bottom. Needs good lighting but doesn't do well with over bright lights. THIS CORAL NEEDS TO BE FED. chunks of crill or other meaty foods or coral food pellets twice weekly is ususly what's recomended. It likes to eat at night ususly right after the lights go off the feeders come out. They don't like to be blasted with harsh flow. If dammaged or realy bad water quality They can get a bacterial infection turning them to goo practically overnight ir can get rapid necrosis. They can. easily stung by other corals causing dammage but they wont sting each other and they dont sting or wont be stung by a few other simmilar corals like the more delicate cynarina. 

 

Hammer corals and simmilar species are not too demanding they like to eat meaty food need good lighting and decent flow clowns sometimes host them the only reason I personaly dont keep them is the chance of sweepers. Some of the species sweepers dont get too long but others can have a prety long reach. lots of people keep them and never have any issue with sweepers but I've seen what they can do first hand in some one else's tank when they are angry and personaly I dont want to chance it.

 

Some Photosynthetic Gorgonia are actualy prety easy the thick ones with larger polyps like corky finger and slit pore or simmilar ones are tough once acclimated. Sometimes they will die after shipping due to transport stress or improper handling  but they can usualy be fully reived from just a few polyps with a little care if any survive. They dont like to be exposed to air for very long they can be sensitive during aclimation but once fully established are very hearty. They need to get gorg food or reef roids to feed on and need good lighting and flow. Grubes gorgonia I think is probly the hardest to kill. It is Less prone to death due to transport and more tolerant of getting exposed to air. Its thinner with smaller polyps but the same relative needs good light and dose best with fairly strong flow. The Delicate spiny gorg also seems fairly hearty but can be a more sensitive than the others to poor flow and water quality I would stay away from some of the other gorga like the nps ones. Purple blade and purple plume require a bit more care and attention to water quality than the others I've mentioned so a bit more expearance may be required for them.