Info on corals?

Hey Sam

Those are million dollar questions

There are 3 basic kinds of corals

Soft Corals, these are mushrooms, zenia, kenya tree, etc. These are usually very hardy & forgiving. They dont need strong flow, strong light, or perfect water condiditons.

LPS. These are fleshy corals with hard skeletons. Candy canes, Acans, Brains & so on. these need moderate flow & light.

SPS. These are hard corals. Need a ton of light, flow, & perfect water conditions

 

You dont need special chemicals, but you need to be aware of 3 critical components, Calcium, Alkalinity, & Magnesium. There are the buiding blocks for LSP & SPS corals. Alk is also critical for the health of inverts like snails, shrimp & so on.

 

You dont need special chemicals, but you need to be aware of 3 critical components, Calcium, Alkalinity, & Magnesium. There are the buiding blocks for LSP & SPS corals. Alk is also critical for the health of inverts like snails, shrimp & so on.

 

You dont need special chemicals, but you need to be aware of 3 critical components, Calcium, Alkalinity, & Magnesium. There are the buiding blocks for LSP & SPS corals. Alk is also critical for the health of inverts like snails, shrimp & so on.

 

As far as flow, soft corals & lps like gentle to moderate flow. SPS like it very very strong.

And yes, some corals will kill other corals, some fish will eat your corals, or each other, or your inverts.

Live aquaria is usually a good source for checking fish compatability.

If you ever have questions on specific species ask here as someone in the club has probably had experience with it an one time or another.

 

Oh and I would wait about 8 weeks, then add some softies. After you get the hang of water stability & keeping them healthy you can move on to LPS & so on.

 

If your tank has been up and running for a couple weeks, it's likely not cycled yet. There is much information available on tank cycling (books and internet), but basically you'll need for your water chemistry to come into balance - the tank will have peaks in ammonia, nitrite, and nitrates. All should fall be to a zero reading before it's completely cycled. I wouldn't add anything to your tank until the cycle is complete.
Perhaps you add some additional information about your tank. It's a 37g...but, what filtration are you using? light? protein skimmer? live rock? What goals do you have for your tank? what would you like to do?....are you looking for a mixed tank of softies and LPS, primarily hard corals, fish-only, etc.?

 

Please remember this is only a very brief summary, whole books have been written on each of these subjects.

Do some research on sumps & protein skimmers. A regular filter will be hard pressed to service most saltwater tanks.

Make a good habit of weekly water changes. That is one of the best things you can do for your tank.

Yes there are test kits for each parameter & a million more.

Water changes will keep them in check for awhile.

 

a good rule is avoid buying things at petco, long story short there basically going to tell you what you want to hear to get you to buy there over priced equipment that is in reality junk

 

petsmart/petco are bad, honestly i think they hire people just to fill shoes, when you go to buy a skimmer, get a good one, not one that will just do the job but one that will do the job and then some.

Im curious about what lights you have, you say it came with the setup. can you find out if they are t5 or pc im pretty sure thye wont be halides but again check and see, that itself will determine what kind of coral you can grow,

 

there is a good chance those lights may not work for coral. lights for corals are not cheap by any means, probably one of the biggest cost in your initial setup. that light will work for fish only tank.

if your planning on doing softcorals and leathers, some pc compacts will suffice nicely. as far as flow goes id suggest looking into a powerhead.

if you are ever in the qc area, id suggest stopping in aquatic enviroments in davenport. those guys can guide you in the right direction. Iam sure someone here can also point you to a LFS in your area as well.

 

Posted By glaspie69 on 03/20/2010 02:48 PM
a good rule is avoid buying things at petco, long story short there basically going to tell you what you want to hear to get you to buy there over priced equipment that is in reality junk
Best post of the year!

 

i know for a fact u can grow coral with shop lights thats all i used when i frist started get a few maxi-jets and u will be fine