Beginner Corals

Beginner corals are great for people who are just starting out with the new reef Tank and who are going to make mistakes. Beginner corals are less likely to die in a system that is NOT perfect.

Beginner corals tend to be hardier than that most other corals, and therefore if you make a mistake in water chemistry or in the temperature or in other things in your tank, the beginner corals are more likely to survive your mistakes.

When you first start out with a reef tank, chances are you will make mistakes. Hopefully you'll make LESS mistakes by reading some of the information on this website!!! Nevertheless you will make some mistakes which may subject your corals to stress. If you havent already, it is recommendied that you start out with a fish tank first and get some experience with salt water fish and monitoring the water quality. Get some experience with such parameters as specific gravity or salinity, how to maintain a constant temperature of the water and other issues such as feeding and water pH that are covered here on the website. And then when you're ready for corals, it is recommended you start off with soft corals. In fact, most SPS corals are not recommended for your tank until it is at least a year old.

The corals that have been chosen as good "Beginners" can survive under a wider variety of conditions than some other corals. They can tolerate a wider range of pH swings. They can tolerate a wider range of temperature and salinity swings. These corals also can tolerate a wider variety of different lighting conditions. These corals can typically survive under lighting from the lowest light such as standard 40 W fluorescent bolts all the way up to metal halides including compact fluorescence and VHOs.

These hardy corals that are beginner corals are good choices for people who are just starting out or are not that knowledgeable yet. Or perhaps you're a person who maybe doesn't pay as much attention to your tank and you go on vacation or weekends away, and nobody's monitoring your tank. These corals will tend to survive the fluctuations a little bit better than some more.

HARDY Soft CORALS

If you have a typical system that beginners have, that is higher, in nutrients and maybe have a hair algae problem that you're fighting. Your tank has high levels of Nitrates and phosphates. These corals it should have a better chance at survival then some of the other ones such as the SPS or the more sensitive corals. Some soft corals actually can thrive in a heavily polluted water. For example, if you go down to the South Pacific area, often in their harbors you will find a soft corals doing well. Xenias and other softs can grow like a weed's in heavy nutrient organic waters, and they can actually thrive in very polluted waters. Some reef keeper use soft corals to soak up pollution!

So choose corals that are less sensitive and more likely to withstand shifts in all of the parameters.

HARDY SPS CORALS

The stony corals that we've chosen as hardy beginners also tend to be less sensitive and seem to typically do well in higher organic or more nutrient rich waters than some of the other some corals are they going magazine using is to have a tendency to melt down at times especially if they're growing rapidly.

excellentay. maybe this will jump start some more saltwater tanks.

When I first started out. I had a regular hood with a 18watt 50/50 bulbs.
I grew these without a problem:
Xenia, all kind of shrooms, button polyps, GSP, PSP, and some anthelia.

I did use iodine, liquid calcium, strontium&molybdenum and 1% potassium Iodide.

I still use these same chemicals today.