intro to coral. please read this!

Ok , we havea new section here for corals, this is where only coral will be discussed. If you have questions regarding your corals or questions concerning compatibility, please post here. I will be posting a general care guide for soft LPS and SPS corals. For now, this will also be a base for coral identification until the identification forum is up and running. Enjoy and happy reefing!!

LPS corals

What are LPS corals? LPs stands for Large-Polyp-Stony. These corals have a hard bony skeleton made of calcium with very large poyps sticking out of them. Some of the most common LPS coral by general names, are known as frogspawn, torch, hammer, trumpet/candycane, elegance, fox and bubble coral. The acans, favia, gonipora, open brain, lobo brain, galaxia, plate coral, pagoda cup, chalice and Blastomussa just to name a few. There are many other LPs corals in the aquitic world.

generally speaking, LPS corals are easy to take care of and make great beginner corals for the novice and are enjoyed by well seasoned reef keepers. Thet do not require the strong lighting like SPS coral and anemones and do not need high water movement. Actually the tend to thrive with the opposite, medium to indirect bright light with moderate current. They are photosynthetic and get the majority of their need from the algae inside of them but they do benefit greatly from regular feedings of brine, mysis and small bits of meaty foods.

One thing about LPS corals is that some(not all) but many will expand to 2 to 3times their skeletal size and they tend to pack a nasty punch with their tentacles so care should be considered when placing LPS corals close to other corals. Also, LPS corals tend to be very have due to their thick skeletal structure so if placing these corals in the rock work, be careful that they are secure and will not be moved my water currents or bulldozing turbo snails. A fall from in the rocks can be fatal for a LPS coral. The have sensitive tentacles that can tear open easily and let bacteria inside the coral causing an infection that will most likely kill the specimen. other LPS's such as the Trachyphilla's prefer to be on the sandy bottom of the tank. The do not have long powerful sweeper tentacles but a 2 inch trachy skeleton will produce a coral that expands to almost 5-6 inches! So they blow up greatly and ample room should be considered when placing these types of open brains close to rockwork or other corals.

There is much more information for LPS corals but this post would be 200 pages long lol. This is just a brief insight to some of the most beautiful corals in the marine world.

so is it true that flower pots have a tendency to start to die off for no reason? I have had sevral people that have had experince with them tell me this. they all have thriving tanks and been hobbiest for years.