charzar-g

Hello all,
Well i've had my tank set up since Feb 09. And i only have one single button polyp that came on my live rock.

I wasn't sure wether to post this in the lighting or the corals section,
but here goes.

I want to start keeping corals soon, but i don't know much about them, not even the names, or which ones require what lighting.

I want to start off fairly easy, but i have no clue what corals are easy.

I know that i want to keep a table/plate like coral. Are these hard or easy?
Also a coral with lots of branches (i think it's called finger coral, or octopus coral.. or are they different?)
And I also want to keep one that waves and moves about with the current.

I know this sounds totally vague, but if someone could suggest any like that that?
Preferably ones that don't require the best of the best lighting. Because i have no money right now (And won't be getting corals for a while because of this)
I also want my button polyp to reproduce...

The other thing i'm stuck on is types of lighting
I know that Metal Halides are the best right?
And floresents are used for tropical plants??
And the rest is baffling me :]

Any help would be greatly appriciated, because i feel its about time i want to dive into corals!

David C

If you use T5HO's, you can easily get enough light over your tank for corals, but it will cost some money. I'm not sure about any specific corals to look for, I don't know enough about them to recommend specific species, sorry

Dave

Naeusu

I know that i want to keep a table/plate like coral. Are these hard or easy?
Also a coral with lots of branches (i think it's called finger coral, or octopus coral.. or are they different?)
And I also want to keep one that waves and moves about with the current.

Table or plate corals need higher lighting so they're kind of out...if you want something with a similiar look try a leather coral. Finger corals can be kind of tricky but you can keep them with t5s if you have them towards thetop of the tank. if you want something to move with the current try green star polyps or polythoas (they have longer stalks and sway in the current a bit).

Stang Man

Metal hylides are to some point the best if you have the money to spend but I have had both the problem with MH is puts out alot of heat that effects water temps and always need a fan on, Not sure about leds to soon to know about these only been out for a short time and T5's are fadding to higher levels but I would say that any t5's are a good thing cause they emite enough light for soft corals I have 2 65 watt 50/50 compact flouesants and have had great corals of all types can't say for sure on MH bulbs they can grow some pretty awsome corals but need to have a chiller with them because of the heat and sometimes can eventually sun burn corals. If not placed properly to there lighting needs. Most corals require 4 - 12 watts per gallon as a rule of thumb MH give the ultimate at 12 watts per gallon most flouresants give up to 8 all depends on what type corals and how big a set up you have. Mushrooms ,Xenias, clams, leather, bubbles, frogspawn are examples of hardy corals with flouresants.

ATP

Table coral and plate coral is different. Table is like some miliporas that grow in shapes of tables. (sunset mili, pink mili, etc) They're SPS. (small polyp stony) Plate is some sort of LPS if I'm not mistaken. My guess is that you're thinking about montipora capricornis or monti caps. These are IMO one of the easiest SPS and would require halides or you could have them with T-5HO's if you put them in the upper part.

There's a lot of types. Acroporas, miliporas, digitas, etc. are SPS that have branches. Devils hand, and a few other types of leathers also has branches. There's a lot of them.

Most of the time softies or LPS. Torch coral, xenias, toadstools and a ton of others.

arguable.....it's all your opinion. Mine is halides, some might be LED's or T-5s

T5' HO, T12 VHO, PC's are usually used as addition to metal halides. They're also used as lights for softies or really small tanks.

charzar-g

ATP, you were right on about the Monntipora capricornis! :P
shame about that =[

I mostly get what you're all saying. But my good friend at the LFS left recently so i don't particularly want to go to that one anymore, i'm going to go to one with the same name but somewhere else, become a regular, and so they know my tank and then i'll ask them what they think

Thanks for the help guys. I guess with the corals it will just be researching and what names go with what etc. I'll get down to that right now >

Thanks dudes! ^^ (and dudettes)!