jguitarm15

So I been thinking about and I have decided that when my aquarium is ready im going to get some corals!!!!

I been looking for stuff and learning about it but still dont know what it really takes to have corals like Im lost. All that comes with it like feeding them, and all the coral supplements, what do I need?? What should i start with How can I feed it, Whats the difference between hard and soft corals

Any help is appriciated!! Thanks!!!

angelfish220

Hard corals, also called reef-building corals, produce a rock-like skeleton made of the same material as classroom chalk (calcium carbonate). These skeletons and the various shapes of different colonies form the familiar structure of the reef. Hard corals rely on symbiotic algae (zooxanthellae) living within their tissues for nutrition and energy to build their skeleton. They must therefore live in shallow clear water to allow sunlight to reach the algae. Soft corals look like colorful plants or graceful trees and are not reef-building since they do not produce the hard calcified skeleton of many reef-building corals. However, soft corals do produce smaller amounts of calcium carbonate that help them keep their shape. Soft corals can be distinguished from hard corals by the fact that soft coral polyps always have eight tentacles, while hard coral polyps have multiples of six tentacles.

I got that from my Encyclopedia

outlaw

off topic: And I thought those sets were useless.

angelfish220

I think I have learned more having an encyclopedia set for 1 year than i have in all of my 10 years of schooling

Tumbleweed

There is a lot to learn about Corals, before you should ever get one. You first need to decided if you want you want in your tank? Different types of corals and even same types but different classifaication require different things. For most corals you will need pleanty of light. Depending on the size of your tank and what you want to keep this could be solved by a simple power compact light set up all the way up metal halides.

Another thing to consider is water movement. Some corals want a lot of movement and some want little movement. A good rule of thumb is 20gph of flow. ie. 10gal tank = 200gph of movement. This can be accomplished by installing multiple power heads through out your tank. Multiple small Power Heads are better then 1 large power head.

Also by getting into corals in a tank this will also effect on what fish you can or should put into the tank. Many fish will pick at or eat the corals. And since corals aren't cheep that would be a bad thing.

There are multiple web sites that talk specifically about corals and what each one needs and how to care for them. All I can suggest is to do some research, about the specific types of coral you want, so you can decide if your tank will meet its requirments.