Softies - toadstools, leathers, mushrooms, zoos, etc. (no hard calcium-based skeleton)
LPS - Large Polyp Stony - frogspawn, hammer, brain, bubble, etc. (usually large hard skeleton base with med. to large polyps growing on top)
SPS - Small Polyp Stony - Acropora, millipora, cat's paw, montipora, caps, etc. (Mostly skeleton, some finger or antler-like, others are more plate-like, with thousands of tiny, hairy polyps)
As a general rule, softies - LPS - SPS go from easiest to hardest, least light to most light, lowest water quality requirements to highest water quality requirements, low or med. current to high current.
That's why most newbies start with low light softies, advance to LPS and many then upgrade to powerful MH lights & lots of flow to keep SPS like acros & millis.
HTH,
Anthony
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