Anything at all about corals

[justinl]

Hey Im new to the hobby and don't yet plan on a reef system but was wondering anyways. Always good to know. So how do you take care of these things? Do you have to add anything to the water (nutrients, additives, whatever)? Lighting? what are your fave corals? What about their biology (frags, lifecycle, other interesting tidbits)?

I also keep hearing people say that they get most of their nutrients from photosynthesis and the rest from the water column. What?! From what Ive learned in biology, photosynthesis provides nothing but energy... right?

PS. damn. I almost had all the letters in the title start with "a"

justin

[windeindoiel]

Bacteria in their tissues photosynthesize then share the energy they make with the coral in exchange for being protected within the corals tissues. This all means corals need very good light, actinics and halides, which means lotsa money on lighting. It's worth it though.

Mmm in my house I don't take care of the additives, so I'll leave that up to someone else to explain in more detail.

Anyways my favorites are probably pulsing xenia and star polyps.

[Der_Iron_Chef]

It really depends. You don't *need* metal halide lighting if you only want to keep a variety of certain soft corals and LPS (Large Polyp Stony) corals. I have five corals under Power Compact lighting, and they are doing very well!

It's really necessary to research the individual coral, finding out what lighting/water flow/additives it needs.

I think the worst mistake, with regards to keeping corals, is the impulse buy!! It pays to know what, exactly, you're bringing home....

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

Get some good books on the subject & get a better idea what different species look like & their requirements. If you decide not to go with MH, then you will need to focus a future reef on softies & low-med. light LPS. In many cases, you can keep higher light requiring species under PC, but they would need to be placed higher up in the LR structure & be prepared for some of the colours to maybe fade.

Research, research, research. It'll save you lots of $$ & it'll keep your purchases alive.

Anthony

[mark]

Definitely time for some books. Try "Book of Coral Propagation" by Calfo and "Corals, (selection, husbandry, and natural history)" by Borneman.

[Dale]

Yes, a good book is in order. Asking for a simple rundown on corals is like asking for a simple rundown on mammals. The spectrum is too vast for any one type of answer. How about narrowing it down to a specific variety.
Too bad you weren't interested in anenomes. That would have gotten you that last A

[Bob I]

Originally Posted by justinl

Hey Im new to the hobby and don't yet plan on a reef system but was wondering anyways. Always good to know. So how do you take care of these things? Do you have to add anything to the water (nutrients, additives, whatever)? Lighting? what are your fave corals? What about their biology (frags, lifecycle, other interesting tidbits)?

I also keep hearing people say that they get most of their nutrients from photosynthesis and the rest from the water column. What?! From what Ive learned in biology, photosynthesis provides nothing but energy... right?

Only partially right. The endproduct of photosynthesis (from Introductory Plant Biology) is a simple sugar molecule. That is used by the plant or coral as a food source.

PS. damn. I almost had all the letters in the title start with "a"

justin

[Doug]

Originally Posted by justinl

Hey Im new to the hobby and don't yet plan on a reef system but was wondering anyways. Always good to know. So how do you take care of these things? Do you have to add anything to the water (nutrients, additives, whatever)? Lighting? what are your fave corals? What about their biology (frags, lifecycle, other interesting tidbits)?

I also keep hearing people say that they get most of their nutrients from photosynthesis and the rest from the water column. What?! From what Ive learned in biology, photosynthesis provides nothing but energy... right?
justin

Welcome to Canreef Justin. You can read enough threads on corals, right here, to do you for awile. If you're interested in a certain one, just put it in the search feature.