Confused with Corals

[Capsle]

Hey Reefers,

So I'm looking at corals and I'm totally confused! What's the the difference between, SPS, LPS, mushrooms, leathers etc...

Is there certain corals that shouldn't be mixed together?

What do aggressive means for corals?

Also what category do zoas fall into?

Sorry for the 1000 questions but it's a lot to take in.


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[KMS.Kyle]

LPS = Large polyp Stony coral
SPS = Small polyp stony coral

Aggressive means (I believe) that they will sting/kill other corals that grow too close.

Depending on the type of Zoa - Semi-ish aggro.

And the types of corals you can mix together are mostly dependent on your husbandry, lighting and space.

 

[SeaCucumberFan]

SPS stands for Small Polyp Stony (Stony Corals with Tiny Polyps, such as acropora)
LPS stands for Large Polyp Stony (Stony Corals with Large Polyps such as frogspawn)
Leather means that they feel leathery to the touch (I believe)
Mushroom corals are a group of corals that have a disk shaped head, a small mouth in the middle, and a stalk that varies in lenght.
Searching LPS/SPS/Leather/Mushroom coral can give you lots of info.
Mushrooms never die, LPS is OK for amateurs, SPS is for experts

Aggresive means that they will battle with other nearby corals

 

[Coralfuture]

I like to think of it based on their skeletal structure to the relationship to their mouths. (Yes that's exactly what SPS and LPS means)

LPS are big heads on their skeletons usually more head than skeleton i.e. acans, duncans, frogspawns/hammers and many more

SPS are the many mouths to feed coral to me all skeleton and hundreds of mouths to feed all connected as one and if one mouth gets unhappy it will start killing others(not exactly how they bleach out but how I like to think of them in terms of difficulty) i.e. acropora, birdsnest, monti

Anything without a skeleton I would say is your softys i.e. mushrooms, leathers, zoas
MUCH easier to care for grow faster more forgiving of water parameters

Aggressive corals are exactly what you thought, they will reach out and sting their neighbors until they are all alone i.e. Tooth/Galaxia coral
Can be aggressive growers too tho i.e. Pulsing Xenia

My tank has every coral I have listed other than the leather, mushrooms, and xenia so I would say given the right conditions you can have them all thrive together.

 

[Sk8r]

Light determines what you can keep: softies take least, lps middling, sps most.. As a beginner pick one, lps or softies, and do not try to keep both for your first venture. Each has disadvantages: softies spit, run carbon to absorb this; and lps requires calcium additive in your topoff ro/di, which autofeeds (with an ato) that supplement to help them grow skeletons. softies and lps don't like each other. Site corals 6" apart, and start them low and raise them over days toward the light until you think that's high enough and not too high. They can burn if overlighted. They also require low nitrate, ideally under 5, some under 1.

 

[Capsle]

Awesome info guys thank you!

Is there a good site that has a lot of general info for each species requirements?


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[SeaCucumberFan]

This site :fun4::rollface::thumbsup:

 

[gone fishin]

Awesome info guys thank you!

Is there a good site that has a lot of general info for each species requirements?


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http://successfulreefkeeping.com/learn/about-corals/what-your-coral-needs/

I like to refer to this site, good luck

 

[Capsle]

http://successfulreefkeeping.com/learn/about-corals/what-your-coral-needs/



I like to refer to this site, good luck

Awesome site, exactly what I was looking for.

Thank you


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[PsychoticBeauty]

It all boils down to a routine IME. sps, LPS, softies are not all that different...