First non-photosynthetic coral

[ohioreef71]

What would be a good first non-photosynthetic coral to get. I been thinking of putting something under a bridge that is in complete shade.

 

[wiz careefa]

dendro or sun corals are pretty easy

 

[jaynel78]

+1 on the Dendros....they are easier than sun polyps

 

[tubastrea1]

+1 on the Dendros....they are easier than sun polyps

I'm following the discussion and step in because I also intend to add non-photosyntetic coral to a reef barrier tank.
Dendro looks like easier, but what about the impact of feeding this animal towards impact on water quality ?
I mean: target feed sun coral can be pretty easy with small chopped shrimps or mysis etc.This shoudn't impact too much because no food is waist in the water; feeding dendro instead(as far as I imagine) means to put liquid food in the aquaiurm water. This wil increase significantly PO4 and NO3.
does it make sense or I'm totally wrong?:worried:
thanks for the patient.
Luca

 

[CuttleKid]

He is referring to dendrophyllia which is an excellent beginner nps coral not the extremely demanding dendronephthya which demand high flow and a very high food density

 

[tubastrea1]

He is referring to dendrophyllia which is an excellent beginner nps coral not the extremely demanding dendronephthya which demand high flow and a very high food density

Oooops, sorry:hmm2:

 

[psyrob]

How much flow will they need? All of my caves or overhands seem to be lower flow than out in the light where the flow seems much stronger, more random...

 

[anoah33]

im also tagging along, i just don't have lighting yet and was thinking of adding a dendro just to have some coral

 

[Trichome]

I agree that Sun coral and Dendro are both great starter NPS corals. I would go a step further and say that a Rizotrochus Typus or Rhizo would be even easier to keep. They will eat about anything meaty and they only need to be feed 2-3 times a week if your spot feeding meaty foods. They do cost a lot more and are harder to find though. The West African Colangia is really easy to keep to if you can manage to find some. It grows like zoas and like to be feed once a day meaty foods.

 

[aninjaatemyshoe]

Sun corals are definitely the way to start if you plan to continue with more/harder nonphotosynthetic corals. They are more difficult than dendros, but in that sense they serve as a good bellwether of the feeding and maintenance that will be required for harder corals. With frequent feeding, they thrive, grow, and multiply pretty quickly. Thus, you can easily tell whether you're doing a good job. Plus, they are reasonably cheap, as compared to dendros and especially rhizos.