Good corals for beginners

geef64

New member
Looking for good corals for beginners. I only want to keep LPS and softies. Any help would be appreciated
 
Frogspawn, Torch, Hammerhead Corals are the three favorites.

If you choose to go with some SPS' look at some zooanthids, they can produce some really nice colonies.
 
As long as you stay away from NPS species, you should be able to keep most LPS and soft corals IMO. I guess it depends on your lighting though, but most do not require exceptionally high light.

LPS-
Torch
Frogspawn
Hammer
Acans
Duncans
Blasto
Chalice

are all considerably easy IMO.

Brains
Scoly's
Plates

Still pretty easy to keep, some can be finicky I suppose.

Alvepora
Elegance

These can sometimes be hit or miss

Goniopora

One of the hardest LPS to keep, however, if you get one of the ORA specimens it should be considerably easier.

Soft corals-
Toadstool
Kenya Tree
Colt Coral
Sinularia
Mushrooms
Zoas
Clove Polyps
Star Polyps
Yellow Fiji Leather
Xenia
Devils Hand
Finger Leather
Anthelia
Cabbage Leather

All really easy to keep, there are some species that are a bit more finicky than others but generally speaking, not hard.

SPS-
I know you said only LPS and Softies, however, should you want to try one, start out with a monti cap. They are very forgiving compared to other SPS, and they can really stand out in a mixed reef.


Before purchasing anything, be sure to research for placement / comparability for your system.
 
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Thanks right now i dont have the lighting to keep sps and really like the look of softies and sps. Thanks again for all the help
 
I just picked up a nice brain coral yesterday, they look incredible and are very easy to take care of.

Plates and brains love sitting on the bottom of your tank on the sand bed.

What type of lighting do you have? What kind of power heads? They will help determine what you should consider starting with.
 
Currently i have a pc light with 4 bulbs and a 2 bulb t5. And i am using hydor korlia evolutions. Have 1 that pushs 1500 gph and thinking about adding one thd does 850gph
 
From my experience Acans and Zoas have been really easy to keep happy, and the colors available for acans are pretty awesome. Xenia was the first thing I got at the suggestion of my LFS, but it grew waaaay too fast. Ended up pulling the 2 rocks it had attached to as it was growing like weeds and starting to spread and didnt want it to take over.
 
Good corals for beginners

2 bulb T5 should be enough if you're running 1 daylight (10k) and 1 actinic bulb. Is the fixture high output?

You could also try getting some mushrooms, I had two given to me, they attached to the rock I put them on and have started to expand.

Zoas are easy to take care of and are usually a first sign of problems in your tank.
 
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