Here's where "it depends" is a valid answer.
First "it depends"...on the coral.
Some corals are quite tough. I had 3 discosoma mushrooms and a piece of bubble coral survive the cycle in my tank's first setup.
So it depends on the coral. Certain ones are tough: certain ones are notoriously hard. Ask.
Secondly, "it depends" on the stability of the tank.
A coral doesn't like change, as a rule. And some new tank owners make all sorts of interesting mistakes: they screw up their topoff, flood their tanks with fresh water, then try to correct it by dumping in salt [the right answer is: correct it by topping off with saltwater for the next few days], they forget to test, they overfeed. They read their test syringes upside down, they use the wrong chart, they don't read the instructions to the end and don't know you have to wait a certain number of hours after adding, say, buffer, before your test means a lot...
In other words, if you've gotten past the usual run of mistakes all of us make and your tank is now pretty reliably steady in salinity, in ph, in alkalinity, and you're near 0 nitrate and absolutely 0 ammonia, ---you're in pretty good shape to take on some hardy corals.
If you're doing softies, the easier ones should behave nicely for you, if your lights are adequate. Stay away from fiji leather for a bit.
If you want to add a trial stony, hammer, frogspawn, or caulestra [candycane] you need one other component: you need to get your calcium level up to 400, ideally to 420. You do this first by being sure your magnesium is about 1300, and that your alk is up to snuff. Then you dose calcium until you read 400-450, and can hold it there. Then start with just one coral and start it on the bottom of your tank, moving it up higher as you see how it reacts to your lighting. If it spits brown stuff, the light is too much too fast. Lower it back.
The whole deal is---how steady are you? If your tank is steady, you're good to go. If you're still making mistakes and your chemistry still bounces all over, save yourself frustration and solve the chemistry problem first.
If you're steady, then prepare your tank, get a very small tough specimen and just watch it do its thing.
YOu don't really have to feed corals, and they're not near as fussy and full of headaches as anemones. Corals suck nutrients out of the water, and their colored algae photosynthesize from the lights and provide them sugars. So just feed your fish and the corals will pretty well take care of themselves.
HTH.
First "it depends"...on the coral.
Some corals are quite tough. I had 3 discosoma mushrooms and a piece of bubble coral survive the cycle in my tank's first setup.
So it depends on the coral. Certain ones are tough: certain ones are notoriously hard. Ask.
Secondly, "it depends" on the stability of the tank.
A coral doesn't like change, as a rule. And some new tank owners make all sorts of interesting mistakes: they screw up their topoff, flood their tanks with fresh water, then try to correct it by dumping in salt [the right answer is: correct it by topping off with saltwater for the next few days], they forget to test, they overfeed. They read their test syringes upside down, they use the wrong chart, they don't read the instructions to the end and don't know you have to wait a certain number of hours after adding, say, buffer, before your test means a lot...
In other words, if you've gotten past the usual run of mistakes all of us make and your tank is now pretty reliably steady in salinity, in ph, in alkalinity, and you're near 0 nitrate and absolutely 0 ammonia, ---you're in pretty good shape to take on some hardy corals.
If you're doing softies, the easier ones should behave nicely for you, if your lights are adequate. Stay away from fiji leather for a bit.
If you want to add a trial stony, hammer, frogspawn, or caulestra [candycane] you need one other component: you need to get your calcium level up to 400, ideally to 420. You do this first by being sure your magnesium is about 1300, and that your alk is up to snuff. Then you dose calcium until you read 400-450, and can hold it there. Then start with just one coral and start it on the bottom of your tank, moving it up higher as you see how it reacts to your lighting. If it spits brown stuff, the light is too much too fast. Lower it back.
The whole deal is---how steady are you? If your tank is steady, you're good to go. If you're still making mistakes and your chemistry still bounces all over, save yourself frustration and solve the chemistry problem first.
If you're steady, then prepare your tank, get a very small tough specimen and just watch it do its thing.
YOu don't really have to feed corals, and they're not near as fussy and full of headaches as anemones. Corals suck nutrients out of the water, and their colored algae photosynthesize from the lights and provide them sugars. So just feed your fish and the corals will pretty well take care of themselves.
HTH.