just a thought on a sticky! would need your help tho

[AIR-FX]

for us peoples new to the hobby i though it may be benificial to make a sticky on placement of corals in the tank......low,medium,high lighting. low,medium and high flow! I know that for me time is tough ,and i could never find the time to reserch every coral,and remember where to place them in my tank. so i figured with the communities help,each person could post their experience with certain corals and what environment suits each coral best. after awhile i could compile a list to sort everything in to catagories and we could make a sticky! you post your "know how" and i will do the grunt work!
it's just an idea.

i figure post the "common name"(and latin if you know it) then placement in tank(low,medium,high) and weather you can keep it with t5's or it needs halide lighting,what kind of flow it should recieve,and level of know how(beginer,intermediate,or experienced).

 

[pascal32]

here are some articles on the topic which contain a matrix of suggested lighting.

take a moment to read, disputes a lot about high/med/low and

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2007/3/aafeature1/view?searchterm=pur
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2009/5/aafeature

that takeaway is that super high lighting is not iseal, and that 150-300 par is sufficient for most SPS - furthermore that you can compensate to some degree with your photo period by calculating your DLI (daily light index)

 

[superkat]

i always like the idea of having info all in one place. saves time. Those are good links, thanks!

 

[Gravesj1s]

It does seam like a good idea.But I cant help question weather using latin or scientific names should even be used for Id-ing.For fish yes,coral ???.

It may come as a surprise to many to the accuracy of coral identification books.I did get permission from one author to say so - told me his book was somewhere around 1/3 incorrectly Id or cant be identified by the human eye alone.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

good idea

good idea

EVERYBODY should try and ID a new coral in order to place it properly in their reef aquarium.

It's not just newbies that can benefit from knowing where to place a coral or (more importantly) what a coral actually is.
IMO it would be a major PITA to sort through a sticky thread in order to identify a coral and learn what environmental conditions suit it.

I would suggest identifying a potential coral purchase before actually bringing it home. Ask the LFS. Most online vendors provide a pic and (at the very least) a stab at ID. Identifying a coral to genus (family) is usually enough to guess proper placement- identifying to species might not ever need to occur in order to 'get it right'. (This is how I often proceed.)
As a general rule, new corals should be introduced into a reef aquarium low (near the bottom of the aquarium) and raised upwards over time (if necessary).

A picture posted of any coral in question will usually trigger some quick guesses from folks on RC.

 

[tmz]

I agree just list the coral by scientific name and someone will provide some captive care information and /or information based on their experience with a particular specimen. .

For those who wan't to read up on it the links help and there are several worthwhile books including:
"Corals,A quick reference guide" ,by Julian Sprung,
"Aquarium Corals",Section, Husbandry and Natural History" by Eric H. Borneman.
"Corals of the World " Vernon.

There are many thousands of coral species and we most often don't know where wild caught corals come from since there isn't any collection data provided with them.. Water conditions such as flow ,turbidity, depth,even salinity etc. are hit and miss but if you can precisely identify a coral which is sometimes near impossible you can usually find out where it came from via the references noted and where it may have been positioned on the reef which you can translate into captive care needs.
Captive grown specimens are a bit easier; just observe where it is kept or ask the person that propagated it . If I see a particular specimen doing exceptionally well or poorly I'll always try to learn about it's captive care conditions,sg, nutrients, alk, feeding etc.