LPS is one of the easiest corals to manage with one caveat: space. Many reach out and touch someone...at night. Give each coral about 6" space downwind, ie, the direction the water goes. They can't touch upwind, because the tentacles have no real muscle, they just drift.
Lighting. A) Lowest requirement is bubble: prefers to be low in the tank, has a 6" reach, and maze brain is similar. I put mine in the shade of a large rock. B) Highest is probably euphyllia (frogspawn, hammer, torch) and caulestra (candycane, trumpet). T5 is fine, but it also thrives under metal halides or the equivalent. C) most other lps fit somewhere in the middle.
Corals to avoid: goniopora (flowerpot) and elegance. They're scarce, and they die easily, have minimal defenses, and are very sensitive to water quality. Wait until you're an expert.
Easy corals: euphyllias and caulestra. They have a very short reach, esp. the caulestra. Torch, however, is 'hot' and cranky. It looks a lot like hammer, and doesn't (for me, at least) grow as fast.
Tank conditions: set up according to the parameters in my sig line. I at least grow euphyllia real well. In my tank, it's become a weed. Dripping kalk or a calcium reactor (over 70 gallons) will be necessary, because these corals eat calcium by the spoonful. Feeding, yes, see below: they eat light, calcium/magnesium, and particulate food like ground krill. These ARE living filters, and they can get by with a poor skimmer or even no skimmer, as long as you keep your water conditions spot-on chemically. See my blog for an article on tank chemistry and how to keep it perfect.
Dealing with success: your lfs may take some off your hands for credit on supplies. You can also donate some to your local club. How fast can it grow? Exponentially, if it's happy. Heads can divide once a month or so, in good tank condiitons, and 2x2=4, 8, 16, 32, 64...you get the picture. Don't buy a colony. Buy about 3 heads and keep them happy.
Feeding. Best I've found is Tetra Jumbo Dried Krill. I got a gallon container at a bargain a couple of years ago and it's still going: put it in a Cuisinart, reduce to powder or chips, and you'll see your corals thrive on a spoonful a day for a 50 gallon reef. Fishes and inverts like it too. Krill is the fried chicken of the deep---even whales live on it.
Pests: they don't get ich, but they can have parasites. The good news is--there's a dip for that that solves your problem in about 10 minutes. Then the coral can go right on in, although you should look it over with a magnifying glass just in case. There's a brown jelly disease that is Not Nice. If you see part of a coral dissolved in crud, don't buy it.
General health tips: expect these corals to shrink and expand a lot: they're pumping water through. If they stay contracted, you have a water problem, probably alkalinity. Check your alkalinity often unless you're dripping kalk--in which case you can kind of relax as long as the corals look happy. (Dripping kalk requires nothing but a bag of powder and an autotopoff reservoir: it is not rocket science, and my blog has some info on how-to.) If unhappy, they may 'bail', or leave their skeleton. If you can catch these strayed heads and put them in a shallow glass dish that can keep them from wandering, you may grow a whole new coral: they secrete a skeleton, and will start doing that if you have good water. Also, if you think a coral died, especially plate and brain---don't toss the dead skeleton! Very frequently it has bits still deep in the bony structure, and when conditions improve, it will send up new shoots, grow new heads, and go on living, and this can be MONTHS later.
Types: euphyllia (frog, hammer, torch), caulestra (trumpet, candycane), brain, scolymia, galaxia, plate, tongue, slipper, fox (one of the prettiest, but also touchy) chalice, cup, duncans, acans, (avoid hydnophora---this coral digests its neighbors), etc. Do NOT get swept up in the craze for named corals. If they were easy as the others to grow we'd be hip-deep in them. Things that are 'rare' are rare for one reason only: because they die a lot, especially in the hands of beginners. Expertise will come. My advice: get a piece of hammer, caulestra, or frog, and just let it do its thing. These 3 will grow easily and teach you a lot.
Lighting. A) Lowest requirement is bubble: prefers to be low in the tank, has a 6" reach, and maze brain is similar. I put mine in the shade of a large rock. B) Highest is probably euphyllia (frogspawn, hammer, torch) and caulestra (candycane, trumpet). T5 is fine, but it also thrives under metal halides or the equivalent. C) most other lps fit somewhere in the middle.
Corals to avoid: goniopora (flowerpot) and elegance. They're scarce, and they die easily, have minimal defenses, and are very sensitive to water quality. Wait until you're an expert.
Easy corals: euphyllias and caulestra. They have a very short reach, esp. the caulestra. Torch, however, is 'hot' and cranky. It looks a lot like hammer, and doesn't (for me, at least) grow as fast.
Tank conditions: set up according to the parameters in my sig line. I at least grow euphyllia real well. In my tank, it's become a weed. Dripping kalk or a calcium reactor (over 70 gallons) will be necessary, because these corals eat calcium by the spoonful. Feeding, yes, see below: they eat light, calcium/magnesium, and particulate food like ground krill. These ARE living filters, and they can get by with a poor skimmer or even no skimmer, as long as you keep your water conditions spot-on chemically. See my blog for an article on tank chemistry and how to keep it perfect.
Dealing with success: your lfs may take some off your hands for credit on supplies. You can also donate some to your local club. How fast can it grow? Exponentially, if it's happy. Heads can divide once a month or so, in good tank condiitons, and 2x2=4, 8, 16, 32, 64...you get the picture. Don't buy a colony. Buy about 3 heads and keep them happy.
Feeding. Best I've found is Tetra Jumbo Dried Krill. I got a gallon container at a bargain a couple of years ago and it's still going: put it in a Cuisinart, reduce to powder or chips, and you'll see your corals thrive on a spoonful a day for a 50 gallon reef. Fishes and inverts like it too. Krill is the fried chicken of the deep---even whales live on it.
Pests: they don't get ich, but they can have parasites. The good news is--there's a dip for that that solves your problem in about 10 minutes. Then the coral can go right on in, although you should look it over with a magnifying glass just in case. There's a brown jelly disease that is Not Nice. If you see part of a coral dissolved in crud, don't buy it.
General health tips: expect these corals to shrink and expand a lot: they're pumping water through. If they stay contracted, you have a water problem, probably alkalinity. Check your alkalinity often unless you're dripping kalk--in which case you can kind of relax as long as the corals look happy. (Dripping kalk requires nothing but a bag of powder and an autotopoff reservoir: it is not rocket science, and my blog has some info on how-to.) If unhappy, they may 'bail', or leave their skeleton. If you can catch these strayed heads and put them in a shallow glass dish that can keep them from wandering, you may grow a whole new coral: they secrete a skeleton, and will start doing that if you have good water. Also, if you think a coral died, especially plate and brain---don't toss the dead skeleton! Very frequently it has bits still deep in the bony structure, and when conditions improve, it will send up new shoots, grow new heads, and go on living, and this can be MONTHS later.
Types: euphyllia (frog, hammer, torch), caulestra (trumpet, candycane), brain, scolymia, galaxia, plate, tongue, slipper, fox (one of the prettiest, but also touchy) chalice, cup, duncans, acans, (avoid hydnophora---this coral digests its neighbors), etc. Do NOT get swept up in the craze for named corals. If they were easy as the others to grow we'd be hip-deep in them. Things that are 'rare' are rare for one reason only: because they die a lot, especially in the hands of beginners. Expertise will come. My advice: get a piece of hammer, caulestra, or frog, and just let it do its thing. These 3 will grow easily and teach you a lot.
] You can mix nicely with mushrooms and leathers and hold all the same true, including lighting, flow and tank parameters. 
