quick question about coral

[jdoenumber2]

What coral can i start as a beginner that would be fine with my normal output light in a 75 gallon. What aspect of water parameters would be of greatest importance? What would be the most tollerable coral to start with? Everybody here is tremendously helpful so far. Thanks again.

 

[ttu rob]

mushrooms. colorful and cheap to boot.

 

[DaveAngie79]

mushrooms, zoos, i also have greenstar polyps in my tank started 1 month ago

 

[egdevilboy]

I'd say save the money for better lighting (i actually have some available) then go with corals. Check into PCs or MH lighting.

Mushrooms and zoos will be alright but you wont get any growth...

 

[Fast Fred]

I agree with egdevilboy. You may want to consider upgrading your lighting first. The only coral I can think of that might do well under N/O lighting would be a Sun Coral. They require little to no light, but must be fed regularly with fine meaty foods.

 

[Monkeyfish]

IMO, in a tank that deep, the mushrooms would need to be placed in the top half of the tank in order to do well.

Sun corals (tubastrea) are asymbiotic (no zooanthelae) and do not need any light. Each polyp needs to be individually fed vitamin enriched meaty foods (like mysis shrimp) several times a week in order to survive. If you don't mind feeding them they would do fine in your tank, but are not really a beginner coral.

I'd upgrade the lighting before getting corals. Look on-line for used equipment (you can also check the buy/sell forum). If you want SPS corals then you'll need to look into metal halides for the best results. Softies and many LPS will do fine with t5HO or power compacts.