what are the requirements for soft coral?

[JStraz4991]

What kind of lighting will i need?.what are some of the parameters i will need to watch(will i need to watch phosphates,calcium,ect)?do i need to hand feed them or is light good enough?

 

[JStraz4991]

bump

 

[blide]

Saltwater and some light... It's pretty easy.

 

[Supasalty]

I had some nice soft corals with just some power compacts and a couple power heads for flow. Just regular water changes should keep the water in good enough shape and maybe some iodide.

 

[kingfisher62]

What sort of lighting do you have?

 

[JStraz4991]

Im getting a TEK t5 4 bulb fixture.and how much iodine do i need

 

[enasco]

Hi JStraz4991,

When it comes to ligthing these types of corals don't need alot; T5's or power compacts are Ok.

When it comes to placing them keep them low to medium water, although I personally keep them in the sand bed or a little higher, but not too high in the tank.

They mostly shed there skin when you introduce them into your tank for the first time and thereafter once and a while.

If you can manage to get good circulation towards them would even be better.

When it comes to what to feed: Phytoplankton once or twice weekly, iodine/iodide twice weekly and strontium twice weekly, just follow the instructions on the bottles for the proper dose. Other than that just watch them and enjoy your softies.

enasco

 

[JStraz4991]

Is Phytoplankton and strontium a supplement or a food?

 

[enasco]

Phytoplankton is a food for corals and strontium is a supplement.

enasco

 

[JStraz4991]

can u guys tell me some of the species of soft coral and what cool softies that you have had in the past that are easy to take care of

 

[Supasalty]

Capenella grew it from a single stalk to a giant tree fragging it self like mad. Yellow toadstool, leather cabbage pretty much any leather coral is easy to keep. You can also grow zoanthids and palys in the same tank.

 

[enasco]

Hi JStaz4991,

The cool and easy softies to keep are;

Green tip leathers, Toodstool, xenia, star ployps, kenya tree,lettauce and all other species of leathers.

Also, although from other species; Zoe's & mushrooms. Remembering most soft corals are low-light and should be kept low in the tank==) lower or at the sandbed level. You should place them were there is a bid of current, because they shed and in the oceans around the world the currents help to element this when it starts to peel off.

Also, as I mentioned before; iodine and trace elements are very important too.

enasco

 

[JStraz4991]

Thank you very much for your help i will look up some of those corals and decide what to get

 

[JStraz4991]

One more question is a koralia 3(850gph) and 2(600gph) in a 40 breeder a good amount of flow for soft corals and lps

 

[enasco]

Hi Straz4991,

I have a 46 gal bow reef and I have a Koralia 1 which I believe is the 850 and it gives a sufficient current, plus on the other side I have a maxijet 1200 which also gives alot of current too.

enasco

 

[blasterman789]

I guess everything is relative. I have a Koralia 1 on the middle back of my 10gal frag pointed forward and consider it barely adequate.

Good beginner softies are larger shrooms (especially purples and greens), palys, most zoas. To be honest I consider LPS like Acans and Candy Canes to be just as hardy as softies and have the same generous lighting requirements. While Xenia thrives in a lot of tanks, I've found it to be rather fussy and prefers very even water params.

Softies and easy LPS don't *require* feeding, but it will encourage their growth. Also, unlike SPS, they like some nitrate in the water, and shrooms / zoas will grow rapidly with some nitrate hanging around. I occasionally feed with either zooplankton or oyster feast a couple times a week, but *only* if your nitrate levels are low. If your nitrate levels are rather high, and beginner tanks usually are, it doesn't do you any good to make the problem worse by adding food.

 

[JStraz4991]

Can u send me a link of a good place to buy the zooplankon or oyster feast please

EDIT:would any other plankton work ? and there is some liquid stuff on Marine Depot

 

[divewsharks]

Can u send me a link of a good place to buy the zooplankon or oyster feast please

EDIT:would any other plankton work ? and there is some liquid stuff on Marine Depot

You don't need to feed the tank, fish waste will feed the corals. However if you wish to feed them, something like oyster feast is best picked up from your LFS as it requires refrigeration.
You also don't need to dose iodine, I recommend not dosing anything you are not testing for. Via consistent water changes you will get the supplements that your corals need.
Additionally you can place the corals anywhere in the tank, with the Tek fixture you may want to acclimate them to the light(start on bottom and move up) or raise fixture and slowly lower it -- also depends on the bulbs you go with (with that fixture you can keep any coral you want, providing the other parameters are good to go -- at least in upper levels in the tank).
There are many softies that like light, especially those that are more neon in color such as nepthea and certain zoas/palys.
Placement is also important from the standpoint of future growth, majority of the corals will grow towards the light, and they can easily become invasive, and you'll end spending plenty of time trying to remove them, Kenya tree is an exa,ple of this to me. It will self-propagate dropping buds everywhere, gsp can overrun most thongs in it's path; it's nice to look at but best placed on an island surrounded by sand so that it can't spread beyond where you want it.

Hth

 

[JStraz4991]

wow thank you for that info that gave me some good ideas on what to do

 

[shifty51008]

i will also add in, if you do regular waqter changes you don't need to add any other suppliments such as iodine and such and if you want to add that stuff test before adding so your not overdosing or you can cause more harm than good