Your Guide to Choosing Corals for Your First Reef Tank
The craze of LPS Corals in Victoria is increasing exponentially among aquarium hobbyists. These marine invertebrates are beautiful to look at and make a perfect addition to the reef tank.
However, when it comes to purchasing coral frags, it is important to be extra vigilant, especially if you are a beginner.
Here is what you can look at when purchasing coral frags:
1- Pick a coral that is healthy-looking and bright.
2- Ensure to check the placement and type of circulations and current the coral frag is kept in. This way, you will have an idea of what your corals will like when you add them to your reef tank.
3- Purchase a coral that is completely extended with open polyps, healthy and happy looking.
To create a diverse reef tank, here are some coral types you can consider:
Softies or soft corals
Soft corals are quite easy, to begin with. This is because there is a variety of them to choose from, and they do pretty well in most reef tanks.
Zoanthids, Mushrooms, Ricordia and Xenia are a few of the popular soft corals. Since soft corals have a moderate water and light demand, they end up thriving well in newer tanks. Plus, they are quite forgiving when it comes to the quality of the water, making them the best option for beginners.
Lastly, softies end up adding colour and movement to any type of reef tank promptly after introduction.
Large Polyp Stony or LPS
LPS have a calcium carbonate structure and larger polyps affixed to them.
Compared to softies, LPS are quite complex to take care of. They rely heavily on water quality to build their structure by pulling calcium and carbonate from the water.
So, you will require to maintain the elements to promote LPS coral growth. And once the LPS start thriving, you will require dosing the water to promote further growth.
Small Polyp Stony or SPS
Even though SPS make a great addition to a reef tank, they can get very difficult to keep up with.
Similar to LPS, even SPS have a calcium carbonate structure. However, they have much smaller polyps and only tend to appear with accurate water conditions.
SPS are very much demanding and can end up consuming calcium and carbonate from the water much quicker, meaning you will have to frequently dose trace elements in the water.
In short, avoid SPS in your reef tank unless you have the right experience to handle them.
Over to you
Now that you have an idea of what type of corals suit best for a beginners’ reef tank, it is time to connect with Frag Garage to invest in healthy and quality corals in Canada without breaking your wallet.
Kevin Astle is the author of this article. To know more details about Online Hammer Coral in Canada please visit our website: fraggarage.ca