Coral death

[kwsm]

My boyfriend's cousin sells corals and such and offered us essentially whatever frags we want that he has for free (love family discounts). My question is, if we were to pick up something that isn't "beginner" coral per se, and we end up killing it somehow, are there corals that can pollute your tank when they die? Which ones? Any that we should DEFINITELY stay away from?


Be sure to let you all know what we pick up!

 

[Cathic]

Just start with the Zoa's and paly's, I am sure there are some to avoid but I am no coral expert so..... Biff, Yote?

 

[kwsm]

Oh and my lights are Coralife Lunar Aqualight, 2 actinic and 2 10k bulbs 65w each in a 55g tank. Decent water flow as well but if we picked up something that required higher flow we wouldn't be bothered by just getting more powerheads.

Again, I'm not really concerned about needing strictly beginner corals, I mean I'm sure his cousin would tell us not to get one that needs an ultra established tank and is expert only. I'm more looking at moderate difficulty corals and what happens if we mess up.

 

[Bifferwine]

You can usually tell when corals are about to kick the bucket (unlike anemones). It usually takes several days to weeks for a coral to die, so you get fair warning and can remove them before they start to spoil.

I don't believe that certain ones are worse than others when they die. But there are some that you just should avoid with a young tank. Stay away from SPS corals (except montiporas), stay away from elegance corals, and stay away from gonioporas (flower pot corals). Those are corals that need very good water quality, and many "experts" with very mature, established systems have a hard time keeping.

 

[kwsm]

So off the original topic, are those lights good enough for virtually anything I want to keep? Everyone has a different opinion on watts per gallon but we have almost 5.

 

[daugherty]

So off the original topic, are those lights good enough for virtually anything I want to keep? Everyone has a different opinion on watts per gallon but we have almost 5.

it depends on the light fixture it-self with the type of bulbs that are in it

 

[yote]

I think with your lights,you'll be good as long as you stick to softies and most LPS corals.