Why do people like hard corals and stuff?

[Anonymous]

Well?

I know I'm not in line with the mainstream here, but i really don't like hard corals that much. They all look so similar, and they're not much fun to look at in the first place. Just my two cents.

So why are people so obsessed with acroporas and other hard corals? I simply don't see the appeal, please educate me.

 

[Unarce]

My vote went to appearance. I don't think SPS or LPS are more difficult to keep if you have an understanding of their care. Soft corals can be just as frustrating at times. Hard corals just look 10X better to me. I can't get the deep colors of blue, purple, orange, etc. from softies. Visually, it's much more rewarding to my eyes.

 

[Unarce]

I'd also say that the mainstream would be the opposite, since the majority would be into soft corals because of their reputation of being easier to keep. As far as challenges, I look more towards creating a perfectly balanced system with minimal use of equipment (no mechanical filtration, no skimmer), just lights and water movement.

 

[teevee]

It's Freudian. Phallic symbol methinks. :wink:

 

[Anonymous]

It's Freudian. Phallic symbol methinks. :wink:

You may be correct but I think that people like the challenge. I don't keep any of these because we have to many power failures. I guess if I had more money to spend on a gas powered generator for these times I would keep them.

 

[Anonymous]

I guess I meant mainstream as "what's considered the apex of awesome reefkeeping" ... not what most people actually DO.

Still don't see the visual appeal. They look to me like dead branches painted pastel colors.

 

[Unarce]

Could be Phallic. :wink: Perhaps I felt uneasy staring at a flaccid tree coral during its down time. :lol: "A hard coral is good to find."

Again, it's all preference.

 

[CiXeL]

id say it has to do with people who like stuff that sways verses people who want ultra bright colors.

i have to say im a bit of both but after having my tank run over completely with soft corals that were all flesh toned i have to say i want super ultra bright colors. besides, im an ex-raver i think that says it all.

 

[Anonymous]

hmmm good points, cixel!

i guess i'm oddball. i'm an ex raver and graphic artist ... so i feel pretty safe saying i'm visually inclined ... but i guess i prefer the movement and stuff. I have plenty of softies that are very colorful.

Good point though. Now that you mention it, I definitely thinkg the yielding organic shapes and movements appeal to me much more than the stoic unmoving vivid brightness.

HF

 

[Unarce]

stoic unmoving vivid brightness.

You can SOMEWHAT achieve that with SPS. When perfectly healthy, the polyps can extend enough to the point that they sway. They shouldn't look like the dead branches that you mentioned before.

 

[EyesClosed]

I agree, i dont really see the appeal of hards are, they look like they're plastic.

along with colour, one main deciding point for me when buying corals is movement, i love a tank where theres lots of movement and everything looks alive, even to the non-reefer (infidels!).


(sorry for bringing up an old thread, but this is something that i've always thought, glad someone ageres)

 

[wade1]

FUZZY STICKS!!!!!


Wade

 

[CiXeL]

i used to be a huge fan of sps corals. i wished for awhile i had a tank of nothing but sps and then finally went on a tank tour and saw one. BORING AS HELL. it was basically a bunch of frags sitting on a rock shelf not moving. not a single bit of particle matter or microbubbles in the water either. they may have been plastic figurines sitting on a rock bench like knickknacks. boooring. my response made my girlfriend very happy who is a big fan of softies. i must say now that what i want is lots of color PLUS stuff that sways.

and another thing. i hate how people put too much light over their stony tanks and make them all pastel colors. thats so lame, i only want strong colors i dont need my tank looking like an easter basket.

 

[Anonymous]

I went challenge but appearance is up there with my choice..being able to keep hardies suggests, to me at least, you have what it takes to semi-master the hobby, well at least feel you can keep a sucessful reef...when most people outside the hobby think coral they think hard branchy stuff.. you show someone not familar a bunch of softies and polyps they think "oh wow, what pretty plants" coral reefs are synonamous with branching hard SPS corals JMO

 

[wade1]

Its a shame that all the colorful softies are still in the 'barely keepable' category... unless of course someone devises a way of feeding particulate and phyto on a regular basis without completely making a mess of the tank.

The colors within softies are nothing compared to sps when well grown...

Wade

 

[CiXeL]

well i was thinking of a system of drip feeding phyto by using air line tubing glued to the rock at the base of the softie. i might raise some phyto and try it sometime. still the softies ive seen look much more colorful and vibrant (which is most important to me) than acros. the kind of colors im looking for are DAYGLO colors. i want dayglo orange or dayglo green or whatever. i have those two with my montipora caps. im looking for colors so bright they peal the skin off your eyes none of this pastel crap.

 

[wade1]

The problem is that in order to raise phyto you use fertilizer... and that fertilizer can wind up in your tank. Its a huge risk and not worth it. It would be better to load up a feeding system nightly, let it drip for a few hours then refill again later... that way you could segregate the leftover media and phyto.

But, most of those corals require larger prey items like rotifers, pods, etc. As we as organic debris.

Its very hard to make it work... look at the Shedd aquarium.

Wade

 

[Anonymous]

Fertilizer?

hey, wade ... what about this: when i was breeding FW fish i used to make "green water" for the newly hatched fry. All I did was get a mason jar, fill it with RO water, go rip up a handful of grass and put the thing in the sun for a day. in 24 hours you have a very nice green water culture rolling, cheap and easy way to feed baby macrogeophagus ramirezii. would that work for SW tanks? the only thing i would worry about is that it wasn't as "dense" as some cultures. you'd be adding a lot of fresh water to the system during feeding times. for some it may not matter, but i keep only nanos ...

 

[Anonymous]

if theres green water there's definitely nutrients.

But I have considered the drip idea also, think it might work.

 

[Anonymous]

Hey, if anybody thinks sps looks like dead sticks I suggest that they have never seen a decent reef aquaria. I like a mixed reef miyself.