by Saltwater Smarts | Feb 18, 2017 | Opinion, Tanks
E. ancora and close relatives can reach massive proportions in home aquaria Question Hi guys! My husband and I really enjoy your site and the commonsense advice you always give. My question for you is about the feasibility of adding an LPS coral to an established 60-gallon soft-coral tank. We’ve been keeping soft corals successfully for a long time, and now we’d like to give stony corals a try. We’re leaning toward an anchor coral because a friend of ours (who’s moving out of town and has to break down his tank) has a really nice specimen that he’s willing to give us. Most of the space in the tank is taken up by established colonies, but there is still one rock ledge available that we think should offer adequate room and good conditions for the new coral. The light (T5s) and current should be good in this location, and we’re pretty conscientious about water quality, always keeping nitrates very low by Saltwater Smarts | Dec 17, 2015 | Corals, Fish, Reef, Science, Tanks, Technology
There are a number of beginner-friendly LPS coral speciesThroughout my years as an aquarium enthusiast, I have followed all the advice from all the books I could get my hands on since there were no other hobbyists with the same interest as I in my circle of friends growing up. My aquatic progression took the following path: 5-gallon slate & stainless-steel-framed fancy guppy tank from my grandfather Goldfish won at the carnival Betta bowl 10-gallon freshwater tropical tank 29-gallon cichlid-specific tanks (bred angelfish and convicts) Brackish-water tank 55-gallon saltwater FOWLR tank Saltwater FOWLR carnivorous tank Saltwater soft corals & anemones Saltwater large-polyp stony corals (LPS) Saltwater small-polyp stony corals (SPS) The reason I went through all these stages was the lack of technology and information that exist today. I could not keep any corals well at all back in the 1980s because the efficiency of the power protein skimmer did not exist (still used wooden airstones), the lighting was still just T12 fluorescents, and the filtration was not very good at exporting nutrients (canister filters, undergravel filters, wet/dry trickle filters). If you did not do regular water changes, chances are the livestock would all eventually die. The carnivorous fish were the easiest to keep while the omnivores tended to die out due to malnutrition because the foods available at the time didn’t provide adequate nutrition.My 90-gallon LPS system These days, with the help of current technologies, you can more or less jump straight to any stage without the experience of prior stages. Thanks to the vast experiential knowledge base accumulated by hobbyists around the world these last few decades, we now have references and starting points good enough to help just about anyone succeed with the correct coaching. The key is to do your research and consider the source of information from the standpoints of relevance and accuracy. Therefore, in this article, I’m going to jump right to the large-polyp stony corals by Saltwater Smarts | Nov 6, 2015 | Corals, Reef, Science
Symphyllia spp. coralSymphyllia are some of the most colorful large-polyp stony corals out there. Their bodies resemble Lobophyllia in many ways, but unlike lobos, they have a much more diverse color arrangement. I’ve seen them come in just about every color imaginable, and it is very common for them to have large bands of colors. Unfortunately, I don’t do very well with Symphyllia. As colorful and amazing as these corals are, they’re a no-go for me until I learn more about why they might be struggling in my system.
