Easy, low light, low flow soft coral questions

[Levinson]

Greetings,
I'm thinking of adding my first ever coral to my 29 gallon tank in the future. The current residents of the tanks are many pods, some tiny worms, two sexy shrimps (the largest residents of the tank at the moment), and some other tiny critters you can bearly see.

I've read the following soft corals were being recommended often for the beginners.
- zoanthids
- mushrooms
- star polyps
- duncun
- leathers

Some noob/dumb questions if I may.
1. Which one would you say are the easiest to keep in low flow, low light environment?
I'm hoping to find a cheap, small, hardy, easy soft coral that I could just put it into the tank and care for the least in low light, low flow environment. Is there such a thing?

2. Are zoanthids the same as buttons? Where I live, it seems the word 'zoanthids' or 'zoas' doesn't seem to be used at the LFS but many did have buttons. Since I can't tell them apart, I wasn't sure if this was because they don't have any zoanthids here (which I doubt) or due to the difference in the language and they are called something else here or if they fall under the same category.

3. There was a thing I heard about zoanthids being dangerous due to it being toxic, is that something to be wary of?

4. Would any of them be ok directly under the light in low flow environment?

5. Do the soft corals have any calcium, magnesium or trace element uptake that should be cared for?

 

[ScubaFish802]

Sounds like you have a good starting list! I would caution that some of these "easy" corals can also be too easy as in they can spread rapidly and overtake areas (star polyps for example). You can keep them isolated or trim them back though as well.

I am unsure on Buttons, but hopefully someone here is..

As for Palytoxins or danger, as long as you are taking the proper precautions (don't cut them without eye/face protection etc, don't boil or heat up rocks, don't rub in open wounds and so on) then you should have very minimal risk.

A lot of the corals you listed will be fine in low light as well.

I would look at the ones you've listed and pick one that you like the most, and then research all about that one and start from there

 

[The guppy guru]

Sounds like you have a good starting list! I would caution that some of these "easy" corals can also be too easy as in they can spread rapidly and overtake areas (star polyps for example). You can keep them isolated or trim them back though as well.

I am unsure on Buttons, but hopefully someone here is..

As for Palytoxins or danger, as long as you are taking the proper precautions (don't cut them without eye/face protection etc, don't boil or heat up rocks, don't rub in open wounds and so on) then you should have very minimal risk.

A lot of the corals you listed will be fine in low light as well.

I would look at the ones you've listed and pick one that you like the most, and then research all about that one and start from there

Yeah I would take your advice if I was a new Reefer, But I personally have never had issues with green star polyps, I got them because I heard they were Invasive but they have barley grown in my system. I must be doing something wrong I have them at the bottom of my tank and they get plenty of flow light, and they are healthy. They open they respond to touch, and they also have wonderful coloring and long polyps. I have a hammer coral near it and it is doing perfectly fine. I must be doing something wrong but meh. I got bored of GSP quickly, and fell in love with Zoanthids, Zoanthids are very good beginner corals they aren't all expensive. They come in all the colors shapes and sizes on the planet. They are beautiful under blue light and are low flow and low light ( mostly ) some larger polyp Zoanthids and Palythoas require a bit more light but nothing fancy. And yes zoanthids are Toxic but you just have to treat the well wash your hands when handling them, and cover your face when you frag them. So all the corals you listed are easy keepers and very beautiful, Duncans grow rather slowly but they look so good, I recently got a duncan coral. Leathers are slow growers but they get big and are nearly unkillable. They are very hardy. You should just go with what catches your eye all of these are good I have kept most of them, I have never had leather corals because they just seem so boring and I just didn't like them, But they are great for getting started, they will handle all the classic noob mistakes and will thrive in most environments. I hope you found this useful have a good day and remember, Happy Reefing.

 

[The guppy guru]

Greetings,
I'm thinking of adding my first ever coral to my 29 gallon tank in the future. The current residents of the tanks are many pods, some tiny worms, two sexy shrimps (the largest residents of the tank at the moment), and some other tiny critters you can bearly see.

I've read the following soft corals were being recommended often for the beginners.
- zoanthids
- mushrooms
- star polyps
- duncun
- leathers

Some noob/dumb questions if I may.
1. Which one would you say are the easiest to keep in low flow, low light environment?
I'm hoping to find a cheap, small, hardy, easy soft coral that I could just put it into the tank and care for the least in low light, low flow environment. Is there such a thing?

2. Are zoanthids the same as buttons? Where I live, it seems the word 'zoanthids' or 'zoas' doesn't seem to be used at the LFS but many did have buttons. Since I can't tell them apart, I wasn't sure if this was because they don't have any zoanthids here (which I doubt) or due to the difference in the language and they are called something else here or if they fall under the same category.

3. There was a thing I heard about zoanthids being dangerous due to it being toxic, is that something to be wary of?

4. Would any of them be ok directly under the light in low flow environment?

5. Do the soft corals have any calcium, magnesium or trace element uptake that should be cared for?

If you are planning on getting fish then you should be careful with what corals you have. If you get angels then you should not get very feshy corals but other wise I hope me and scuba fish were good help.

 

[Levinson]

Thank you guppy guru and scuba fish.
So it seems that many say there isn't a coral from the list that is particularly easier than another.
Being a noob with near-empty tank, I'm not too worried about any of them spreading too fast at this stage. Also I don't plan on adding any fish.
I've also added pulsing xenia (I hear they are hardier than pom pom xenias) to the candidate list. I hear they can also uptake some nutrients from the water which sounds like a bonus but then I also hear of stories where they just died with no apparent reason and nuked the tank.
I'm leaning more towards mushrooms for now but I'll take things slow and try to learn more before getting one.

 

[The guppy guru]

Thank you guppy guru and scuba fish.
So it seems that many say there isn't a coral from the list that is particularly easier than another.
Being a noob with near-empty tank, I'm not too worried about any of them spreading too fast at this stage. Also I don't plan on adding any fish.
I've also added pulsing xenia (I hear they are hardier than pom pom xenias) to the candidate list. I hear they can also uptake some nutrients from the water which sounds like a bonus but then I also hear of stories where they just died with no apparent reason and nuked the tank.
I'm leaning more towards mushrooms for now but I'll take things slow and try to learn more before getting one.

Mushrooms are a good investment, an example would be bounce mushrooms. They are expensive but they are hardy easy to propagate and they give back a lot eventually. Three or four propagation times and then you will get back what you payed for.

 

[Pico bam]

I would recommend
1. gsp
2. xenia
3. Leather corals! So many different kinds. Kenya trees , toadstools, many classics and variants.
4. Mushrooms, so many kinds.
5. Zoas/palys, I believe I've heard of them being called buttons.
6. Frogspawn is an easy one

1 make sure you use reef salt! Not regular salt for a fish only set up. Almost killed my whole aquarium on accident once. I use instant ocean, did a big water change with purple bag and nuked the tank.
2 temp at 78 degrees.
3 You can always add more flow and light.
4. 8-10 hours of light (put the lights on a timer)
5 only use ro/di water anything else wont work!
6 salinity 1.033-1.035 (refractometer is a must)


And just out of curiosity what is your setup currently? What lights and filtration do you have?

Thanks, there a many cool coral I hope this becomes a hobby for you

 

[Pico bam]

I would recommend
1. gsp
2. xenia
3. Leather corals! So many different kinds. Kenya trees , toadstools, many classics and variants.
4. Mushrooms, so many kinds.
5. Zoas/palys, I believe I've heard of them being called buttons.
6. Frogspawn is an easy one

1 make sure you use reef salt! Not regular salt for a fish only set up. Almost killed my whole aquarium on accident once. I use instant ocean, did a big water change with purple bag and nuked the tank.
2 temp at 78 degrees.
3 You can always add more flow and light.
4. 8-10 hours of light (put the lights on a timer)
5 only use ro/di water anything else wont work!
6 salinity 1.033-1.035 (refractometer is a must)


And just out of curiosity what is your setup currently? What lights and filtration do you have?

Thanks, there a many cool coral I hope this becomes a hobby for you

1.023-1.025 rather for salinity

 

[45ZoaGarden]

Button polyps are different from regular zoas! There are Palythoa grandis, palythoa, zoas, and button polyps. Buttons tend to become weeds and are quite ugly imo. The grandis tend to have higher concentrations of palytoxin and I personally stay away from them. You don’t have to worry about palytoxin unless you’re fragging or boiling the rock covered with them. Don’t be afraid of zoas, they’re very rewarding!
zoas can be in either extremely high or lower lighting. Mine tend to be pretty happy around the 150-250 par range and have some pretty happy in the 350+part of my tank next to some sps. For easiest corals, id definitely say gsp and xenia hands down. Leathers are also very easy but I’d keep some carbon in the tank if you ever frag them.
Despite what some people say, zoas CAN be difficult. There are lots of pests and diseases that bother zoas. They are rather temperamental and don’t like being bothered by algae etc. They tend to like a decent amount of flow to keep them clean.

Duncan corals are stony and require dosing!

Mushrooms are easy.

As for lighting, all of these corals should do good in low to medium light. Most zoas will do fine in high light if acclimated properly. If you buy a named designer zoa, there is tons of info about placement etc that that certain zoa does well in.

 

[Levinson]

And just out of curiosity what is your setup currently? What lights and filtration do you

about 100 liters
Salinity 1.025, ammonia 0, trite 0, trate 20, pH 8, alk about 10
Side filter compartment with filter sock (filter floss on top)
Diy river style ATS on top of the tank
Also got a QQ2 skimmer but haven't put it in yet.
about 6kg of rock.
Aqua knight v2 light
1300 liter per hour return
Smart Ato lite
Loads of pods, some other micro guys, 7 sexy shrimps

I don't have a up to date photo with me right now and the photo below is before I added more rock, light and live stock.

 

[Levinson]

Button polyps are different from regular zoas! There are Palythoa grandis, palythoa, zoas, and button polyps. Buttons tend to become weeds and are quite ugly imo. The grandis tend to have higher concentrations of palytoxin and I personally stay away from them. You don’t have to worry about palytoxin unless you’re fragging or boiling the rock covered with them. Don’t be afraid of zoas, they’re very rewarding!
zoas can be in either extremely high or lower lighting. Mine tend to be pretty happy around the 150-250 par range and have some pretty happy in the 350+part of my tank next to some sps. For easiest corals, id definitely say gsp and xenia hands down. Leathers are also very easy but I’d keep some carbon in the tank if you ever frag them.
Despite what some people say, zoas CAN be difficult. There are lots of pests and diseases that bother zoas. They are rather temperamental and don’t like being bothered by algae etc. They tend to like a decent amount of flow to keep them clean.

Duncan corals are stony and require dosing!

Mushrooms are easy.

As for lighting, all of these corals should do good in low to medium light. Most zoas will do fine in high light if acclimated properly. If you buy a named designer zoa, there is tons of info about placement etc that that certain zoa does well in.

Thank you for the info, that was very informative!

 

[Pico bam]

Wow that's a pretty sweet setup.

 

[45ZoaGarden]

No problem! What kind of light do you plan on using?
Edit- Nevermind I see it now!
You might want to get a phosphate test kit as well. High phosphates and low phosphates tend to cause soft corals to lose colors. Phosphate is another form of waste in the tank but should be under control with your scrubber.

Thank you for the info, that was very informative!

 

[40g Nano]

BTW, i hit my palys with a toothbrush and it wiped out all my fish in hours

 

[Levinson]

BTW, i hit my palys with a toothbrush and it wiped out all my fish in hours

How did that happen? Was it some chemical that was on the toothbrush? Did you hit it super hard?

 

[40g Nano]

I was brushing around them on a rock and i must have hit them

 

[40g Nano]

But my tank is still dominated by them lol

 

[92Miata]

I'd start with Zoas and Mushrooms. Both are easy to keep.


As to "buttons" - button polyps is one of the useless trade names for what are referred to in the hobby as Palys- the vast majority of which aren't actually Palythoa, but are actually Zoanthoa.

One of the recurring problems you'll find in this hobby is many of the names/species for thing have been banging around since the 60s and 70s since marine hobbiests started trying to ID things they found on live rock - and are flat out wrong. And there's decades of marine hobby literature that does nothing but make things more confusing.


Palythoa can be very nasty - but they're generally big, brown/green, and very ugly. They're relatively rare in the hobby. There are some Zoanthoa species that have palytoxin - but they're generally brown/green in color and ugly. The vast majority of pretty zoanthids are harmless.

IE, be careful, but don't be afraid of the things. The vast majority of 'palytoxin injury' stories you see on here don't match the symptoms described for palytoxin - and match the symptoms for vibrio, or other general marine zoonotic diseases.

 

[The guppy guru]

I have had issues keeping my zoa garden in check, and I have a coral beauty and it has nearly made me have a heart attack because it pecks at the garden and it scares me.

 

[45ZoaGarden]

I was brushing around them on a rock and i must have hit them

I have had issues keeping my zoa garden in check, and I have a coral beauty and it has nearly made me have a heart attack because it pecks at the garden and it scares me.

Unless it was palythoa grandis, I highly doubt the zoas killed your fish. I frag zoas in my dt and never see any I’ll effects of my fish. I’ve even ripped unwanted zoas off rocks around my sps with tweezers and never seen any ill effect on my fish. And no, don’t worry about your coral beauty nipping at your zoas. It’s completely normal for them to pick at corals and zoas in general. It will do no harm to the fish. Some fish and inverts are known for eating zoas with no harm done. Zoas aren’t something to fear, you just have to wear eye and hand protection while cutting them up out of water. As previously stated, palythoa grandis are fairly large, ugly, and uncommon in this hobby. Most people don’t have them. That species is the only zoa to truly worry about while messing with it in the tank.