The easiest and hardest coral to thrive in YOUR saltwater reef aquarium is...

When it comes to corals in my aquarium..

  • I have trouble with certain corals

    Votes: 406 72.5%
  • I have trouble growing any coral at all

    Votes: 47 8.4%
  • I can grow any coral no matter what

    Votes: 59 10.5%
  • I haven't tried any coral yet

    Votes: 40 7.1%
  • Other (please explain)

    Votes: 8 1.4%

  • Total voters
    560

Scott B.

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I feel lucky. I purchased an existing 120g mixed reef 2 months ago. Everything that came with it is thriving much better now, then when it was overgrown with algae and aptasia. Big rehab project. And any corals that i have put in have done well. Torches, hammers, elegance, rodactis, scolys. Tank came with large leathers, many different Zoas, Palys, mushrooms, BTA's, brains. Only thing I am having a problem with right now is my Kenya tree :(
 

Luciferene

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Both of what you have problems like nutrients and phosphates in water.. I’ve had xenia grow in a nano that never got much of water changes it was disgusting but they loved it... mixed reefs are harder anyday than a sps
Haha nutrients isn't an issue, the system has high nutrients. It was more of a joke at the commonly spoken acro >>>> softies.

I have my suspicion why xenia don't spread but I've been intentionally trying to keep it from spreading. So no effort in fixing that for me :p

The mushroom really baffles me though, it just gets bigger and bigger but never spreads lol.
 

rbuttigl

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I haven't added corals yet so I'm very new to reef tanks. I've got 24gal AIO but concerned about some like GSP or pulsing Xenia may overgrow. Is there a resource out there to show all the options ideal for a nano reef? Pictures here really help, otherwise it's a google search to see what each looks like.
 

paul barker

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mix reef some luck with sps LPS happy softy good candy can or horn coral no can't keep them happy after 3 times I give them up
 

paul barker

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not too bad for a 29 gallon the 180 will be here in 6 weeks
 

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Roosterjack

Struttin’ and Cluckin’
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SPS: I can grow Acropora (not tried any super finicky variants) but not Birdsnest.

LPS: I have super success with most any, but torches don't thrive for me. I have pretty much given up on them as they are costly.
 

kartrsu

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Hmm. I wondered if it was just me.

My experiences with Euphilia so far:
First bright green torch with light purple tips: settled in immediately, went crazy, sill seems to love life.
Darker purple torch: got into the tank, I woke up the next day and it had melted and was completely gone.
Frogspawn: seems to be loving life.
Octo: made it about 3 days, didn't like something that I couldn't figure out, and died.

So for me they either immediately hit the ground running, and thrive, or come in and immediately kick the bucket.

I've put a moratorium on more corals for a bit (though I may break that and get a couple more GSP variants for my back wall), until I feel I've been stable for a long while.

--Gray
My euphyllia streak is 10/16 alive. I had 3 losses from bacterial issues, 1 from bleaching, 1 because frag cut too close to tissue when I received it, and 1 from spontaneous death.

Still love euphyllia, but I take extra care of them. Iodine dip at first signs of issues, avoid parameter swings, buy quality frags with good tissue coverage. Helped me mitigate losses. Good luck!
 

Marlyreef

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My alveopora does well. Tried goniopora and that was a big mistake. New frag, dead in three days. Other than that, my candy cane does not seem to be doing well. On the other hand, I've got a sun coral and it is doing quite well. No problems with frogspawn or acans like others have mentioned. Go figure.
 

fish farmer

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Easiest would be green striped mushrooms, palys and nepthia.

Hardest would be SPS and some zoas. I've been having success with an orange monti though and a purple monti that was almost completely gone, has been reborn.
 

Revnobody

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I have never had long-term success with birdsnests despite other SPS thriving. But I'm giving it a try again in the new system. So far it's looking healthy.

As for easy, toadstools and Kenya tree for sure.
 

Ksmmike

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Easy for me are most acros, zoas, dunkins, leptos, chalices, montis, trumpets and hammers.
Forget it are torches and elegance corals. I tried one clam and it didn't last long but I'm not sure my tank was ready for a clam at the time. It might work now. It might eventually try another clam after I find room.
 

Dallascowboys16

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It seems that these responses are all over the map. I don't understand. Is it just that some corals are more healthy when we purchase them? I have no problem with frogspawn, torch, hammer, bubble, leathers. Mushrooms, acans, elegance all start out strong but then seem to shrink to nothing and die. Haven't really tried SPS since it seems if I can't keep any kind of Acan alive an SPS (harder?) will prob not make it.

Thoughts on how we might look at this more scientifically?

Flat out, I think there is a chance that we simply do not know very much about coral biology. There is such a wide diversity of habitats on the reef that I think we often overlook the fact that there is a good chance that there are subsets of any generic grouping of coral (torches, hammers, frogspawn, zoos, etc) that are highly specialized to a certain set of conditions. For example, I have my doubts that every single frogspawn coral is optimized for the same type of habitat. There are most likely some lineages that prefer turbulent current while others require more tranquil water movement. There is also probably a light composition/ water depth element to it. If I had to bet, I would say that a lot of the color diversity we see in corals is due to them trying to optimize their surfaces for the different lighting environments they live in. There are some families that probably never come into contact with red wavelength light and they struggle when they are thrust into our tanks bombarded by exotic lighting spectrums and flow conditions.

In the end, I think that diversity even among a single species is larger than we really account for and this may contribute the varying rates of success that we see among hobbyists. Take any tank and it likely has different conditions from the next one you may examine. Those conditions are likely to be optimal for a certain group of corals (deep water euphillia vs shallow water euphillia, etc.) and will inexplicably grow some "hard" corals well and cause other "easy" species to sputter. I think that our understanding of reefs and coral biology is still in its infancy and we have quite a long way to go when it comes to understanding the mechanisms that make corals tick. Just my two cents.
 

Ramberto777

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Easiest: Zoas, Rics (Both), euphyllia

Hardest: Any FREAKING monti. Acros are fine but I have had a digi that died and currently have two encrusting and one cap that are browning and bleaching. If anyone has a trick for them lmk lol
 

Neros503

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I have duncans, hammer, leptoseris, brain worm, monti, gsp, and acros that are all doing great in my biocube 29. I'm a still relatively new to the hobby, But it seems that any coral I get does fine in my tank. maybe it's just beginners luck;)
 
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GillMeister

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Believe it or not, montis are my nemesis. Or I'm their nemesis, since I keep destroying them. All others do well in my system. All I have is SPS.
 

Jekyl

GSP is the devil and clowns are bad pets
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Easiest leather and gsp
Hardest acros
 

Calm Blue Ocean

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For the good, I can grow softies (toadstool, kenya tree, gsp, xenia, sinularia, zoa). I'm also having luck with duncans in two separate tanks, popping out new heads like crazy.

For the bad, I've got a monti cap that is struggling so hard that I don't know why I'm still trying. Covered in algae, no color, but it still likes to show polyps to keep hope alive. Every day I wonder if I should just rip it out of there, then I see those orange polyps in the sea of green and it gets to stay another day.

I was hoping that the monti might be the only failing coral but now my cyphastrea, that was growing...very...slowly, is starting to recede. I really thought I might succeed with that one.

So much for either of these being "easy".

Put in an order for a mix of corals to arrive next week. I'll be saying a prayer for them. I'm hoping I don't find out that I should really just stick with softies. At least the fish seem to like the softies so there's that!
 
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