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

Twigg

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Easiest: Xenia
Hardest: Torch.

I had to break my tank down to rid myself of the Xenia’s. I love euphyllia but just can’t them to stay for too long. Had one for two years n died for no reason, others die in a day or a month lol idk.
 

Ratherbeflyen

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My easiest corals have been kenya trees and green pocillopora. Kenya trees drop branches all the time until I have a forest of them. The green pocillopora have spawned in my tank twice and I have new colonies all over the place. I counted 22 volunteer pocillopora colonies I never touched tonight. Seven in this picture alone.

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My hardest coral has been anemone's. I've lose 3 bubble tips, a seabae, and a condylactis. I've given up keeping anemones' for now.
 

tritonpower

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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
I have had success with an orange digi and 4 plating Monti colors. see the picture. The orange digi is very hardy and from what I have read can grow a little too much over time. I placed 4 colors of plating montis high up in the tank on 1 rock. That was a mistake. For one, the purple outgrows the others and may shadow all of them soon. The orange is blanching out some and I suspect it and the red may like lower light. The green is happy but cannot compete with the rapid growth of the purple. Second mistake was not accounting for shadowing. Soon these montis will shadow everything below them.

I have seen tanks with plating montis in the middle height of their rock structure with nothing below or magnetically attached to the back of the tank. In hindsight, I wish I would have done one of those.

My tank recently turned 1 years old and my corals have done much better with time.

Good luck and happy reefing.
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Auquanut

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I have 3 scolys now showing some skeleton. How long did yours last ?
Probably about 6 months. The tank was younger then, and the urchins seemed to irritate it. It struggled for quite awhile, but in the end it declined quickly. I feel like I might be more successful now, but that's a lot of money for that kind of gamble on a slow grower.
 

tritonpower

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Easiest: GSP and pulsating Xenia (removed all xenia, grew like weeds, even on the glass). Plating montis (especially purple) and orange digi. Torches, hammers (after removing peppermint shrimp which liked to eat them). Palys (brown paly is a weed!) and zoas. Birdsnest, leather, candy cane, Duncan all grow rapidly. Purple stylo is doing well.

Hardest: pink goni (my neighbor and fellow reefer brought me a plug that was dying...kept it alive after 6 months and maybe growing slightly).

Moodiest: ricordia (one day they are half dollar, the next day a dime or smaller). who knows why.

Jury is out: Acans (added 2 a couple weeks ago) and SPS (added 3 from coral euphyllia a month ago). Time will tell. Alive so far.
 

Luciferene

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Me too! I want my mushrooms to multiply and cover rocks and they just sit there -for years. I just got 2 test acros to see if I can make them happy, so far one is growing (covered a break in 1 week) and the other isn't declining, so I consider that a success. Monti's, Stylo, Birdsnest all thrive.
Sounds like a success! Join the club for forever alone mushroom and thriving acros :)
 

Tastee

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Hardest: Gonis. They go near my tank and die Easy: Just about any Euphyllia
Check your Iodine levels. From what I have read Gonis are sensitive to low iodine. Mine do well and I keep my Iodine close to the 0.06 ppm level that is standard for my salt and what I have seen recommended for Gonis.
 

ss30

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Easy: Euphyllia or at least the ones I own.
Hard: Pulsing Xenia just melts away to nothing.
 

Tastee

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Clearly everyone’s tanks vary enormously. Different salts, different lights, different flow, different approaches to dosing and IMHO most importantly different mix of colonies.

I’ve had no issues with most LPS - Hammer, Bubble, Candy Cane, Trachyphillia, Cynarina, Fungia. Torches are a little more sensitive but I have two lovely specimens doing very well in my newer tank. Gonis are also a little more tricky but I have a couple going very well, one in each tank.

I‘ve only been in the game 3 1/2 years. My first tank (65g) is going well but is Softie and LPS only. I can’t keep an SPS alive in it. I feel this is almost certainly due to the large Neon Green Sinularia that dominates the tank. The mix of softies and LPS I have in the tank with it are going great, but all SPS have failed. I also have a big Goni that loves it’s spot.

In my newer 120g tank however my Acropora are all going well. With them I have a mix of LPS - Hammer, Torch, Lordhowensis, Acan, Favia and a Goni. The LH, Acan and Favia have struggled to date but I think that was due to a lack of nutrients and stepping up feeding substantially in the past few months has delivered good improvements. By no means where I want them yet but I think they’ll get there. One thing is for sure, no Sinularia for this tank. I love it in the small tank, but that forces me into an LPS/Softie only situation. In the larger tank I want a more varied mixed reef.

The coral I’ve had least success with to date are Favia. I had a nice specimen in the small tank but it gradually was taken over by algae. I have a couple of patches of grow out still looking good but the original colony (which doubled in size in the first 6 months) is all algae now. In the new big tank the very nice specimen I put in struggled the most due to low nutrients. Hopefully I can nurse it back to health and get some growth happening.

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mkwarner77

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easiest, pallys, gsp, and blue mushroom
hardest, zoas, believe it or not. tried multiple times with multiple types, all died
 

Nick Steele

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So far for me

Easy: Trachy and Acans (both of these have stayed extremely happy even during my 4 month Dino battle). Before Dino’s my blastos were taking off.

Hard: I’ve had a few acros and sps die but I believe that is because unstable parameters as a few are handing in there and parameters are now stable.
 

725196

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What is the easiest and hardest coral to thrive in YOUR saltwater reef aquarium?

I cannot seem to keep a trachyphyllia for more than 6 months. Everything else grows like weeds...
 

-XENOMORPH-

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I will never understand the evil that is Xenia. I couldn't grow it in an established 60 g cube, IT MELTED.... but.... When I set up a little EVO 13.5,.....still alive! Kids r happy. Like I said...xenia IS.EVIL.... THAT evo is great! It's crazy.. duncan with many heads... Zoa's.... Tubes, leather, and ....the satan spawn...xenia. Hahhahahhahhaa.
 

bizzybeas

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True photosynthesizing sea fans... They last 2 years, grow a little, then suddenly die.. I have liked them since I was a little kid. :(

Here are the last 2 I had. They had great polyp extention, grew and looked great.... After successful keeping for around 2 years they both died. I was so bummed.. they are very hard to find.
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Beautiful tank!!
 

James w Lewis

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I have acros growing like weeds. I have 4 elegance corals growing like weeds. My torches however just die without any sign or anything being wrong.
 

footgal

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Easiest is definitely acros, scolys, and torches/hammers. Hardest are undoubtedly octospawn and gonis. I also consider zoas difficult, not to keep alive- thats easy, but its hard to get perfect coloration and growth rate.
 

PeterB113

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Me too!! My hammer does exceptionally well but my tank killed a torch in less than a month!
How did your torch die?? I have 2 torches and now everyones scaring me that their difficult to care for. Just got into the hobby , any warning signs of a torch not doing well i can look out for?
 

stanleo

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How did your torch die?? I have 2 torches and now everyones scaring me that their difficult to care for. Just got into the hobby , any warning signs of a torch not doing well i can look out for?
Mine retracted a lot. That is all I can remember I'm sorry I can't be more help.
 

A worm with high fashion and practical utility: Have you ever kept feather dusters in your reef aquarium?

  • I currently have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 73 37.8%
  • Not currently, but I have had feather dusters in my tank in the past.

    Votes: 66 34.2%
  • I have not had feather dusters, but I hope to in the future.

    Votes: 25 13.0%
  • I have no plans to have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 28 14.5%
  • Other.

    Votes: 1 0.5%
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