- Today on the Five Minute Salt Water Aquarium Guy,
we answer what kind of coral
are the best for a new tank or reefer?
(upbeat music)
Hey, I'm Ryan, your host of BRStv,
the goal of the five minute guide
is providing a solid recipe and technique
that produces reproducible, high percentage
paths to successful reef tanks you can be proud of.
Today we're talking best salt water corals
for a new tank owner.
Today I'm going to give some very direct guidance
and the goal here, just being an awesome,
easy to manage tank.
The goals with that first tank in that first year
are a bit different then the goals for future tanks
or future years.
In the first couple years I believe
the only goal is realizing the dream
and a taste of success.
Ned Spiritum suggests corals that don't cost a fortune,
easy to find, colorful, grow fast,
don't require special care
or lots of additives, hardy, and tolerant
or even supportive of new reefer mistakes,
but more then anything,
at the one year mark produces a little piece
of the oceans reef in your home.
These are the ten corals I'd personally suggest
to any new reefer starting with Zoanthids.
These are small polyps that come in all kinds of colors,
in fact even what I call collectable colors
that grow fast, tolerate a wide range of light
and water quality.
Because they grow so fast they are often best
put in islands or in the sand where they can be controlled.
The next is Sinularia Leather
or soft coral which comes in stunny fluorescent colors,
grows rapidly, easily controlled and pruned.
They're also a type of coral that sways in the water
and gives it sense of movement to a natural reef.
Similar as a third coral,
with that weeping willow type of Toadstool coral,
really many of the corals label the softies or leathers
are good choices for new reefers.
Not only are they hardy
and tolerant of less then perfect conditions
but the fast growth rate actually soaks up
unwanted nutrients common with new tanks
from over feeding in less then ideal filtration
or maintenance.
That leads us in to number four,
which can be one of the fastest growing corals in the tanks,
Xenia reefers particular like the pulsing forms of Xenia,
which close and open up on their own,
really anything that provides movement
in the tank is cool in a fresh reef tank.
This coral grows so fast
and again it's best its put on a island
or somewhere it can be easily controlled
'cause it can get out of hand.
Number five is Green Star Polyps
these grow in sheets almost like grass
and almost anything from the bottom of the tank,
to the back rock,
again a sense of movement and neon green coloration.
There is a theme here though with these fast growing corals,
try and isolate them in areas so they can be controlled.
Next and number six is my personal favorite
with Euphyllia Corals like Frogspawn, Torches,
and Hammer Corals, all these have large colorful polyps
with fluorescent colored tips.
These corals can be put almost anywhere in the tank.
Tolerant of new tanks and grow
but do not grow as quickly and easily controlled.
I don't think any new tank would be complete
without some type of Euphyllia.
Number seven and very similar to that,
is Bubble Coral, again large colorful polyps that sway,
grow reasonably fast and easily controlled.
Bubble Corals are absolutely a favorite
of new reefers as well.
Next up is Duncans,
these are beautiful large polyp corals,
that do really well in all kinds of environments
and very forgiving.
They do branch off and grow
but not in a manner which is hard to control.
This is one of those corals
where almost every stage of reefer loves.
Similar to that is number nine,
branching Candy Cane Corals,
often they come in forms with large neon green polyps.
There many color variations and branch off
and easy to control and limited care requirements.
Number 10 and probably the easiest to care for coral
out there is Mushroom Corals.
Really inexpensive in most cases
and comes in a variety of colors.
My only caution with these is they can grow
to what I call plague proportions.
They grow rapidly, can take over a tank if left unchecked,
but also one of the lowest cost ways
to fill a tank with coral.
All 10 of these corals are some of the most affordable,
easy to care for, don't have advance needs,
their faster growth rates actually
soak up common beginner mistakes,
like over feeding and can produce an epic first tank.
For many, I might consider this
a beginners reef tank shopping list.
At this point the five minute salt water aquarium series
is going to transition from phase one,
which is the what's of reefing,
and just getting that basic understanding
of what you're about to attempt to do.
In the next episode we move onto phase two
and the house of reefing.
I mean lets apply this to a real reef tank
and cover the actual steps of getting this going.
Something you can do step by step with us.
Okay so the next obvious evolution
is moving on to phase two of this series
and taking all of what we've learned
in the first eight episodes
and applying it to a real reef tank
and showing the actual how's.
The entire salt aquarium guide is always available
here in this playlist for binge watching,
but if you want to see the beginning
of how this all comes together,
the next episode is putting rock and sand
in our selected tanks, we'll see you there.