How to coral scape a tank?

[Hondo]

Hi Everyone,

I was wondering if there are any good articles or links on how to coral scape a tank.

I'm not artistic nor the most knowledgeable on the placement of corals in a reef tank.

I understand every coral has different lighting and/or flow needs.

I just want to be able to have my 10g nano tank look as beautiful as many of the members' tanks, so I'm hoping for tips, tricks, advice, etc.

Sam

 

[HiFidelity]

Hi Sam, that is a very broad question, there is no true guide other than SPS up high, LPS in the middle and softies at the bottom, but I assure you that each and every one of us breaks that "rule" since corals just grow where they like to grow best.

It is good practice to always get the details when you attain the coral, if you're purchasing then the LFS should be able to tell you about that coral's light & flow preference (flow is another determining variable here).

If you get a coral from a friend's tank or DBTC, you will certainly almost always get a brief outline of where they kept the coral in their tank.

So I guess I'm just recommending you take this as a per acquisition basis. On a 10G nano depending on your light you should be able to put a coral anywhere you like since the water is so shallow and you don't have to worry much about depth, what I described above is sort of applicable to tanks in general.

I hope that was helpful,
Cheers.

 

[FeliciaLynn]

^+1 to the above.

Another consideration is fighting between corals. You have to keep in mind that some corals are aggressive stingers and may have sweeper tentacles that extend quite far. There are lots of corals that you can group and have grow into one another, like zoanthids and mushrooms, but then you'll want to be more careful with more of the LPS corals.