Beginner Corals questions ...

[Ice]

Just a thought. I have been looking at different corals for beginners and I know I mentioned the Starter Coral Pak for beginners thru Drs Foster & Smith. However, how do you acclimate them to the tank ? When is it best add to the tank ? I know I'm going with live rock / live sand. How many coral species is recommended ? How do you feed the the individual polyps such as the colony polyps ? The lighting I'm going with are the Orbit PC and my powerheads will be 2 SEIO m620s.

Are these good corals to have with PC lighting ? :

Button Polyp
Colony Polyp
Yellow Colony Polyp
Clavularia Glove Polyp
Bullseye Mushroom Coral
Green Fluorescent Mushroom Coral
Hariy Mushroom Coral
Candy Cane Coral (LPS) - This I do like to get. Thoughts ?
White Bubble Coral (LPS)
Brain Coral
Brain Worm Polyp (LPS)
Fox Coral (LPS)

I know the Starter Coral Pak consists of choices of Button Polyp, Colony Polyp, Yellow Colony Polyp, Green Fluorescent Mushroom, Bullseye Mushroom, & Hairy Mushroom. Any good recommendations is appreciated.

I'll probably won't add them to the tank after it is matured. Also - what fish should I avoid having with any of the mentioned corals/polyps. I know I'd like a Coral Beauty but not sure if it will eat / pick on my corals and polyps.

[CollegeReefer]

I would say stick with just softies, mushrooms, and some Zoas. Those would give you many different corals. Different colors of mushrooms, leathers such as toadstool and finger leather, other sofites such as Anthelia, xenia, capenla (kenya tree), and then of coures all your polyps such as star polyps. Zoas give you so many more options. As for how many you can have, there really isn't any rule about how much you can have. Really the only thing that you need to watch out for is keeping agressive corals away from others, and of course watch out for warfare between two corals. Other than that make sure your corals are happy and all will be well.

[CollegeReefer]

One more thing. You should read up on each coral you are interestied in getting for each one has different needs. Also if you want to save money i would suggest finding local reefers and just get coral frags. Will save you lots of money. Some people may even just give you frags.

[Damon]

Thats what I did. And our lfs has weekly specials like 3 frags for $18.00. He always threw in extras too.

[Ice]

Give me some good book titles, websites, etc ... on corals that I can research more on.

[Fishfirst]

Acclimation of corals: Drip Acclimation

Supplies:
A bucket
some fine tubing such as aerator tubing

first place the bucket lower than the tank, put the bag of coral into the bucket and open the bag, release some of the water until the coral is nearly exposed to air. Take the tubing and place it starting at the main tank and ending in the bucket. Tie a loose knot in the airline tubing and start a syphon by sucking on the tubing. Tighten the knot until you get a slow drip about two per second. Let it drip until the bag is full.

[Ice]

Ok I think I narrowed down my coral choices abit for now. White Pom Pom Xenias, Glove Polyp Coral, (both aquacultured), either Evergreen Star Polyp (aquacultured) or Yellow Colony Polyp or Orange Spot Polyp, Candy Cane Coral, the Bullseye or the Green Fluorescent Mushroom, and maybe some Button Polyp. Not sure if I want to add the Hairy Mushrooms or not. Lighting will be Orbit PC. I'm also thinking of adding a Kenya tree coral but not sure yet. Tank size will be about 40 gallons.

[Fishfirst]

All of those above are good starter corals