Need help with corals!!!?

Question

I just went in for a job interview at a local fish store and was told that in order to work there, I would need to know more about corals. Now, I need to know the basic types of corals, and few facts and tips about each one. If you can give me a link or somthing, anything, it would be so helpful. I need to know water temps, conditions, nitrate levels, all that stuff. What kind of equitment is needed to keep them alive and thriving, all that stuff.
NEED IN DEPTH ANSWERS!

Answer 1

OK, this is pretty indepth (though I've tried to not put in too much useless detail), you still need to try and learn more about particular corals. It is not easy to know all the types.

Go to this address and look at the different corals for sale, it should give you a grounding:
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/General.cfm?N=2004&gid=388

Here goes:
Basically there are two types of corals:
Hard (stony) and Soft
Hard are harder to keep than soft corals.
Hard corals have hard skeleton (corallum) and don't move much.
Soft corals tend to "move" as in grow bigger and smaller and wave around. They also don't have a hard skeleton.

All corals feed through polyps. Which mainly look like either little flowers or bumps. They go in and out depending on various conditions and the coral itself.

Coral can be fed by plankton or commercial "coral food". This should be done spariningly and to guidelines. A lot of people say it is good to "target feed" which basically means using a dropper to put some food near the coral. This makes less waste than "blanket feeding". Corals also "eat" algae (more on that below).

Lighting is very important for a lot of corals (apart from a few that can survive in low light, mushrooms for one).

Lighting lets the corals grow algae on the top which they use for food. This algae is called: zooxanthellae (they are photosynthetic).

The best lighting for corals is Metal Halide lights, which cost more and get hotter, but give you are really nice look (sort of all shimmery) and are bright enough to grow zooxanthellae. You can grow zooxanthellae with T5 bulbs if your water is less deep than, say 26" but it is more difficult to get the high lighting needs of some corals.

Temperature
A chiller may be nessary for corals, because the tempreature must be kept between 74-82F (24-28C). Ideally I'd say 78F (26C) is best.

This is really true. If you have a slightly overheated tank and you drop the temp to the correct setting, your corals come alive (I experienced this myself).

Salinity 35ppt (this depends on tempreaturem, specific gravity would be around 1.020-1.021 at 78F (26C)

FILTERING:
Live Rock:
This is a GREAT benifit to a coral tank. Some nano tanks use this as a sole method to filter the water. Basically, the good bacteria grow in live rock and make the system much more stable.

You should not just pile up the live rock, it should have as much space around it as possible (caves etc.) this allow the free flow of water around the rock, allowing more water into the "microtunnels" where the bacteria live.

Livesand (good if you have an undergravel filter.

Sumps:
A lot of people say you really need a sump for reefs. Not 100% so, it just makes it easier as you have more water, more filtration (maybe) and you can hide everything inside. That said, I really wish I had a sump. :)

Protein Skimmers.
Dissolved organics are many in reefs and you MUST have a protein skimmer...well you should have them for any marine tank really. (taller is better)

UV Filters: Good for controlling diseases in fish. Can kill some benificial bacteria though.

Canisters:
Good, but having a sump is better.

Tanktop filters:
I have a good one from AA, I like this because is shoots the water out pretty fast and lets me make turbulance in the water. They are also easier to clean than canisters. They take up space for lights though, so I still say a sump is best.



Calcium and other additives:
I have read the only true additives you need for coral tanks are calcium and iodine. The rest (strotium, magnesium etc.) are dangerous if you put too much in and are better handled by regular water chages.

Calcium is what is needed by corals to grow, and is quickly used up in a coral tank. You'll need to keep the calcium at a level of 375-475 mg/L.

Some people add LIMEWATER to a reef tank, which is basically calcium oxide (one rounded teaspoon per gallon makes limewater. Lime water is then added to the water SLOWLY (some people use automated systems for this). I personally just add a commercial calcium mix to the water because I am lazy and I only keep simple softcorals.

Fish that can live with corals:
"Reefsafe" fish are the only ones.

NOT butterfly fish, triggers, puffers.

Yes: Clowns
Damsels
Dottybacks
Gobies
Most shrimps
Cardinals
Fairy Basslets
Vegeterian Fish (tangs etc. to keep algae down, which can grow crazy in the high nutrient levels found in reef tanks).
Brittlestars
Anenomes (be careful with some of these, some catch fish).
Lionfish (of course be careful with small fish)
Hawkfish (my favourite)
Dragonets

Water Movement:
It is very important to keep the water moving in a reef tank. Some corals require a water surge to flush debris from their surfaces. Some however need less movement. A lot of people use wavemakers to create a wave effect. This is good for coral.

Water Quality Parameters:
Temperature: 74-82F (23-28C)
Salinity 34-36ppt
PH: 8.15-8.6 (8.2-8.6 optimum)
Alkalinity - 25.0-5.0meq/L (6-5 dKH)
Ammonia (NH3) ZERO
Nitrite (NO2) ZERO
Nitrate (NO3) <20mg/L (as nitrate ion)
Nitrate (NO3) <4.88mg/L (as nitrate-nitrogen)
Phosphate (PO3/4) <0.05mg/L
Calcium (Ca2) 375-475 mg/L
Dissolved Oxygen (02) >6.90mg/l (water movement a must)

Checklist:
Lighting System
Filtration Systems
Reverse Osmosis unit (maybe, not 100 nessary if you make up a bunch of seawater and let it sit - like in a CLEAN garbage bin...with a lid so dust can't get in).
Powerheads (someone setting up a reef will need some for various situations, even to make a wave maker with one of those spinning things.
Wavemakers (there are various brands and methods)
Tempreature control systems (heater and/or chiller - depending on where you live)
Water Testing Kits
Chemical treatments to maintain water quality.
Decor
LIVE ROCKS (maybe live sand).

DONE I think that is all I have to say. Good luck!

Answer 2

Wow! That's a whole lot to learn! The easy part is that the temps (75-80o), nitrates (as low as possible), pH (8.1 - 8.4), and general conditions (as perfect of water quality as possible) are the same for all that are usually available in stores. There are a few basic classifications (large polyp stony, small polyp stony, soft corals, and mushrooms (corallomorphallians). Each has preferences as far as lighting (low to extremely bright), water current (slow to fast), position in the tank (related to lighting & current), aggressiveness (some sting or use "chemical warfare" against their neighbors), feeding, etc. I don't know of any website that will give you all that detailed info in one place! Best place to find this is a book: http://www.amazon.com/Corals-Quick-Reference-Guide-Oceanographic/dp/1883693098

As far as equipment, you should look up info on protein skimmers, compact fluorescents, and metal halide lighting systems.

Here are a few websites that you can look at to get you started on saltwater aquarium and coral basics:

http://www.fishlore.com/SaltwaterBeginners.htm
http://www.marinedepotlive.com/corals.html
http://www.liveaquaria.com/
http://www.peteducation.com/index.cfm?cls=16
http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/displayArticle.web?Filename=RLighting.html

Realistically, there's no way you can learn all this info in a week! What you CAN do is learn the very basics and express your willingness to learn more.

Answer 3

Corals are gastrovascular marine cnidarians (phylum Cnidaria) and exist as small sea anemone-like polyps, typically in colonies of many individuals. The group includes the important reef builders known as hermatypic corals, found in tropical oceans, and belonging to the subclass Zoantharia of order Scleractinia. The latter are also known as stony corals since the living tissue thinly covers a skeleton composed of calcium carbonate. A coral "head" is formed of thousands of individual polyps, each polyp only a few millimeters in diameter. The colony of polyps function as a single organism by sharing nutrients via a well-developed gastrovascular network. Genetically, the polyps are clones, each having exactly the same genome. Each polyp generation grows on the skeletal remains of previous generations, forming a structure that has a shape characteristic of the species, but also subject to environmental influences.

Although sea anemones can catch fish and other prey items and corals can catch plankton, these animals obtain much of their nutrients from symbiotic unicellular dinoflagellates (type of photosynthetic algae) called zooxanthellae. Consequently, most corals are dependent upon sunlight and for that reason are usually found not far beneath the surface, although in clear waters corals can grow at depths of up to 60 m (200 ft). Other corals, notably the cold-water genus Lophelia, do not have associated algae, and can live in much deeper water, with recent finds as deep as 3000 m.[1] Corals breed by spawning, with many corals of the same species in a region releasing gametes simultaneously over a period of one to several nights around a full moon.

Corals are major contributors to the physical structure of coral reefs that develop only in tropical and subtropical waters. Some corals exist in cold waters, such as off the coast of Norway (north to at least 69° 14.24' N) and the Darwin Mounds off western Scotland. The most extensive development of extant coral reef is the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Queensland, Australia. Indonesia is home to 581 of the world's 793 known coral reef-building coral species.


There are several other types of corals, notably the octocorals (subclass Octocorallia) and corals classified in other orders of subclass Zoantharia: to wit, the black corals (order Antipatharia), ivory coral and the soft corals (order Zoanthinaria). Extinct corals include rugose corals and tabulate coral. These two groups went extinct at the end of the Paleozoic. Most other anthozoans would be treated under the common name of "sea anemone".

Answer 4

no offense but you cant possibly learn enough in a few days to keep corals alive. my best advice is to dig up martin moes book Marine Systems and Invertabrates, and read it twice
then check out everything Julian Sprung ever wrote, reef notes 1 through 10 or so,
or, just grab a ten gallon tank and some salt, some reef lights and have at it, i learned through trial and error

Answer 5

Aside from *google,* I went to Barnes & Noble's and read magazines in a comfy chair there to learn about reef tanks. I also went around to different pet stores and asked the people working there. Research can be a fun adventure if you give it a chance - not all of it has to be done online.

Answer 6

If you don't know this already then you shouldn't take the job. People will go in the store and ask you questions that you will not know the answers to. They could have hundreds of dollars tied up in their aquarium and lose it all if you give them bad advice. The store will also lose customers if that happens.