While the idea of having an amazing reef tank always appears to attract a lot of attention from homeowners, the greatest challenge that you would face in your quest for that perfect aquarium is choosing the right coral pack for your fish. Being that there are so many different options to choose from, the dilemma of what to look for in a coral pack has never been greater. It is important to understand that despite the different coral packs available, the one you decide to choose will have a direct effect on the physical appeal of your reef tank. The best strategy when shopping for a coral pack is to start small with just a few pieces of coral especially if you are new to the saltwater coral species. After this, you can work your way up by adding some advanced species such as the jason fox corals or the ultron favia coral. Unless you do some due diligence and research on the different types of live coral, you might not even know what types of corals are considered beginner corals.
Hard Corals
There are two main types of corals that are hard corals and soft corals. If you are looking to buy order a coral pack, you need to know the main differences between the two types and what makes each unique. Just as the name suggest, hard corals are made from limestone also known as rigid calcium carbonate. This is what gives hard corals a stone-like appearance. Hard corals have an internal skeleton that continues to grow and remains in place after the coral dies. This type of corals hardly moves and has a very slow growth rate. It can take the coral pack years before reaching maturity and eventually dying. Another main feature about hard corals is that they are not visually attractive and the only color on them is from the algae that are commonly found on their surface. Generally, corals develop in compact colonies where an individual coral is referred to as a polyp. The structure of hard corals also known as stony corals is what makes them harder to keep compared to soft corals.
Soft Corals
Soft corals on the other hand are also made of rigid calcium carbonate but this time, it is composed of the calcium carbonate and protein making this type of corals less rigid hence the reference soft corals. Since a soft coral lacks a skeleton, it can be able to move and often appear as swaying during the water cycle inside the aquarium. Many species of the soft coral can withstand different water conditions which makes them popular among reef aquarium enthusiasts. More importantly, it is very easy to care for soft corals compared to hard corals. When you decide to buy coral online and perhaps order a coral pack, some little information about the subspecies of the soft coral would do you a lot of good. This is because with some little research, you can be able to tell how the coral will appear while in the reef aquarium. Soft corals adapt very fast to different water conditions and it should therefore not take you a lot of time during placement in a reef tank. They are also very adaptive to low-light conditions as long as you are able to attend to their nutrition needs.
