Strange claim by LFS owner

Dustin83

Dustin83

AC Members
Nov 17, 2005
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Orange County, CA
Hello everyone.

I have just gotten into SW tank after few years of FW.

After researching and researching and researching (which seems to be the most popular thing to say to newbies around here), I am in process of cycling my tank with live sand and live rock.

Anyways, let me get to the story.

Everyone on this forum seems to agree that beginners should begin with FO/FOWLR setup and move onto corals later on with more experience. I was talking to my LFS owner about this, and he made a STRANGE claim as to why corals are good for beginners.

He says: "Corals are much more sensitive to the water quality. So if you one day see your corals not 'open up' as nicely as they normally do, that is a good indicator that something is wrong with the chemical balance. But if you keep fish only, it will not be as obvious just by observing the behavior of fish."





OK... This is how I'm taking this claim so far.... This guy just wants to sell me the more expensive stuff early on, and once they die, I'll come back and buy more until I get it right.

But I got curious and wanted to ask all you experts out there. Does this claim make any sense at all? Am I not reading into something from this? OR should I find a new LFS? :dance2:
 
It's definetely true, however I don't really think it's nessisary to have corals in your tank. IMO, you've got an LFS who knows what he's talking about, but really isn't forgetting that his store is a buisness as well, wich I wouldn't blame him for.

That's not to mention that corals need specialized lighting (and (a LOT more lighting than a fish only tank), and hard corals need almost HUGE amounts of light and excellent and stable water quality, something that isn't the easiest (or cheapest) thing to achieve and GARF recomends that hard corals be avoided until the tank is up for one full year.

Most marine fish are quite hardy if you don't mess up really bad, they are not that delicate like the common belief suggests. With all fish, if something in the water is bugging them, they'll show it. After your tank gets reasonably stable (this would happen after aprox. 2-3 months), it will take a LOT to change that to the worse. After that two - three months have gone by, unless your adding new fish (after adding new fish, you should be testing for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate anyway), or your water has ammonia in it (and if it did, I wouldn't drink it if I was you), nothing will change the water to the worse that won't show up on your water test every week, month, every two months or every three months.
 
Dustin83 said:
OK... This is how I'm taking this claim so far.... This guy just wants to sell me the more expensive stuff early on, and once they die, I'll come back and buy more until I get it right.
Click to expand...


you hit the nail on the head with this one.

Set up the tank, read, read some more, search, ask questions, start off with hardy corals, see how they do, and in no time you'll be set!!!

At 100$ a coral, "trial and error" won't work for me. .. ;)
 
My LFS told me the same thing so i stared with reef tank big mistake i did not know enough but luckly i found this website the they have tought me alot and i am proud to say that cuz of yall i have had zero death (of corals lol) :thm:

So i would say start fish only then move to coral if you think you want to
 
"Salesman" Shop owner:
"Corals are much more sensitive to the water quality. So if you one day see your corals not 'open up' as nicely as they normally do, that is a good indicator that something is wrong with the chemical balance.

The responsible shop owner:
"Test kits are very sensitive to water quality. One day you don't see the test 'color up' on the safe side of the scale, that is a good indicator that something is wrong with the chemical balance."
 
Very good point, Mr. antitang.

Thank you all for your suggestions, and especially to DF for that long helpful reply.

I will stick to what I've learned here and start off with Fish only.. (Of course once the tank is cycled)
 
Actually, it's not as off the wall as it may first appear to be - assuming that the "corals" you get are a few mushrooms or a GSP/Xenia frag that someone's given to you (trust me, these are so weed-like that people give away these all the time).

Simple PC lighting and thrives virtually anywhere. In fact, softies tend to PREFER "nutrient-rich" (read: crappier) water. A one-eyed monkey could handle these corals if given the right guidance.
 
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