Plates are pretty neat. NOt ovely demanding and while they may make it
without anyhting but light its always fun and best to spot feed them.,
I find feeding even mushrooms to be very interesting and I do spot
feed each and every mushroom at leaqst one time during the week.


Plates need decent water flow and a simple spot on a sand bed or low
rock rubble, as they will move somewhat so they need to be where they
will not fall off a ledge etc. They can be had in a variety of colors,
with the oranges bieng more $$$ than the browns and greens, but all
glow under actinics or moonlights just beautifuly.

I find candy cane corals to do fair when they get molested by hermits,
but a tank with a few hermits or no hermits is fine. All gthe books
I read says tubipora is only for advanced folks, but its been one of
the easiest simple corals I have ever fooled with and thnnk its even
easier than shrooms are. (Pipe Organ is what I am referring to) All it
needs is decent PC lights, preferably a sand bed but placed in live
rock is also fine, and some decent water flow. It does require a good
level of calcium if you want it to grow, and in which case it will do
so quite readily. I started off with a spring of abot 3 or 4 polyps
about a year ago, and its been fragged numerous times
already.Presently its the size of a softball after the last frag I did
about 2 weeks ago. It also glows nice under actinics or moon lights.
Its very fragile though, and resembles a thick heavy stand of green
star polyps with a much nicer metallic green coloration.
\


On Mon, 11 Dec 2006 22:55:47 GMT, "TheRock" wrote:

Candy Cane Coral, Plate Coral, Hairy Mushroom Coral, Zoanthus, Starburst
Polyp
Most sites that sell coral will tell you Beginner, Moderate, advanced or
expert.
I've killed one of each : )

"KurtG" wrote in message
.. .

Can anyone recommend a good coral to start with? I have dual florescent
balasts, but no metal hydride lights (yet).

--Kurt




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I forgot more about ponds and koi than I'll ever know!