Tropical Fish Hobbyist - October 2010

would last for 400 days if used for only 10 hours a day. That’s a little over two extra months, which can add up when we’re talking about having a tank for many years and using several bulbs over it.

Other Benefits

Okay, so there’s also more to this than using less electricity, as soft corals are generally easier to care for. Not that it’s an issue for many of us, but soft corals tend to be far more tolerant of less than excellent overall water quality. In fact, I’ve seen many softies doing just fine in water that I might not even call good. They’re not bulletproof by any means, but generally much less picky about water parameters than small-polyp stony corals.

And I’m not using a skimmer either.
Although I found that I did not absolutely
now instead of every day. In fact, the only
reason I’m adding that much is because I
want to keep the coralline algae, as well
as those few leftover stonies, growing and
looking good. I imagine that at some point
I may be able to add just a little calcium
once a week at most. The same can be said
for alkalinity, as it becomes depleted very,
very slowly in the near absence of stonies.

That’s less work for me, and also less money spent on supplies.

I’m also spending less time now having to fool with the corals themselves. Some softies will not get along if they grow into contact with each other, but overall they aren’t as difficult to deal with as stonies when it comes to coral fighting. A tank full of healthy stonies requires a constant

Starry blenny Salarias ramosus; with only five small fish in the tank, it’s easier to keep the water quality high.

need one with the stony corals, I find it is even easier to skip one with soft corals. If I had a lot more fish in the tank then I most likely would have to hook a protein skimmer back up to my system, but I have only five at the moment, and none of them are very big. There is not much fish food going in, and I use a good amount of activated carbon and do regular water changes. I have found that this keeps the water quality sufficiently high. A low fish load means few nutrients going in, which means it’s easier to keep nutrient levels in check. I don’t have to run a pump for a skimmer, or clean a skimmer, or empty a skimmer cup.

Having a tank full of softies also means I don’t have to add as much calcium. They don’t form hard skeletons, so I’m only adding calcium supplements twice a week