This is the Hobbies main way of representing coral taxonomy in a simple, easy to access way.

In reality corals are a form of Cnidaria (silent C) which also includes the jellyfish.

There are two types of corals:

• Octocorallia (Soft Corals)
• Hexacorallia (All others)

Hobby names usually group as follows

Softies: May or may not include mushrooms but we treat these separately.

Soft corals include leathers, polyps and Kenya trees as well as many others. They lack a calcium carbonate skeleton, but may have other hard internal features like sclerites.

They are usually easier to look after and enjoy Eutrophic conditions, that is higher nutrients often called 'dirty water'.

Mushrooms: These, like stony corals and anemones are hexacorallia.

They do however entirely lack a calcium carbonate skeleton and so are not stony.

They like Eutrophic conditions (high nutrients) and lower light and flow. If they don't like where you place them, they will move. Whilst beginner friendly and hard to kill, there are some really high end designer morphs that fetch as much as SPS collectors pieces.

LPS: (Long Polyp Stony) These corals have a calcium carbonate skeleton with large obvious polyps. However their appearance is really varied, from wavy Euphyllia to stony Symphyllia and chalices.

They are generally mesotrophs needing a medium nutrient level, medium light and medium flow.

They are considered the easiest of the stony corals to look after and dont require the huge light output that SPS do. They are a firm favourite if you like colour and movement

SPS: (Short Polyp Stony) These have a calcium carbonate skeleton and many small polyps that sometimes aren't very obvious.

They are usually oligotrophic liking low nutrient levels, very fast flow and very high light.

These corals hate change and often require high output lighting sometimes punching 400+ PAR.

They are not recommended for beginners

NPS: Most corals need feeding of some kind. But these guys are entirely Non PhotoSynthetic. As such they need heavy feeding but can even be placed in dark caves.

They usually require special tanks as their feeding demands raises nutrient levels fast

PAR is an acronym for Photosynthetically Available Radiation.

Radiation=light (in this sense)

Corals have zooxanthellae in their tissues which are able to photosynthesize.

Like plants zooxanthellae can only use certain wavelengths of light.

PAR is simply the amount of light that is actually useable to corals.

PAR drops off rapidly in water, as such top end lights may produce 500+ PAR at the surface but only 50 at 60cm depth.

In general:

SPS: 300PAR

Torches/Hammers/Frogspawn: 150PAR

Lobos/Trachy's/Acans: 100PAR

Mushrooms: 50PAR

Please remember these are just guides and there is a wide overlap. Check individual coral listings for recommended PAR.

A common myth is that corals do not need feeding. This is untrue, most corals need some feeding, some require it.

Corals can get their energy in the following ways.

Symbiotic photosynthesis: their resident zooxanthellae produce excess sugars used by the corals for respiration

Direct feeding: The corals catch food and directly swallow and digest it through their mouths

Absorption: The corals absorb nutrients from the water through their outer tissue layers.

Different corals use these three feeding methods in different proportions.

At the happy reef we vary our feeds to match the corals needs but our general coral feed is made up of a mixture of:

• Red Sea AB+ (or Seachem Fuel or NYOS AMYNO & LYCRED)
• Reef Roids
• Inhouse Phytoplankton (live)
• Inhouse Rotifers (live)

We switch of pumps and wavemakers and surround the corals with this mixture allowing corals to undertake their two forms of feeding effectively.

Remember check individual listings for coral requirements.