Easy Corals for Beg.
 

What do you guys like as your first coral for your aquarium? What ones do you find extremely easy to take care for and which ones have you had bad experience with even if they are classified as easy?
I have to say my Mushroom Toadstools is a real champ, he has lasted such horrible conditions and always bounces back when the water level return to normal. Next I would have to say my bubble coral. He doesn't show signs of stress and seems to puff up all the time. But that can also be a negative if you look for signs of stress before changing water quality
Zoo's and I don't get along in the beginning, I don't like how they vanish. I rather have something that I can pick out of the tank if it passes away so my water levels don't drop even lower.

Any softie, with a few exceptions...
and GSP.

Ya how ever wrote Zoes are a beginners corals in my experience is wrong and must assume a beginner has A) metal halides B) perfect water conditions and C) what ever it takes to feed them..... I have had little luck with them but my tank is a bit of a dirty coral tank.... I have had luck from the start with Frogspawn and torch corals and pipe coral seems pretty bullet proof.

Ooo frogspawns, that is nifty I still haven't gotten one but always wanted to. Do they come out often for you? or mostly hide?

zoas actually like dirty water...
I have read that some of the most prolific zoanthid occurences in nature are near sewer run offs....wait, does that still classify as in nature?

Likely you are lacking in trace elements, especially if your system is not that old...

Plus, most only need moderate lighting with a few exceptions and some even thrive in a lower light setting...

I know all my zoas are pretty choked since I upgraded from 150w to 250w mh.

As far as SPS goes montipora confusa seems to grow and thrive anywhere in my tank and under both bulbs.

Well I was exaggerating a bit when I said matal hallide lol point being I was reading the bad experinces I've had to not enough light. I have T5 but not alot of wattage and still little success. Maybe the trace element has been my problem. The ones that were doing okay just seemed to disappear more and more everynight. Maybe some hitchhiker crab has grown large enough to snack on them.

Frogspawn varies some days big and bushy some days long extention but not as bushy....

agreed. Zoas are not for beginners.
In fact, until the water flow issue is figured out in a beginners tank, I would not recomend any button polyps because in my experience, they will detach from their rocks to find a better location (and ultimately never do and just float around the bottom until they die.

I would suggest:

Kenya tree
Torch
hammer
toadstool
mushrooms
Some leathers
frogspawn
colt

Polyps that build their own base like:
green stars
green poyps


I would also saty away from Xenia. Sure they grow like weeds, in an established system though. Everyone I know has had problems keeping it alive as beginners. Some LFS will say they are super hardy, some will say they are not. I will have to say they are not.

From my experience the following have been real good for me.
- zoas
- duncans (buy a 4 head frag and watch them grow!)
- acan lords - love lower light, I keep mine on my handbed.
- gsp (as long as you don't let your salinity accidentally go over 1.026)
- Xenia (hit and miss. I finally got mine to grow after a year and then putting it on the sand bed).

of the sps the two following groups are the easiest and fastest to grow in moderate light.
- Monticaps
- digitatas