When you’re snorkeling or scuba diving in a coral reef, part of you just can’t believe that it’s real.  A pristine coral reef is one of the most majestic things on Earth, but most of us only get to see it once in a lifetime.   Setting up a coral reef habitat is a way to have a window into that majesty any hour of the day.  Buying and cultivating live corals is a way to have a keen eye into how this unique ecosystem operates. 

Coral Reef Farm has many types of live coral for sale: light sea fans, flowery zoanthids and polyps, mushroom coral, several exotic anemones, and more.  Anemones are particularly exotic, as well as particularly dangerous.  As many know, they have stingers that can be painful or even fatal if handled incorrectly.  For this reason, they are not recommended for a tank with small fish that can fall prey to the anemones sting.

That’s the bad news.  The good news is that anemones are one of the most unique and downright weird creatures in the sea.  The appeal of different types of coral is that it is a kind of beautiful living rock.  It may not move around like a fish but you definitely know you are in the presence of a living thing.  People can become virtually hypnotized by their strange translucence and movement. 

There are a couple of things to keep in mind with a coral aquarium—whether it’s reef-only or combined with fish.  Certain coral will require different types of water quality, water movement, and lighting.  It is important to read up on each type of coral before aquascaping the aquarium.  Too often, people get a mixed group of coral and do not place the coral where it can have a long and healthy life.

For instance, Branching Hammer coral needs to be placed at least three inches away from other coral.  It also needs a fair amount of light, alternating water currents, as well as calcium, iodine, and other elements in the water.  Other types of coral will not need alternating water currents or the same list of elements in the water in order to grow.  In some cases, the same elements can hurt other types of coral, so it is important to mix and match coral so that they all thrive within a same general environment.