Coral Reef Tank Complete Guide: Beginner to Mixed Reef
A coral reef is not one tank type but three overlapping ones — soft coral, LPS and SPS — each with its own light, flow and chemistry expectations. This coral reef tank complete guide from Gensou Aquascaping at 5 Everton Park lays out the beginner-to-mixed-reef ladder, where to buy frags in Singapore, and the parameters you must actually hold steady rather than chase. Treat coral keeping as a progression: soft in month 3, LPS in month 5, SPS only after a year of hand-on-parameters experience.
What “Coral Reef Tank” Actually Means
Coral reef tanks are saltwater aquariums where live corals are the centrepiece, not fish. Rock and aquascape are designed around coral placement, lighting is selected for PAR rather than visual appeal, and stocking tilts heavily toward reef-safe fish that will not nip polyps. A fish-only saltwater tank with plastic decor is not a reef — a reef requires stable alkalinity, calcium and magnesium along with steady temperature and photoperiod.
Soft, LPS and SPS: The Three Coral Families
Soft corals (zoanthids, mushrooms, green star polyps, leather corals, Kenya tree) have no calcium skeleton and tolerate wider parameter swings. Large-polyp stony corals (hammer, frogspawn, torch, duncans, candy cane) build skeletons and need stable alk 8-9 dKH plus calcium 420-440 ppm. Small-polyp stony (acropora, montipora, stylophora) demand laser-flat parameters and high-PAR light — they belong in a mature, well-tested system, not a four-month-old first reef.
Lighting for Coral Growth
Soft coral survives at 50-100 PAR at the rock surface. LPS likes 100-200 PAR. SPS demands 200-350 PAR. A single AI Prime 16HD (SGD 390) or Kessil A80 (SGD 370) covers a 75 L nano comfortably for soft and LPS. A 114-200 L mixed reef needs two Primes, or a Radion XR15 G6 (SGD 980) or an ATI Straton hybrid. Light for 8-10 hours with a sunrise and sunset ramp — not 12 hours of full blast, which accelerates algae without helping coral.
Flow: The Underrated Variable
Corals photosynthesise faster and feed more when flow removes boundary-layer waste and delivers oxygen. Aim 20-40x tank turnover in random, pulsed flow. For a 75 L nano, a single Jebao SLW-10 (SGD 55) or a Maxspect Gyre XF150 (SGD 420) creates the gentle gyre pattern LPS prefers. SPS wants stronger turbulent flow — two MP10s on a Reefcrest mode are the gold standard but budget pairs of Jebao OW-10 or SLW-30 work for beginners.
Water Parameters to Hold Steady
Salinity 1.025-1.026 SG, temperature 25-26°C, pH 8.0-8.3, alkalinity 8-9 dKH, calcium 420-440 ppm, magnesium 1300-1400 ppm, nitrate 2-10 ppm, phosphate 0.03-0.1 ppm. The absolute numbers matter less than stability — corals tolerate a steady 7 dKH better than a wobble between 7 and 10. Salifert test kits (SGD 35-50 each) at Reef Depot cover all key parameters. Test weekly in the first six months, then monthly once your dosing is dialled in.
Salt Mix for Coral Tanks
Red Sea Coral Pro (SGD 120 per 7 kg bucket) runs alk 12 dKH, cal 460 ppm, mag 1380 ppm — great for new tanks building skeletal mass. Tropic Marin Pro-Reef (SGD 150 per 10 kg) is lower alk at 8 dKH and favoured by SPS keepers for stability. Instant Ocean Reef Crystals (SGD 85 per box) is budget-friendly and fine for soft and LPS. Mix fresh saltwater in a dedicated brute bin with a Jebao DCP mixing pump at 25-26°C for 12-24 hours before use.
Where to Buy Corals in Singapore
Reef Depot at Pasir Ris stocks the widest frag selection, with zoas from SGD 15, mushrooms SGD 20, hammer frags SGD 45-80, torch SGD 85-180. Iwarna Aquafarm has regular coral drops with competitive pricing on aquacultured fragments. Polyart in the Serangoon cluster carries Tropic Marin plus smaller frag sales monthly. Facebook groups “SG Reef Friends” and “Singapore Coral Exchange” host hobbyist frag swaps at a fraction of shop pricing — ideal for first zoas and soft corals.
Coral Acclimation and Dips
Float the bag for 15 minutes to match temperature, then drip acclimate at 2-3 drops per second over 45 minutes. Before placing on rock, dip in Coral Rx or Bayer Advanced insecticide diluted per label for 10-15 minutes to kill flatworms, red bugs and zoa-eating nudibranchs. Place frags in low flow and moderate light first, then move up the rockwork over 2-3 weeks as they settle. Coral glue (SGD 5-8 per tube of cyanoacrylate gel) fixes frags to plugs cleanly.
When to Consider SPS and Dosing
Only add SPS once alkalinity has held within 0.3 dKH of target for eight consecutive weeks. At that point you need a two-part dosing pump or a kalkwasser doser to replace calcium and alkalinity consumed by skeletal growth. BRS Two-Part or Tropic Marin All-For-Reef (SGD 55-110) dosed via a Jebao DP-4 pump (SGD 180) is the standard beginner dosing rig. Rush SPS and you will watch tissue recession within a week.
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