Soft Corals

Soft Coral Species and Care Information

When coralheads talk about soft corals, they are discussing a very wide range of different coral genera and species that are mostly incapable of constructing their own calcareous skeletons, as large and small polyp stony do. However, soft corals do assimilate calcium and carbonates from seawater to create sclerites, a kind of soft coral analog to the stony skeletons of LPS and SPS corals. These sclerites provide the infrastructure soft corals need to grow, deploy polyps, sting, and entrap plankton drifting by in the current. When the water level drops due to an ebbing tide (or water change) most soft corals droop, as the sclerites do not have enough strength and rigidity to maintain their shape. But once the level rises again, the permeable cells between the sclerites fill with water, the colony regains its shape, and polyps begin to extend and harvest the bounty of marine snow.

Common Soft Coral Species

Some of the more common soft coral genera found in reef tanks and online coral sellers include:

• Sarcophyton spp. (Leather Corals)
• Briareum spp. (Starburst Polyps)
• Sinularia spp. (Cabbage Corals and Finger Leather Corals)
• Nepthea spp. (Green Kenya Tree Corals)
• Xenia spp. (Waving Hand Corals)
• Lobophytum spp. (Devil’s Hand Leather Corals)
• Capnella spp. (Kenya Tree Corals)
• Paralemnalia spp. (Tree Corals)
• Nephthyigorgia spp. (Chili Corals)
• Dendronephthya spp. (Carnation Tree Corals)
• Anthellia spp. (Waving Hand Corals)
• Clavularia spp. (Clove Polyp Corals)
• And many others.

Experience Level

Most soft corals are excellent species for coralheads just getting started with reefing. As you will see below, the majority of softies are tolerant of a wide range of different types of intensities of lighting and flow and they tend to be less sensitive to the water quality parameters often found in systems that are newly cycled and/or maintained by hobbyists setting up their first coral systems. Soft corals are also good for beginners, as growth tends to happen much more quickly in soft corals versus stony corals and helps hobbyists get through the crucial “I don’t know anything yet and am easily discouraged by setbacks” stage that we all go through. Know that occasional disappointments are part of coralkeeping and coralheads of all levels of accomplishment experience them. The salient point here is: Don’t dwell on the fact that you may have goofed up or don’t fully understand why something happened. Focus instead on what you have learned from this and how you will make it much less likely to happen again. Patience, young grasshopper. Only bad things happen quickly in a reef aquarium.

Lighting Requirements

Soft corals can be zooxanthellate, meaning that they host photosynthetic and symbiotic algae living in their tissues, which provide glucose and other essential nutrients to the host coral, or azooxanthellate, where no such symbionts are present. So, like most other coral species, lighting requirements will depend largely on the type of soft corals that catch your eye. Some soft corals do best near the top of the reef display while others thrive in areas with little light and all points in-between. However, many “softies” will grow almost anywhere in your reef display and several species will self-propagate to the point that you’ll start pruning them back to prevent them from out-competing your clams, stony corals, and other sessile inverts. Indeed, this is where the “aquatic gardening” reefkeeping analogy really holds true.

Water Flow Requirements

When it comes to flow requirements for optimal soft coral health, it is also best to stick with generalities, as some species, such as Briareum, e.g., love strong shifting, laminar flows while others prefer just enough flow to deliver planktonic food and remove waste. Experimentation with getting the flow just right for your softies is just like the experimentation you conduct with your stony corals but far easier, as soft corals tend to be tolerant of a broader range of flow intensities. For more specific information, check the coral care guide section of each coral species we sell online.

Feeding Soft Corals

While many soft corals species, such as Capnella, e.g., will thrive without additional feeding, most softies will reward supplemental feeds with explosive growth. The same coral foods that reefers feed their stony corals will work perfectly well for their soft corals. However, as much fun as it is to feed your corals and watch them respond in the short- and long-term to your loving care, we always feel compelled to admonish our customers not to overdo it. When you’re introducing nutrients like this to a closed, recirculating system like your reef tank, you are adversely affecting the water chemistry, particularly in systems with smaller volumes. This needs to be offset with additional maintenance, assiduous water quality testing, and stepped-up cleaning of your life support components. By all means, feed your corals, it is a heckuva lot of fun after all, but make sure you understand how that food will likely result in increases in NH3 and to a lesser extent NO2 in the short-term and elevated NO3 in the long term unless you proactively manage it. Knowledge is power (and makes for a much healthier system!)

Water Quality Parameters

Soft corals tend to be more tolerant of less than ideal water chemistry but since you’re likely adding them to a reef display with stony corals, you may as well plan for and maintain optimal water quality anyway.

• Ammonia – 0
• Nitrite – 0
• Nitrate – As close to 0 as possible.
• Calcium – 375-450 parts per million (ppm)
• Magnesium – 1300-1350ppm
• Carbonate hardness – 125ppm (Many reefers use alkalinity and carbonate hardness interchangeably but they are different values)
• Salinity – 35ppt (parts per thousand) or 1.026 specific gravity
• Phosphates – As close to 0 as possible
• pH – 8.1-8.3
• Temperature – 72-82F

Soft Corals Frags for Sale Online from CoralFrags.com

If you are looking for online soft coral frags, you have come to the right place. Although by its very nature selling corals online means our inventory is constantly changing, we try to keep as many soft coral species in stock at all times. If we are temporarily out of stock on a particular species you’re looking for, please browse our selection of other softies and take a chance on something you haven’t had in your collection before. Also check back on a regular basis, as it is likely we have it in stock but it has not yet fully healed from fragging and we do not sell coral frags to our customers unless they are fully healed and free from undesirable coral pests. After you’ve had some success with softies, consider adding a few LPS corals for sale online to your cart. We all have to start somewhere and that’s pretty much how each coralhead gains confidence, skills, and expertise keeping these endlessly fascinating inverts. Thanks for looking!