Reef? Coral?

[hillius31]

Im just a little confused on the reef or coral. Is reef and coral the same thing?

 

[al mc]

Welcome to this forum.

There are several types of swf tanks that you can have. Generally they break down to
'fish only' or 'reef'. The difference here is that the reef will contain 'inverts'..these inverts
can be snails, corals, anenome....and may or may not contain fish.
It is generally more time consuming to keep a reef tank than a fish only tank because the
'inverts' are more sensitive to water quality issues..temperature, salinity, nitrogens (ammonia/nititres'nitrates) than would be 'fish only'. In addition, depending on what you keep in the 'reef' you have to be concerned about lighting ALOT more than in a fish only tank.

 

[devil dog]

I think a reef has to have coral in it to be a reef... and to have coral you need to have a reef...

 

[tenacious]

a coral is an animal or animals depending on the species and a reef is a sea structure made out of living organisms which together form a wall.

 

[big]

Look at it this way. "The Great Barrier Reef" off of Australia has millions of of corals of different kinds on it for the immediate future.( Till global warming or that darn "Crown of thorns" kills it all.) Now that is a reef. Lots of corals in one place.
A coral is the individual animal called a Coral.
Well anyway, hope that makes since and helps a bit.
WELCOME!!! to the boards........ Warren