corals and anemones?

[Cantra]

My boyfriends parents have a saltwater tank at home and they keep their anemones and corals on the bottom of the tank in the sand. Don't you need to put anemones and corals on live rock? Do you even need live rock for a saltwater tank?

[cocoa_pleco]

live rock is in my opinion always needed, some people do fish only but its not a good idea.

if the light is strong enough, you can put anemones at the bottom, they move where they want to. alot of corals need to be placed in the sand like clams and brain corals

[Fishguy2727]

Some corals and anemones need the sand. Most would do better if placed up high on the rocks (closer to the light).

Live rock is always highly beneficial and can make the difference between success and complete failure in a system.

[kaybee]

While live rock provides great biofiltration as well as a place where the micro-denizens of the tank can thrive or hide in, anemones and corals do not necessarily require positioning on live rock (benefiting from live rock in the tank is something different).

With that said live rock gives corals areas to encrust or spread onto (but again, it doesn't have to be live rock). Some people keep there corals on eggcrate (I personally don't like the look of it but the corals don't seem to mind).

Depending on the type of coral, placement on the sand won't matter, particularly with certain 'solitary' corals (certain brains, donuts, and the like). Conversely, some corals don't do well on the sandbed and that can result in tissue recession which can lead to loss of the coral. Type of coral can matter.

Anemone's are mobile and will settle where they 'wish' (typically, that will be on or near live rock, but again they don't 'need' to be on the rock).

[Dr.Fragenstein]

+1 Kaybee, and technically Cocoa, even though most people like putting clams in the sand the only clams that like the sand are gigas. Croceas and maximas are actually rock boring clams and in the reef are found bored into rock crevices with only the mantles showing. Elegance corals NEED to be in the sand, as well as most carpet anemones and tube anemones. Other than that some things will PREFER it but again it depends on the species you are dealing with. Obviously things that spread by budding are going to be limited in growth if place in sand as most things do not encrust on the sand per se. Brains like stated prefer to be kept in the sand and found there most frequently in the wild. Close to the light depends on the lighting used. In my tank anything higher than half way up is scorching, even SPS, BUT they will all eventually get used to the intensity.

Good luck