are sun corals safe?

[returnofsid]

Allie, so you're suggesting that it be kept in direct light as long as it has good flow? Your's looks very nice!! Great Gorgonian too!!

 

[rhino509]

nice looking tank allie,your sun coral looks nice and healthy,nice color too,do your polyps only open when they are eating?

 

[rhino509]

do you people think i should leave it alone for now or should i go ahead and frag the healthy peices to get them away from the dead/dying tissues?

 

[Aliie]

Thanks. I have tried this type of coral in both areas.
I have a bigger tank and had it hidden in a hole for the darkeness as I was told by LFS. It open almost nightly but never all the way or all of them at the same time. It always seem to be reaching for the light. I moved it to the front of the "cubby hole" and it did so much better with more light and more flow.

In the previous pic of the Nano cube I decided to just put it out in the light with maximum flow. I never had any problems from the one in the nano ever and even had new growth.

I am in no way an expert in this hobby but I can tell you what worked for me. Not being able to really see the flow of his tank it's hard to say where he should put it for that. As far as the light I see where I would try it JUST based on my experience. Right hand side of the tank, corner rock formation, back side in the "cubby hole" towards the front for the light. Or on the left side for the same reasons. BTW, I'm no good at paint so giggle away!!

IMHO, don't frag until you have had healthy feeing for a few months. The good stuff will grow and the bad stuff wont matter but will give you more to work with when you break up the coral, this from expierience too, but not written in stone.

 

[returnofsid]

I'd say unless you're sure it's dying, you wouldn't need to frag it right away. If you're positive it's dying, I'd frag the unhealthy portion off and toss it so it doesn't effect the living portion in any way. You'd be surprised how corals that appear to be dying can make a great come back given the right conditions.

 

[rhino509]

thanks much for the input,thats funny too,because i actually tried putting it on the ride side where you circled.with the rock its on,its just a little too big,and the left side(its hard to see in the picture) is actually like a little overhang to a half cave area.BUT i will tell you what,now that you have mentioned that(and for the fact i read that sun corals are commonly found upside down near cave opening) in the future when/if it gets healthy,and i learn how to frag it,thats where one or two of them will go......

 

[rhino509]

also,im definately going to have to make a dome shape feeder tool,the foxface isnt going to tolerate food just floating around in the water......lol

 

[rhino509]

just a little update.about 5 minutes after the daytime bulbs went off,i started seeing polyps poke out.....so i decided i would try and feed it.a few polyps took food(mainly a couple small ones),the bigger polyps seem to open half way and sorta filter feed.anybody think this could get enough food through the water column itself? (maybe not enough for it to grow and get big,but enough for it to live and be healthy) doesnt seem like they liked me getting to close to them....maybe just cuz its new to them.

 

[rhino509]

so.......im still awake at 230 in the morning,im looking in the tank and to my surprise

polyps are out in full (well half) force.well beings im not gonna be up at 230 every other day to feed,is there something i can just feed the tank something that it can filter feed eat,or does it not work that way? rotifers........just read something about them.....not so much in reef aquaia,but just in general,is this used as coral food?
note:by the way,sorry the pic isnt the best,lights off and just using flash.

 

[Aliie]

It looks to be doing better already. IMO, You should give it some time just where you have it to recover and possible gain some growth before you frag it. Looking at it now it doesn't seem to have alot of dead or damaged parts. I'm going try to get the person at the LFS to tell me what the liquid was that helped mine open and feed better. Happy to see progress!

 

[returnofsid]

WoW, it's looking great!! I agree, I don't think there's anything dying. It just needed some TLC. If it had any idea how much the 2 of us have been researching this lately, it'd better appreciate it!!! lol. Can't wait to see pics of when it's totally expanded!! I bet you'll have that view soon. As for feeding it at 2 am...I have no idea. From the reading I've been doing, they can be "trained" to expand and eat at lights out.

 

[rustybucket145]

Some of you seem to have this a little backwards....

is it only open when it's feeding?

Should be stated as... It is feeding when it's open. That's really the only reason these corals are going to open.... to eat... Does that make any sense?? It may stay open for hours and hours 'eating'. But whenever it's open... it is eating, or trying to eat.

 

[Reet15]

My MH's go off at 8:00 pm and mine is fully opened by 8:15 - I feed it either homemade mix or mysis about 3-4 times a week (unless I'm lazy) then it only gets fed 2-3 times a week. It has almost doubled in size in 4 months. This is the best pic I could get of mine and its about 1 month old. Good luck with yours! Looks awesome!

Oops make that 2 months old! LOL

 

[returnofsid]

Quick question for Reet15, Do you have it shaded? Doesn't look like it in the pic. I've been reading that it does fine in full light as long as it has good high flow.

 

[rhino509]

looks pretty good Reet15,nice and healthy.
so......anybody think these can be fed enough through the water column alone? or do these HAVE to be target fed? ill feed it if it has to be( i mean i already do have the animal) it just didnt seem that it like me getting too close to it,but i have to with how much flow there is.also i am going to make a dome shaped feeding tool(to say cover it while it eats),but thats still no guarantee that all the polyps will get food.
thx much

 

[dippin61]

all you have to do to get it to open during the day (currently mine stays open almost all day long.) is about 15 minutes before you want to feed it, spread some juices from the food into the water column. Make sure you do this every time you feed it, at the same time. So, lets say your lights go off at 8pm, but you'd like it to open at around 6pm. At about 5:45 put some juices in the tank. After about 15 minutes, the sun coral should start to open. Do this at the same time every day. After a month or two, it will start to open at feeding time.

As for them being prone to algae... thats only because it will start to grow on exposed skeleton very very quickly, as with most sps and lps as well though. as long as it is healthy, and has healthy flesh no algae will grow on it.

and mine at least, would rather be in high flow, then low. Mine stays open almost from the time lights are on, till whenever. and it just LOVES the flow. although, my piece is about 150-200 heads...

 

[rhino509]

you say its 150-200 heads,i would love to see a picture of that if you have one....

 

[Reet15]

Return, I have it sitting in a cave - it gets light on about 4 of the heads on the far right, and it also doesn't get a whole lot of flow where it is. I really don't put a whole lot of effort into feeding them. I only shoot it with the turkey baster once a night - whoever eats eats - whoever doesn't will catch it next time.

Thanks Rhino

Looking forward to seeing the 150-200 heads - that has got to be gorgeous Dippin!