Chili Coral

Sorry I never got around to posting pics here. My tank crashed shortly after my last post. About 2/3 of my corals were successfully saved by moving to my brother's tank, but the chili didnt make it.

I may try these again in a non-lit tank, but only if it much larger than my 46.
 
I have a chili coral that is doing fairly well. It is mounted on the underside of a ledge. The polyps extend well, it is in a low lit/dim area of the tank with minimal flow. I have never spot fed mine. Had this coral for nearly a year. Only time I see it close up is when Salinity gets high or if there is a disturbances in the tank due to heat.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13615597#post13615597 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by dendro982
RiOnRoxXx, more details, if you will be so kind. Questions of interest are slightly up in this thread.

Well the tank is a 90gal setup with a 20gal sump.

I'm running PC lighting with just the normal Blue Actinics and 12,000k daylights. Changed every 6 months. Nothing fancy, just a plain ol' basic setup. Light cycle is on 10 hours for both daylight and actinic.

HOB overflow box with a Rio return pump. Filtration is made up by a sock filter, and Eshopps skimmer rated for 150gallons. I have about 60-80lbs of live rock (tonga and mostly fiji) with a 3" sandbed. Flow is made by two Koralias 3's and return from sump.

Water change once a month with Instant Ocean salt and RO/DI water. Temp is average around 78-80 degrees.

I feed tank once daily with a single frozen cube of mysis or brine shrimp in addition with the pellets and seaweed for the tang.

Chili coral is located in the front of the tank near a devils hand leather. Coral is doing fine and coming upon its one year mark when first placed into my system. :)
 
Thank you, RiOnRoxXx!
My chilis (4 different kinds) spend months in contracted state - between months of the normal regular opening for a feeding. For some other people, they are open without these periods of - let call it - dormancy. I'm trying to figure out what they need for normal existence.

Let compare: the closest to your setup was tank also 90g, 15g sump. Combo PC light 110W, 11 hrs cycle. Also HOB overflow box, Eheim return pump, 350 gph, later changed on OR, 650 gph.

~100 lb LR, also mostly Fiji, but no sandbed, BB.

Also soft flow powerheads, 2 Seio 620 and Koralia2, 1900 gph comparing to yours 1700 gph. Filtration: also micron sock, changed daily, and ASM G3 skimmer, rated 250g. No UV, ozone, probitics didn't worked well, stopped.

Water change weekly (messy fish, later - non-photosynthetic corals), temperature 78F in winter, up to 82F in the summer. Instant Ocean in tap water.

I know, I know, but other corals are doing fine, tubastrea and diodogorgia spawned and larvae settled, new colonies grow. Even dendronephthya and muricella plectana are opened most of the time, without these closed periods. Diodogorgian and Christmas tree worms passed 2 yrs mark.

Feeding: much, much more. Then: 3-4 cubes of mysis, brine, plankton, Marine Cuisine, chopped seafood - for sun coral, equivalent of 3 cubes - for a fish, plus Formula pellets and flakes, pinch of dried cyclop-eeze, ZoPlan, divided on 5-8 times daily, for gorgonians ans sclero.

Mounting: prefers not to be upside down, but tried all.

From reading it was expected that chili corals prefers quite high flow. My observations were similar, but again, tried all.

Pretty close to your setup, only with no sandbed, tap water, more feeding, higher flow.

But: I started keep the first chili coral in a common reef, with significantly less feeding, skimmerless, aragonite sand bed, low ro medium flow. All the same.

What else you can think of - for me to pay attention to?
Unfortunately, DI water for me is possible only in pico system.mm
 
dendro982,

You are very welcome.

The setup I run is very basic. I go to school full time at two different colleges and I also work full time about an hour away from home. So my time is mostly driving, school, studying and work. My tank at times is the least of my priorities (which I really wish there was more time in the day for my tank). But hey what can I do LOL...

I've also have tried different areas for my Chili coral. In the sandbed, on top of rock, under rock, in cave, low flow, high flow...

I do not have any pictures at the moment for which half the time I check RC is when I am at work ;) My coral when fully extended is about 3" long and wide. I bought this specimen at a local LFS that had no idea what it was and care on it. I scurried about on the internet and found the "basics" of the coral.

From my recollection, the coral has became dormant a few times. Salidity swings due from me not topping off (again that hectic schedule) on an everyday basis. The dormancy was for about a week or so. Also I onced fragged an "arm" of the coral to give to a local reefer and I seen that the coral was dormant for about a few months after that. This was the longest that I remember the coral closing for longer periods.

Again I may not notice the coral dormancy on an everyday basis, I at times on certain days just come home to feed the tank, top off water go to the bathroom and head straight to class :( I'll try to keep a closer eye in the upcoming days and see what I observe.

My friend has a nice Rebel XSi with a nice macro lense. I'll try to have him snap some pic of my setup and chili.
 
Thanks again!
If anything else, worth to try, come in mind later - post it, please.

I'm trying one in well fed refugium settings, not better, than in any other setup.

Removing some organic sediment from the surface by ChemiClean allowed one ot them to open. Not much of sediment, but still it accumulates with time on dormant chili coral. Soft toothbrush doesn't help.
 
I bought a red chili off a local person and put it in my tank. I got it home did the research that i should have done BEFORE i bought it and found out how hard they are to keep. I tried everything i could to get the feeder polyps out but with no success. Finally 2-3 months after i got it the feeder polyps came out. I don't know what caused it other than it mush have been really hungry. I am so glad i am not killing this coral. I think they just have there dormant stages after a move not sure.
 
Temperate water species (UK, Mediterranean) have the dormancy period, when they shrink and are covered by detritus and microalgae (you can see this information by search on Alcyonium).

But ours are supposed to be tropical species. No information is available, at least I didn't found it.

More of this, it could be Alcyonium, Nephthyigorgia or Carotalcyon :eek1:
 
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