Elegance coral on the rocks?

[Julian.Rad17]

I just got an elegance coral today and since i don't have any space on my sand bed the LFS guy said it'd be ok to put the elegance on a rock as long as the flesh doesn't touch the rocks. The area its it gets med-high light with low flow. It opened up fully in a few hours after I acclimated it. The tentacles are free of the rock and don't scrape it. Would this be a good placement?

 

[AlSimmons]

That's fine, just as long as the tissue doesn't get whipped across the rocks. It can touch them though.

 

[billdogg]

That might be ok on a short term basis, but it really belongs on the sand, with it's entire skeleton buried.

 

[AlSimmons]

I think I've seen just as many healthy elegance corals on the rocks over the years as I've seen in the sand. The trick is with these things is to purchase a healthy specimen though. If this can be done they're actually a fairly undemanding coral IME.

 

[Julian.Rad17]

So today my elegance barley opened at all. As soon as the lights turned on this morning he shrunk down and never really opened I lowered him down a couple inches and it seemed to help but this was later in the day around 3-4. If it matters, he was fed quite a bit of mysis yesterday. If he doesn't open up in the same location tomorrow should I just move him into the sand bed? The place he's in now is right under the light (AI Prime) but 8-9 inches down so it's receiving med-high light which is what I thought EC's preferred. Either way, is this a normal occurrence? And if not, what should I do with him?

 

[bundybear1981]

It can take a few days to adjust/settle in to your tank and lights. You need to give it a chance or you'll just upset it more. Mine don't like too much flow or too much lighting either.

 

[Buzz1329]

I've had an elegance coral mounted on rocks about 6-8" off substrate since 2/12. It is sandwiched between caulestrea (candy cane/trumpet) colony on left, green monty cap on right, and paly colony below it. In middle of 75 gallon tank under 2 x 250 (14k) halides and 2 x 60 watt T5s. I don't direct feed coral and rely on broadcast feeding and fish poop to nourish them. Here's a pic:

 

[Julian.Rad17]

Yea today it opened up really big so I think it ok in this spot on the rocks.

 

[nereefpat]

Sweet pic, Buzz. So much diversity!

 

[Buzz1329]

Yea today it opened up really big so I think it ok in this spot on the rocks.

Great! Continued good luck.

 

[Buzz1329]

Sweet pic, Buzz. So much diversity!

Thanks! A few months ago almost half the tank was covered by huge green Monty Cap that blossomed from a 3" x 3" frag. I fragged and sold (locally) a few slabs of it, and then just snapped off large slabs to create room for other coral.

Here's a pic of it in its heyday:



Now I have room/access to light to add LPS frags.

Good luck,

Mike

I also had a softball/soccer ball growth of pink birdsnest, which was a sink of algae/cyano/aiptasias. I removed it and have found that algae/cyano/aiptasia growth in rest of tank has subsided:

 

[CStrickland]

It's cool how in the first pic there, it looks like the monti didn't grow to shade the elegance. Like the elegance was keeping it out of her territory. I like those pics where you can see corals establish balance naturally.

 

[finewayne]

nice to see you adding add LPS frags

 

[Buzz1329]

Deleted my post. Sorry to OP for highjacking thread. Please keep us posted on the progress of your goni.

Mike