Elegance Coral

[juliersavage]

Can anyone help me with mag and cal parameters for this specific coral. It is definately not a fan of higher mag levels (figured out hard way out)
Ai says:
400–450 ppm calcium is best for LPS corals because calcium helps build their calcium carbonate skeletons. For magnesium, some say 1350–1450 ppm is ideal.
Also info varies on feeding...some say 1x a week and some say 4x a week with small shrimp, krill, fish.
Trying to maximize my success with this coral. Thanks in advance

 

[T Diddy]

I’m interested in this myself. I’ve been contemplating getting one for my tank as well. My last experience with an elegance was over 20 years ago, and the indo-pacific variants were prone to a nasty die off for no apparent reason. I understand that the Australian variety are far more hardy . As for feeding, it really depends on the size of the food. Keep in mind that the mouth doubles as the anus when it comes to polyps. If you’re feeding large chunks of food, do it less often.

 

[juliersavage]

It is definitely my favorite coral. Mine is happy today so I am too! I have only been doing this for about a year and haven't killed mine yet. I've had the elegance for about 2 months? I have read and watched everything possible but still on the learning curve and asking questions. Thought it might have the syndrome because it looked terrible for multiple days but got mag lowered and it's doing good again but it did suffer some minor bleaching over the incident. I almost did a FW dip but it did not display the web like mucus. I was told it could be harmful if that wasn't what it had. I just guessed at mag and got lucky because that was the only thing that had changed in my tank. Still looking for some helpful guidelines on this specific coral. Thanks for feeding input. Was told to be mindful of size of food so it could be digested before going bad. I have started using a plastic bottle to cover it while it eats to keep the fish from picking the food off of it.

 

[griss]

I keep mostly SPS but only keep my Mg at around 1200 and my Ca around 425. Like T Diddy, I haven't kept an elegance in a long time (32 years) though.

 

[T Diddy]

The plastic bottle is a good idea, especially if you have any shrimp in the tank…they’ve been known to steal food from the mouths of LPS coral

 

[shred5]

Here is the way I look at things when it comes to perimeters. I like to keep my tanks close to Natural sea water conditions.
If a coral can survive in the ocean in them they can survive in your tank with the same parameters. Period.

I have grown several Elegance coral and one to nearly the size of a basketball and was not in great shape when I got it.

There a tricky coral. I tend to agree Australian elegance corals do better.

It kind of goes like this with them, either they are going to make it or they are not with proper care. I bought two from the same vendor a few years back that were different colors. One survived and one didn't and they were in the same tank and both had same care. The ones that are going to die it seems there is just nothing you can do that is known yet. I have thought about antibiotic treatment similar to what is used on anemones.

 

[T Diddy]

Here is the way I look at things when it comes to perimeters. I like to keep my tanks close to Natural sea water conditions.
If a coral can survive in the ocean in them they can survive in your tank with the same parameters. Period.

I have grown several Elegance coral and one to nearly the size of a basketball and was not in great shape when I got it.

There a tricky coral. I tend to agree Australian elegance corals do better.

It kind of goes like this with them, either they are going to make it or they are not with proper care. I bought two from the same vendor a few years back that were different colors. One survived and one didn't and they were in the same tank and both had same care. The ones that are going to die it seems there is just nothing you can do that is known yet. I have thought about antibiotic treatment similar to what is used on anemones.

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The one in your picture is mounted on rock. Do they also thrive directly on the sand??

 

[Reefing102]

I’ve always wanted an elegance just never had the room

 

[shred5]

The one in your picture is mounted on rock. Do they also thrive directly on the sand??

Mud, sand, silt from what I understand in the wild.. So sand is preferred.

I mostly keep them in the sand bed but when the skeleton gets too tall the sand wont support them anymore. I just do not have a sand bed deep enough.
They do not like jagged edges on rock and it could damage them. They have allot of tissue when fully expanded.

Honestly when my new one get to big for the sandbed I am going to put it in a container of sand instead of a rock. They hang over so much wont see it.

 

[shred5]

I’ve always wanted an elegance just never had the room

They get big and can happen pretty fast. The one above I had to eventually get rid of because it out grew my tank.

 

[griss]

They get big and can happen pretty fast. The one above I had to eventually get rid of because it out grew my tank.

True, the one I had in the 90s very quickly outgrew my 58.