Favia question

[sepulvd]

what is the best location for a favia. would it be the sand bed. first time ever had a favia. my tank is mostly softies and duncans and frgspwns

 

[JohnnyHildo]

i've had mine all over the tank and would have to say it did best on the rocks in low to medium light and current. in its current spot on the substrate it appears to be regressing a little.

 

[Reef Bass]

IMHO and IME, Favias prefer a little less light than Euphyllia.

 

[MrHyde]

Favia corals have never really been very demanding when it comes down to lighting and flow IME either.

 

[sepulvd]

sounds good. thanks for the help

 

[Reef Frog]

IME they like the lighting on the lower side. They're also fine if you mount them on a vertical rock face.

I would not keep a favia frag or larger colony on the sand bed long term. The lighting might be perfect there in many cases, but allowing them to be covered by sand is a no no. It's also easy for that location to have improper flow whereby bacterial films can be a problem.

Favias want to encrust and grow outwards and often build a mounded shape naturally, so put them on a rock at the right light/flow location and let them grow.

 

[MrHyde]

I've kept Favias on the sand bed for long periods of time without any problems. Like mentioned above, as long as the edges don't get buried in the sand you should be ok. I'm not sure how often you do a water change, but just make it a habit to pick the coral up and then set it back down gently each time. This will keep the edges from deteriorating. You might want to rotate the coral 90 degrees each time too.
As far as growth goes, they'll use whatever they come across in the substrate and incorporate that into their skeleton. I used to flip over the coral pictured below all the time and you could see the rocks, shells, etc it was picking up.

 

[Reef Frog]

Nice favia colony. I'd put that on a flat piece of rock and let it grow outward.