Growth over dead coral

[Tracey2]

I'm not sure where to post this question

I recently lost a large sps due to some alk issues, I have removed most of the coral but the dead base is still on the rock, can I place a chalice there to grow over it or do I have to get in there with a chisel and remove the sps?

Thanks for your help.

 

[zachfishman]

You're fine leaving it. EVERYTHING grows on dead coral.

 

[Tracey2]

ThankYou

 

[parrotchute]

I've found that dead coral seems to attract cyano and algae. Not sure if it's from the dead coral leeching it's biological material or just the surface itself. If it isn't attracting anything, go for it, but if it is, I'd recommend pulling the skeleton out and boiling it first.

 

[_shorty_]

I think I'd find a really colorful encrusting monti to let cover it..

 

[mayjong]

forget where i saw it, but somebody had a pic of a dead branching sps colony that had been covered completley by an encrusting monti. pretty cool

 

[mussel and hate]

Live rock is dead coral.

 

[lostintheocean]

i was going to say the same thing.....

 

[Tracey2]

All is well, my pretty chalice is settling in on top of it. I did think this was a silly question when I thought about it later, my fingers type too quickly.

 

[MondoBongo]

I've found that dead coral seems to attract cyano and algae. Not sure if it's from the dead coral leeching it's biological material or just the surface itself. If it isn't attracting anything, go for it, but if it is, I'd recommend pulling the skeleton out and boiling it first.

oddly i've noticed this too. i'm not sure why. obviously most of my rock is dead coral, and it doesn't seem to grow algae at the rate that newly dead coral skeleton does.

i had a piece of Sertiapora that died after a tank overheating event this past summer. it was getting fairly strong flow, and damned if algae didn't take off like crazy on the skeleton.

it makes me wonder if the mix of bio film and coraline algae found on most of my other rocks helps to inhibit the growth, and newly dead coralites lack this, or if like you said they're leeching something from the skeleton.