Kenya tree

[tmz]

Capnella (kenya tree)

Much maligned but a beautiful and hardy undemanding coral from my perspective. Here are some pictures of my Capnella forest (grown from a 1/2 inch blob of flesh) softie tank( see page 2 ) of this thread:



http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2174523

 

[BuffaloReef]

Kenya Tree Coral isn't very flashy but it's not a bad softie. It was one of my first coals and like you, I started mine from a smudge. Way back, there was a nice high school kid in Amherst with a really impressive 120 who had a frag swap. I was getting a few frags from his sump and there were two dime-sized rocks that he looked closely at and said, "I think those are coals. You want them?" "Sure!" I said and one grew into a Kenyan Tree that got about the size of my hand and was nice enough to "frag" itself. Hopefully some of those are still going in someone's tank. I often recommend them for people trying reefkeeping for the first time.

If I remember correctly, Kenya Tree and Xenia do not release toxins as many other soft coals do. Your suggestion of a Kenya Tree fuge could work. I wonder if they grow fast enough though, and what are they taking from the water?

If I run a fuge on my next tank I'd like it to have something that pulls out a good amount of phosphate. I've wondered if there were some kind of bi-valve that could be kept for that purpose. They're filter feeders and draw phosphate to build their shells.

 

[JustinBT]

Great timing, a friend at my lfs just gave me my first piece of Kenya Tree for my softie pico and I was looking around for a little info. Im very intriuged by the idea of nutrient export via soft corals. I'm two species in to a future Xenia polyculture since reading all the info I could find on garf's Xenia bed filter. I really like the idea of a fuge that's just as much a display as the main tank.
Incredible the chalice growth by the way! Picked up a new green speckled frag last night

 

[tmz]

Kenya Tree Coral isn't very flashy but it's not a bad softie. It was one of my first coals and like you, I started mine from a smudge. Way back, there was a nice high school kid in Amherst with a really impressive 120 who had a frag swap. I was getting a few frags from his sump and there were two dime-sized rocks that he looked closely at and said, "I think those are coals. You want them?" "Sure!" I said and one grew into a Kenyan Tree that got about the size of my hand and was nice enough to "frag" itself. Hopefully some of those are still going in someone's tank. I often recommend them for people trying reefkeeping for the first time.

If I remember correctly, Kenya Tree and Xenia do not release toxins as many other soft coals do. Your suggestion of a Kenya Tree fuge could work. I wonder if they grow fast enough though, and what are they taking from the water?

If I run a fuge on my next tank I'd like it to have something that pulls out a good amount of phosphate. I've wondered if there were some kind of bi-valve that could be kept for that purpose. They're filter feeders and draw phosphate to build their shells.

Just and observation. 6 fish in that tank, lot's of food . little filtrtion and low NO3 nd PO4. No nuisance algae of cyano.

Maybe , mine grow from the same piece you have. It just grows and grows.

It is one of the least toxic leather corals. Unlike xenia it doesn't require very much light. Less light equals more organic uptake to make up for the sugars not produced photosynteically,ie autotrophically.It's got a relatively large and fleixible heterotrophic side.

 

[BuffaloReef]

I think the 15% water changes every other week are helping too. I wonder of you could save a little money by taking the changed water from the "puddle" and moving it to the softie tank. You might be able to change more by volume, though the water may be stripped of something the softies like.

That you're not even skimming is very interesting. I would expect the nutrients to be higher even with the water changes, GFO and carbon. Maybe a Capnella fuge isn't a bad idea.

I remember reading an article where different macro algaes were tested for uptake of N and P compounds. I forget what had the best P to N ratio but chaeto did surprisingly poorly. "Best" in this case being most P to N. The results were a good argument for dosing a form of ammonia since the results implied N was a limiting factor. I'm reading the C dosing thread you started in this forum and it's very interesting.

I wonder how studied the compounds Capnella puts out have been. Your nutrient levels are pretty low, but it seems like algae could still show up. It seems possible Capnella could excrete something to inhibit certain algae growth. Considering how it spreads with daughter colonies being surrounded by clean substrate would be beneficial.