iwishtofish
Active member
Hey, thanks - it's out.
Might have bought a big mistake (Elegance)
- Thread starter iwishtofish
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Hey, thanks - it's out.
iwishtofish
Active member
Continuing on with the documentary, haha...
A video, now, in case anyone can comment on this flow. It's as mild as I can make it anywhere in the tank, unless I remove and replace a really strong powerhead.
A video, now, in case anyone can comment on this flow. It's as mild as I can make it anywhere in the tank, unless I remove and replace a really strong powerhead.
Your elegance looks good (and good flow) for only a few days in your tank. When I got mine (much bigger than yours) it was closed up and ****ed off looking for at least a week to 10 days before it started to adjust.
Mine seemed to open mostly for the first few days, then spent about a week closed up, I don't know if that's normal or not but if it happens to you at least you've been warned.
Good luck, it's a nice piece!
Here was mine first few days in my tank:
And more recently:
Mine seemed to open mostly for the first few days, then spent about a week closed up, I don't know if that's normal or not but if it happens to you at least you've been warned.
Good luck, it's a nice piece!
Here was mine first few days in my tank:
And more recently:
iwishtofish
Active member
Good, and thanks!
Your elegance looks good (and good flow) for only a few days in your tank. When I got mine (much bigger than yours) it was closed up and ****ed off looking for at least a week to 10 days before it started to adjust.
Mine seemed to open mostly for the first few days, then spent about a week closed up, I don't know if that's normal or not but if it happens to you at least you've been warned.
Good luck, it's a nice piece!
Very nice piece, KJoFan! Interesting how it closed up for so long, initially. You ruled out a coral banded shrimp, right?
Thank you for the comments.
iwishtofish
Active member
Anyone have any clever ideas, by chance, on a permanent mount for this coral? I've heard a piece of pvc suggested several times, but would prefer something I could put the skeletal stalk in and shape around it a bit better.
Is it safe to cut off the tip of the stalk?
Is it safe to cut off the tip of the stalk?
iwishtofish
Active member
End of Day 4
Still doing ok, I think. The coral banded shrimp moved to the floor below, and the elegance is opening and closing with the light cycles. This evening, though, it may be just slightly more closed than it has been. Hard to tell, for sure. I look at it too much, I think.
I wonder if it is normal that it sometimes opens and closes a bit more, or a bit less? I still need to find a solution of what to mount it on, I think in its current location. A fake rock, with a hole cut in the top, perhaps? Ideas?
I'd also really like to know the symptoms of too much light. I wouldn't want to see them when it's too late!
Still doing ok, I think. The coral banded shrimp moved to the floor below, and the elegance is opening and closing with the light cycles. This evening, though, it may be just slightly more closed than it has been. Hard to tell, for sure. I look at it too much, I think.
I wonder if it is normal that it sometimes opens and closes a bit more, or a bit less? I still need to find a solution of what to mount it on, I think in its current location. A fake rock, with a hole cut in the top, perhaps? Ideas?
I'd also really like to know the symptoms of too much light. I wouldn't want to see them when it's too late!
Too much light can be characterized as really short, stubby tentacles and the flesh of the mouths puffed up. I also read somewhere if you see small white bands on the tentacles you're doing pretty good, if they go away it could mean trouble ahead. In addition, if you observe it when it's mostly closed up, i.e. at night, and the flesh extends over the edge of the skeleton, like a lip that's a good sign. If it starts pulling away from the edge it's receding, and again trouble. hth
iwishtofish
Active member
I appreciate that information! I don't remember seeing the bands on the tentacles, but I'll have a look tomorrow when the lights are on. It's too dark, even with a light on in the room, to really examine the coral flesh were it meets the skeleton - besides, the coral is still out quite a bit. But I'll keep an eye out for that!
Incidentally, my lights (all 6 bulbs) are on for the full 7 hours now. I started with slightly shorter photoperiods the first several days.
Small water change tomorrow. Maybe it will like that.
elegance coral
They call me EC
It takes a really strong and healthy, or at least recently healthy, elegance to have the light colored bands around the tentacles. I wouldn't stress over the fact that yours doesn't have them right now. Given time, in the right environment, they will appear.
The light colored bands, or tiny specs, are created by nematocysts (stinging cells) within the tentacles. Venom is very biologically expensive to produce. The more resources the coral has for developing venom and nematocysts, The more abundant they will become. As they get more abundant, they start gathering in bands around the tentacle. This may be an adaptation to allow light to penetrate the tentacle. This can be compared to humans. As an example. A pro athlete is considered very healthy, and they typically have more muscle mass than the average guy. The average guy can still be considered healthy even though they don't have the muscle mass of the athlete.
Your coral can still be considered "healthy" even though it doesn't have the white bands.
You can see the light colored bands on the tentacles of this coral.
IMHO, the flow is to strong on this coral, and most likely the reason it isn't expanding as large as it could. The polyp shouldn't be curled under and plastered against the skeleton by the flow like that. It's just MHO though.
The light colored bands, or tiny specs, are created by nematocysts (stinging cells) within the tentacles. Venom is very biologically expensive to produce. The more resources the coral has for developing venom and nematocysts, The more abundant they will become. As they get more abundant, they start gathering in bands around the tentacle. This may be an adaptation to allow light to penetrate the tentacle. This can be compared to humans. As an example. A pro athlete is considered very healthy, and they typically have more muscle mass than the average guy. The average guy can still be considered healthy even though they don't have the muscle mass of the athlete.
Your coral can still be considered "healthy" even though it doesn't have the white bands.
You can see the light colored bands on the tentacles of this coral.
IMHO, the flow is to strong on this coral, and most likely the reason it isn't expanding as large as it could. The polyp shouldn't be curled under and plastered against the skeleton by the flow like that. It's just MHO though.
iwishtofish
Active member
EC, thank you very much for that information! I am planning on getting a replacement powerhead to tone things down. I hope the coral can tolerate the extra flow for another week or so. Does being a bit more closed up hurt the coral?
I was pleased that it didn't close up all the way last night. Perhaps the absence of the pesky CBS contributed to that.
I was pleased that it didn't close up all the way last night. Perhaps the absence of the pesky CBS contributed to that.
elegance coral
They call me EC
The high flow can lead to problems. These corals are prone to polyp bail out, and there is anecdotal evidence that high flow rates may be a contributing factor. The coral isn't able to relax and fully expand when the flow is high. This means the coral can gather less light, there's less photosynthesis taking place, and the coral receives less nutrition from its zooxanthellae.
I believe you're right about the CBS. I'm glad it's gone.
I believe you're right about the CBS. I'm glad it's gone.
iwishtofish
Active member
I understand. I will cut off the biggest powerhead, and try to rearrange the other two to keep the galaxea sweepers going away from the elegance. 
The elegance was pretty mad at me today, for stirring up a lot of detritus and doing a small water change. I had a very small temperature change, 1-degree or so, and the pH dropped from 8.07-8.08 down to 8.05.
The puffiness has gone away already, so we'll see how the day pans out with lower flow, clearer water, and, hopefully, not too much light.
Lights were off during all this, btw.
The elegance was pretty mad at me today, for stirring up a lot of detritus and doing a small water change. I had a very small temperature change, 1-degree or so, and the pH dropped from 8.07-8.08 down to 8.05.
The puffiness has gone away already, so we'll see how the day pans out with lower flow, clearer water, and, hopefully, not too much light.
Lights were off during all this, btw.
iwishtofish
Active member
Yours is very beautiful. I'm glad it found its spot!
Mine is kind of at the mercy of me, regarding finding a happy spot.
End of Day 5
Not a happy day for the elegance. A lot of changes in the tank, and I don't think it likes that. I had small pH and temperature changes after a small water change (6g), and I stirred up a lot of detritus. I also cut off the big powerhead, and played a bit with the flow. So the coral scrunched up a bit more than it has been doing with just daylight in the room.
When I got home this evening, I noticed The coral hadn't expanded greatly, even with the new, very low flow. Also, there were a couple really long strands of mucus coming (I assume) from some mouths:
So, I don't know what I'm doing - probably more harm than good. I'm not going to mess with the coral for a while (except to try feeding), and we'll see what happens. I'll order another smaller powerhead, and that may be installed in less than a week.
I'll still report daily, just in case any prospective elegance buyers have any interest in all this.
sjwitt
New member
Please do continue to update. I would love to have an EC ... I got one early on when I first started this hobby. As a newbie back then I didn't know how hard they were to keep and of course the LFS told me they were 'easy'. Well, it didn't make it, and now I won't even look at them because they seem like goniopora ... nearly impossible to keep alive.
That one you have is beautiful by the way.
That one you have is beautiful by the way.
iwishtofish
Active member
Thank you!
Thank you, sjwitt. I'm sorry you lost your first one. I think I'll keep trying even if I lose this one. If it comes to it, I'll try a smaller one next time around (less $$).
This one is looking pretty good this morning. It is already expanded as much as it was at the end of the lighting period last night, if not more, so it will be fun to see what the day brings. Maybe I finally got the flow right.
I don't believe this coral likes change. If it looks like it is going to do well, I may try to rig a gallon-a-day water change system, using larger reservoirs and Aqua Lifter pumps with timers. Or just do it manually, which might be easier.
iwishtofish
Active member
Day 6
Pleasantly surprised when I got home today. Just a slew of pictures...
Pleasantly surprised when I got home today. Just a slew of pictures...
