Pipe organ care
- Thread starter GOSKN5
- Start date
Fallling
New member
A pipe organ was my first coral actually, and it's been a hardy trooper for me. I've had it 1-1/2 years now, and it survived the tank move (coral was in holding containers for a few weeks and got kind of neglected... lost a few things). They likes lots of flow... mine gets flow like for a leather or sps. They're suppose to like moderate to bright light, but I have mine on the bottom right now, and it's growing. Also have had it in the middle.
I've read the reason some people have success and others struggle really has to do with how it's fragged or cut of the mother colony. If't not cut off right, the polyps end up dying. I'm not sure how accurate that is, but makes sense to me (I can't remember exactly how it has to be cut). I recently had a frag of deepwater pipe organ, and it didn't make it... everything else in the tank (including sps) is fine.
I picked this frag in particular from the LFS because it looked very healthy. Most of the times I've been back, the pipe organ frags are a lot smaller and don't look very good. Kind of like my deepwater before it died.
I've read the reason some people have success and others struggle really has to do with how it's fragged or cut of the mother colony. If't not cut off right, the polyps end up dying. I'm not sure how accurate that is, but makes sense to me (I can't remember exactly how it has to be cut). I recently had a frag of deepwater pipe organ, and it didn't make it... everything else in the tank (including sps) is fine.
I picked this frag in particular from the LFS because it looked very healthy. Most of the times I've been back, the pipe organ frags are a lot smaller and don't look very good. Kind of like my deepwater before it died.
I've had mine for about 5 years. I have one in low flow and another (frag from that one) in medium flow, both near the bottom of the tank. They will collect detritus between the polyps, so either higher flow or (in my case) give them a blast of water once a week to clean it off. The skeleton is very light, so be careful not to blow them around. They can also collect GHA. Mine grew straight up about 8 inches over a few years without getting much wider. I hacked off the bottom 2 thirds without impacting it. They are one of my favorite corals with the red skeleton and small, flowery polyps.
Tinabloomfield
New member
I bought my very first coral from the frag swap in Sturgis MI, and the first one I picked was a red pipe organ. I was wondering how big it would get, and how long it will take it to get there? Im only using a 20 gallon right now, but am saving for a nice big tank
I've got the white polyp one, and it's growing like crazy for the 3 years I've had it. Went from nickel sized to 8 inches across in that time. Would be bigger if my frogspawn wasn't keeping it in check. I've got it in medium light, halfway up the tank, with strong intermittent flow. It's my favorite softie.
madweazl
Member
I have (had) a green polyp version; I pulled it from the tank a couple weeks ago as I went SPS dominant but it grew like a weed. Actually, I still have remnants that I've tried to kill on the LR but they come back rapidly. Think I'm gonna have to put epoxy over them to kill the rest.
My tank stays 78.8°, dKH ~8, NO3 ~5, PO4 .03, Ca 430, Mg 1300. Has tolerated all flow rates I've thrown at it. Mine was in an area with 60 PAR. Picture taken a few minutes after breaking it off the rock it was attached to.
Parts that were left behind that I tried to mash up but keep coming back.
My tank stays 78.8°, dKH ~8, NO3 ~5, PO4 .03, Ca 430, Mg 1300. Has tolerated all flow rates I've thrown at it. Mine was in an area with 60 PAR. Picture taken a few minutes after breaking it off the rock it was attached to.
Parts that were left behind that I tried to mash up but keep coming back.
My pipe organ is only about 6 weeks old. I initially put it in a medium light / medium flow area of the tank and it looked great for about two weeks, then one day it stopped opening up -- like 100% closed.
I waited 4 or 5 days for it to open on it's own, but it didn't. Instead, I started seeing a really light layer of green fuzz beginning to grow on it so I figured it was time to try something else.
At that point I moved it to another part of the tank (high light, high flow) and it started opening up the very next day. By day-2 of the new location it was fully open and has appeared to thrive ever since. Yay coral! (see pic 1)
Problem solved? I guess not, because yesterday and today it is only half-open (see pic 2). Between the polyps you can see the green fuzz becoming more prominent. I thought that the polyps being fully extended all day would deprive the green fuzz of light and choke it out but that doesn't seem to be happening for some reason.
What is the best way to get that fine green fuzz algae off of fragile, sensitive corals like pipe organs?
I waited 4 or 5 days for it to open on it's own, but it didn't. Instead, I started seeing a really light layer of green fuzz beginning to grow on it so I figured it was time to try something else.
At that point I moved it to another part of the tank (high light, high flow) and it started opening up the very next day. By day-2 of the new location it was fully open and has appeared to thrive ever since. Yay coral! (see pic 1)
Problem solved? I guess not, because yesterday and today it is only half-open (see pic 2). Between the polyps you can see the green fuzz becoming more prominent. I thought that the polyps being fully extended all day would deprive the green fuzz of light and choke it out but that doesn't seem to be happening for some reason.
What is the best way to get that fine green fuzz algae off of fragile, sensitive corals like pipe organs?
