Soft Coral help

[wrestle1952]

I have a 50 gallon breeder tank with a Coralife Superskimmer I use as an HOB, Hagen Aquaclear with Chemipure Elite and 2 X 250 watt MH HQI using 20K bulbs. I dose daily with Aqua C 2 part. My monti caps have taken on a surge of growth since I switched from B-Ionic. Can't really say for sure if that added to the growth but that is the one thing that has changed. My acros have also shown more growth though not as fast. I recently added an orange ricordea, 5 heads of blue zoos, and a leather coral. They are all located at the bottom of my tank. This is my first venture into softies since 1986 when I first started reefing. The ricordea has shrunk though the color is still good and same case with the blue zoos. My leather coral had beautiful extended polyps. I tried attaching it to a rock using a rubber band and it broke off into 4 different pieces but the polyps are still extending quite nicely. How do I get them to attach? I tried super glue and it didn't work very well. I don't have another tank so I can't move the corals. Can anyone give me some help?

 

[KarlBob]

Super glue doesn't tend to work because leather corals periodically shed their outer layer, which takes the glue with it.

One trick I've found very helpful is to use a needle and thread to pierce a leather frag and tie it to a piece of live rock. Once the coral has attached, you can cut the thread and remove it. Just don't use a needle that you plan to use again for sewing.

A similar trick that I've seen involves the use of toothpicks. Poke the toothpick through the coral, cut the toothpick to the desired length, and wedge or glue the toothpick into place in the live rock. I suppose this should work with wooden toothpicks, but I've only seen it done with plastic ones.

The ricordia and the blue zoos may have been in a tank with much less intense lighting. Given time, they will probably adapt. I'm not an expert on ricordeas, having just bought my first one recently, but here's the placement advice I was given: Place the ricordea at an angle to the light, not directly perpendicular (flat). Supposedly, it will angle itself closer to perpendicular if it needs more light.