Sun coral... sps?

[mil hse]

Just picked one of these up from my LFS. i know they don't like light and like flow but mine only seem to open up when i feed and even then it not all the way? Any suggestion? water s in good condition. 1 gal water changes about every 3 days.(out of 6 gal nano) lighting is 2x18 watt T-5. coral in out of direct light and in good flow. Do they need Dark? any help would be great.

 

[Nanook]

[moved]

 

[fishieness]

Dark would help, but they will definitely open up fine in the light if fed. Just feed often and lots. Squirt a bunch of food over them with the flow off and let them open up after a few minutes, and then feed again. you can also take it out and feed it in a bowl so that you don't have tons and tons excess food to rot in your tank.
Or to isolate it and protect all of them from fish and shrimp, you can cut the bottom off of a plastic soda bottle and put the top over it. Then it wont float all around and get lost.

 

[mil hse]

What are you feeding it?

 

[aaron1987]

Feed it every 3 days minimum with meaty food that not too large to digest (mysis sized). As long as the coral isn't bleaching I wouldn't worry about the light... my colonies are in full 150w lighting and show no ill effects whatsoever and are open most of the day. You've got to train them to feed at a specific time and over a few weeks they should respond. By far the easiest way to do this is to remove them from the tank for feeding until it becomes more quickly responsive to avoid polluting your water.

 

[mil hse]

Ok sounds easy enough. Its a easy spot to take out. Should i just put it in a bowl and feed it that way?

 

[aaron1987]

Bowl, tupperware, whatever works for you. Fill it with tank water and then toss the water.