Toadstool Leather Not Flourishing

[lazluvtoo]

I have a toadstool leather coral that is surviving but struggling to flourish. I have it located near the top of the surface for maximum lighting nutrition. It tries from time to time to sprout it's "needles" just a bit, but never seems to advance from that point. My lighting consists of compacs...two sets of VHOs and two sets of actinic blues.

Suggestions?

TIA,
LL2

 

[SeaMac2]

I'm a little confused by your lighting setup...can you explain it again and list what wattage the bulbs are? Are they PCs or VHOs or a combination of both (thats where I got confused)?

Also, what are your water parameters? Specifically, ammonia/nitrite/nitrate/
phosphate/calcium/alkalinity/salinity/pH/temperature.

Lastly, what other corals are you keeping in the tank? Do you run carbon at all? Do you have a skimmer?

Chris

 

[lazluvtoo]

Chris,

Thanks for the reply. My lighting consists of 4 sets of power compacts...2 sets are VHO and 2 sets are actinic blues. Does that make sense? Amonia is 0, phosphates run moderate, other levels are normal, calcium runs around 480. Temp 78. I run chemipure in my sump changing it every 3 months. I have a protein skimmer running as well.

Corals...I have a bubble, lots of mushrooms, button polyps, open brain, and a carpet anenome. I do have a moderate degree of flat worms, which mostly hang on the mushrooms.

Thanks,
Cindy

 

[apurintun]

In my experience, sarcophyton are sometimes picky about flow -- try giving it more, or less, and see how it responds. Also, mine have stayed mostly closed for as long as a week when they're not quite happy. When I tweak something, they open right up. Also it could be too much light -- I only say this because mine seem to thrive under fairly low light (I have 4 x 55 w PCs over a 54 gal corner; but I only run two bulbs most of the time, so the light is pretty dim).

 

[durango_doug]

Power compact and VHO (very high output) are two different types of lamps. Do you mean that you have two white colored power compacts and two actinic colored power compacts?

I quickly learned that my leathers do horrible under a lot of light. You might try placing it more towards the bottom of the tank.

 

[lazluvtoo]

Thanks for the input! I'll try moving it towards the bottom of the tank where it won't receive as much lighting.

 

[Hendersonracing]

I have mine on the sand and he loves it!

 

[Hendersonracing]

here is a new frag I just got only 30 minutes under the halides..

 

[2fishy]

Not sure if this would help either, but you may want to try adding some activated carbon into your filter. I don't have any of these corals, but had posted for a friend a few weeks back regarding the health of their aquarium, and it was recommended that they add activated coral to help absorb some of the chemical warfare that may have been happening between the leather and other corals in the aquarium. I haven't checked back with that person to see if they tried it or not, but I have read on other posts that they do keep activated carbon in their aquarium to prevent this same thing from happening.

 

[alde]

For those who say they don't like lots of light I have a toadstool flourishing under 400 watt MH lights. It has grown straight up to the water surface and is always wide open with polyps extended just 2 inches under the water surface. This tank also has some SPS so there is plenty of flow. It's right under a return that puts out lots of water. It seems to like the high flow. My return pump is a Mag 24 with one tee. I also run carbon.

If yours is not opening I would think it's a water quality problem. They are very hardy corals but still need good water quality. Run some carbon and start doing 10 % weekly water changes. How long have you had the coral? Sometimes they just take time to settle in.

 

[lazluvtoo]

Thanks for all the input! I am going to try some water changes and lower the toadstool further away from the lights and see what happens.