What's the latest on elegance?

[reverendmaynard]

Re: Show Elegance

Re: Show Elegance

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7730815#post7730815 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by David_agg05

Fixed those pics for you.

That's awesome. I can only hope to have mine grow like that. I do plan on feeding it often, with brine, mysis, krill, cyclopeeze, whatever it'll eat.

 

[AQUA DAVE]

pic

pic

trying to get pic on here

 

[reverendmaynard]

:lol: Beat you to it!

 

[AQUA DAVE]

thanks, I normally don't post pics on here so i appriciate it

 

[AQUA DAVE]

Also if you don't have any scetchy anemones, I would dose your tank with some Maracyn(saltwater) at half strength until that cyano bacteria goes away. It can be deadly of not delt with quickly.

 

[AQUA DAVE]

looks like you have some in your sandbed, or is it a diatom outbreak?

 

[reverendmaynard]

No, it's cyano. I'm not ready to go with the antibiotics, but I'm considering it.

 

[AQUA DAVE]

cyano

cyano

I have used the maracyn many times and it has worked beautifully. Just make sure to use it at half strength and then run carbon to clean your system of it. I would be carefull of it overtaking your sand bed. Another thing, flow normally has alot to do with cyano outbreaks and light also. Its weird stuff. And as far as people telling you what you have to do with certain corals, its all science they will tell you somthing and falsefy it the next day. They find new things with corals and behaviors every day. After all, we are talking about the least explored part of the earth the ocean. The possibilities are endless.

 

[reverendmaynard]

Yeah, I've heard alot of success stories using antibiotics, chemi-clean, etc. Unfortunately, I've also heard alot of horror stories.

Right now, I don't believe the cyano is negatively affecting anything in my tank, except aesthetics, so I'm not willing to take the risk. If it starts overtaking some corals or something, I'll have to reconsider taking more drastic measures.

My tank is still somewhat new, and is constantly evolving, so I'm hoping that at a certain point I'll start winning the battle against the DOCs that are the true source of my problem. I've added macro and better lighting to my fuge (about 2 months ago now), increased flow considerably (doubled it about 2 weeks ago with a closed loop), and tweaked up my skimmer a little to get more consistent skimming output. These gradual improvements have so far worked against all other forms of nuisance algae, but this cyano is tough. I'm going to embark on a campaign of manual removal this weekend (I've never really siphoned the main tank before) to see if I can get ahead of it. Like I said, to me, chemicals are the last resort, and I don't want to use them simply for aesthetic appeal. When/if the cyano becomes a danger to my livestock, then I'll reconsider.

Question on feeding the elegance: When target feeding, do you feed the tentacles or the mouths? Does yours have any favorite foods, or ones it refuses?

 

[AQUA DAVE]

I target feed mine with a turkey baster with a mix of meaty foods choped up really small. I spray it all thru the tentacles and all over the mouths. I don't do it very often though. I would say that I feed him once ever month or so. If you think about it they live on zoo plankton in the ocean so i let mine do the same. I try not to change its captive environment from its natural environment. One way you can target feed is to turn off all your pumps and do as i said before. It's easier for the elegance to grab the food that way. But like i said before they don't get the water flow stoped to eat in the wild. From experiance, my elegance likes higher flow. If i turn the pumps off it shrinks drasticly mainly because its tentacles aren't extended in the water collum anymore. Another thing, I don't run carbon very much at all. The elegance seems to do much better in a (dirty) tank. My phyto is high and my zooplankton is high because of this i think. I still get good colors with my sps and all of my LPS are looking amazing. I have a branching hamer that has split its heads 4 times since i got it, grown three times its initial size. People seem to be on a carbon kick these days. IF i run carbon i run very little. I also do not use or recomend the use of a UV sterilizer. It is bad for plankton, the only thing i would say to use one on is a hospital tank.

 

[Jeremy Blaze]

Here is a side view of mine,

 

[reverendmaynard]

nice!

 

[sarai826]

I've had my elegance for just over 6 months. It's nearly doubled in size in that time, and continues to look happy and healthy. I dose with decap'd brine and DT's, but don't direct feed or anything like that. So far so good in my tank!

 

[whatcaneyedo]

Congradulations to everyone who has been having good luck with this coral. I recently got bit by the LPS bug after only keeping softies for the longest time. Over the past 6 months I have bought a Candy Cane, then an open brain, then a frogspawn and a torch, and then a plate. One week ago one the the LFS brought in a really nice looking neon green Elegance which was directly shipped from bali. I remembered in the back of my head that these were for some reason pretty hard to keep but I thought that with all of my other LPS doing so well I'd give it a shot.

So that was one week ago and the elegance is now brown slime. Everything else continues to do well so I guess I'd like to just warn everyone who was getting all excited reading these success stories. This is the second coral to ever die in my tank in the 2+ years that I have been keeping corals.