cloves?

[joshuawilliamson21]

I think these are cloves, If so what are their needs? Lighting, food, flow?

 

[mr_X]

they will grow in pretty much any setting. no food is necessary, medium lighting and flow should be fine.

 

[joshuawilliamson21]

Oh alright well they have been closing much more than usually lately and I was wondering if I could do anything to encourage them to open up

 

[mr_X]

how long have you had them? what are your parameters?

 

[joshuawilliamson21]

I've had them for about 5 months, I have a t5 unit for lighting, just a regular 300 g/h power head, and I keep tempeture at 75-77 f ph 8.4 and I have been putting phyto and oyster feast into the tank (not target feeding) if you need any more info ill tell you oh yea the salinityh has been a bit hight but I've slowly been brining it down and almost no amonia

 

[mr_X]

almost no ammonia is likely the reason they aren't happy. stop putting food in the tank and do some water changes to remove the excess nutrients.
everything that coral needs is in your salt mix.

 

[0o.Kelsey.o0]

It kind of looks like pulsing xenia too, just a thought

 

[mr_X]

you can see the centers of the polyps towards the bottom. the color might be different, but see the resemblance-

 

[0o.Kelsey.o0]

you can see the centers of the polyps towards the bottom. the color might be different, but see the resemblance-

Oh yes I can kind of make them out now that I look closely.

 

[joshuawilliamson21]

I do regular changes but the food is for the other corals in my tank but I think I will stop putting so much in there because the cloves are the only corals that are not open and in my opinion they are the prettiest one question though, how does ammonia affect the corals? I thought it was a bad thing to have

 

[mr_X]

what corals need phyto and oyster feast? i'm betting you don't need to add that stuff at all. feeding the fish is all the food you need to add to the tank.

ammonia is poison. i would imagine it effects corals just like it effects fish and humans for that matter. there should not be any detectable ammonia or nitrite in a cycled tank.....ever.

 

[joshuawilliamson21]

Its not any corals in particular my pet store manger strongly advised it when my corals weren't opening even in perfect conditions. I have many zoo polyps, many mushrooms, cloves, cult leather, frogspawn, aussie war coral, a unidentified chalace coral frag, metallic green brain, and 5 candy cane coral heads

 

[mr_X]

i disagree with the advice of the pet store manager. actually, the LPS you have listed can be target fed meaty foods, but will definitely not benefit from the phyto and oyster feast, and either will the rest of your coral list.
it's time to get the water as clean as possible. this is the best thing you can do for your corals at this time.

 

[joshuawilliamson21]

Oh ok well normaly I have taken his advice because he has been in the salt and fresh water buisness for years and the advice he gives is usually acurate and benificial, so one more question what mirobes do cloves eat?

 

[mr_X]

mirobes?i don't know what they are.
they are photosynthetic. they get what they need from the light. very little from the water column. feeding the fish is more than enough food.
just a FYI, people who work at and/or own stores generally do what's in their best interest to do, and that's sell stuff.
i'm not saying that's the case here, but i am saying that you don't ever need to add any phytoplankton or oyster feast to your tank again and you can have a thriving, successful, reef.
lastly, the store managers idea is that the lack of food that would make the cloves close up. if anything they would be open, trying to catch food, right?

 

[joshuawilliamson21]

Haha sorry I ment to say microbes ,tiny single celled orginisms, but I didn't really know most of their energy came from photosynthesis and the manager is a really good friend, I work at the pet shop. Thanks for all the advice!

 

[mr_X]

quoted from live aquaria-
The symbiotic algae zooxanthellae hosted within their bodies is responsible for providing the majority of their nutritional requirements via the algae's light drive process of photosynthesis. They also benefit from weekly feedings of micro-plankton or foods designed for filter feeding invertebrates.