First Coral

[sevise]

I picked up my first coral today. Its a Green Star Polyp about 3" in Diameter. I know they can be a weed but I was looking for something hardy and relatively cheap to "test the water" before I invested in some larger more expensive varieties. The LFS owner said it would be a few days before it opened up but it seems to have opened up quite a bit in the 6 hours since I introduced him into the tank.

I expect that if anything will go wrong it will do so in less than 2 weeks. In the event it dies I'll wait a little longer, if It survives I'll start to add some more corals. Is 2 weeks long enought to gauge its reaction?

 

[steve-s]

GSP's will generally open fully as soon as the lights come on if healthy and in the right positioning. As far as when they might not be doing well they will remain closed and begin to shrink. They typically do not noticabley "die" but rather waste away/shrink to nothing. As long as the coral opens normally, has good color and polyp extension you should be good to go water specs permitting.

The tanks been running about 3 months now?


Cheers
Steve

 

[Bearfan]

Congrats! I know I am sticking to mostly softies for now until I get better at SW.

 

[sevise]

The tanks been running about 3 months now?

Just over, LR went in 23 of Sep. Its been a pretty smoth ride. I've got some cyano starting in the main now but I lost most of my nutrient export when I upgraded sumps. I have 5 'baseballs' of chaeto coming in tommarow which should hopefully take care of that.

Congrats! I know I am sticking to mostly softies for now until I get better at SW.

Same here. If everything goes well I'd like to get some button polyps and a small leather or toadstool, in hopes that when I get my clownfish they'd host it.

The only hard corals I'm looking at are acropora simply because I think my school(7) of Blue Green Chromis needs someplace to hide. Thats a ways off though, it'll take me months to research kalk reactors and all that jazz.

 

[XXFirefighter]

sounds like your on the right path !
I'd give it a month to make sure all is well then SLOWLY expand your collection !

 

[sevise]

I think they look better now than they did at the LFS.

 

[spongeynip]

nice corals . I too am planning on getting Green Star Polyps from my LFS for my fist coral. Let me know how that turns out

 

[Oqsy]

I just got the same coral about a week ago and it is also my first. My tank has been running about 4-5 months with damsels and live rock. However, mine has still not opened and I haven't seen the polyps since it left the LFS. All my water parameters matched that of the lfs except I have more light and slightly higher flow. should I move the coral to another spot or leave it alone? should I feed it when it's closed up, or wait until the polyps extend so that I don't foul the water with uneaten food? thanks in advance...

Oqsy

 

[GrndHog]

Great start Sevise, let the addiction begin!!!!

 

[sevise]

I have far more light than the LFS. The LFS had a couple blue tubes(not sure what kind). I have 2x 250MH and 4x 54W T5s. They are at the top of my rockwork maybe 8 inches deep so they're getting blasted. I did have to a adjust a powerhead because when it was right on them they'd retract a bit. I have it blowing "over" them now so they wave some and they seem happier.

 

[lando]

I love GSP. they are known as an "encrusting" coral. They will eventually spread to the rocks around them. I have a huge lush colony that has spread out a lot since I got it.

 

[Oqsy]

I just got the same coral about a week ago and it is also my first. My tank has been running about 4-5 months with damsels and live rock. However, mine has still not opened and I haven't seen the polyps since it left the LFS. All my water parameters matched that of the lfs except I have more light and slightly higher flow. should I move the coral to another spot or leave it alone? should I feed it when it's closed up, or wait until the polyps extend so that I don't foul the water with uneaten food? thanks in advance...

Oqsy

any ideas?

 

[steve-s]

Position the coral in the first ½ of the tank and an area with med-low flow for now. They sometimes just take time to adjust. GSP's will tolerate a fair amount of flow but nothing direct or sustained and will adapt to a wide range of light settings. Directly feeding them is pretty much pointless.

Cheers
Steve

 

[ilikefish]

ya i have GSP's in my 29 gallon right in the middle.they definitley dont like direct flow well... basically everything steve-s said is right.Iv had them for about 3 months now and have never fed them and they are doing just fine.I actualy took a piece of the purple base and glued it to another rock to propagate it.Maybe ill try n sell it later on who knows? have fun with them.

 

[Oqsy]

thanks for the help. I might have overcompensated when I read about how they like "moderate" flow... I had it right in the middle of the tank in the path of the outflow from a HOB, and the turbulence from 2 large sponge filters all mixing together... on a positive note, I also have a piece of purple base with a few polyps that has separated from the main section, and is looking good on top of a bare piece of base rock (sterile old LR). does anyone have specific temp, SG, and other environmental levels preferred by GSPs? I realize this is an ultra-noob question, but I'm just not having much luck at present. Thanks again for the tips with the water flow, I'll move the little guy tomorrow.

Oqsy

 

[steve-s]

does anyone have specific temp, SG, and other environmental levels preferred by GSPs?

The best suggestion is maintain an "average" for all your marine animals unless you are setting up a region specific tank.

Salinity 35 ppt (1.025 SG depending on temp), temp 78-80°, water flow 10x tank volume or higher depending on corals kept. NH3 and NO2 should always be zero but NO3 is a little more forgiving but the lower the better. Again depending on what you keep below 10 ppm is best.

Chemistry for scleractinians is best maintain within the upper limits of NSW but there is no need to go beyond that. In fact you'll get healthier growth if you don't. Alk 1.5-3 mEq/l, Ca 380-420 ppm and Mg should be 3x the level of the Ca. All other minor trace elements should be maintained by the saltmix, most additives are completely unneccessary and the chances to poison the tank is quite high. The salt should maintain the Alk, Ca and Mg until demands surpasses the salts ability to keep up and then a balanced additive would be required.

Cheers
Steve

 

[sevise]

My toadstool was acting weird for the past 2 days. 2 days ago it looked recessed and started to retarct all the polyps and the lights started going out. Yesterday it never opened. Today when I woke it was fully opened but had sheddings still hanging from it.

I know they do this from time to time. Is there a cycle to it or is it just in response to a stressor?

 

[steve-s]

There no real rhyme or reason as to when. Most times it's in response to something else. They will occassionally due it to remove impurities that have built up as well. I would not be too concerned unless it happens frequently.

Cheers
Steve

 

[sevise]

I saw one of my emeralds picking at it tonight. I've seen the hermits pick at the "sheddings) before but I couldn't tell whether the emerald was cleaning up the dead tissue or was going after the living.

I plan to move the toadstoll a little lower this weekend. Its on the top shelf right now and I doubt he needs all that light. I plan to move him to the end of my rockwall and about 6-8" deeper. I'm hoping that when I release my percs into the tank they will host him and limit there territoy to the end of the tank. Plus I can see that end of my tank from my desk.

 

[Jonathan G.]

Im still new and getting ready to set up my 75 gl. i Was Wondering if you need MH's to grow soft coral or is pc's are fine.