Tips and hints for your Corals..

[jsmith]

I figured I would start a thread on some good ideas on corals.. sometimes our handy dandy note books doesnt much to offer in terms of special tricks to get the best out of our corals... two really good ideas I have found out on two picky corals of mine were:

Birds nest. There's a good symbolic relationship between porcelain crabs and spa corals ( in this case the crab has protection and the coral stays clean).. I just purchased mine however my friends whom have birds nests as well swear by it.. I've witnessed one start out about the size of a tennis ball and has bow become slightly larger then a softball.. I've read similar experinces on the net..

Chili coral. After lurching mine I couldn't seem to get it to have its polyps come out nor even get it to stand up... only thing on various website said feed plankton non photosynic keep in indirect light moderate flow... in researching further after purchase I found these guys like to be placed upside down! I did just that and I've seen a 180 degree differnce already.

Any other tip or tricks you guys use that are not easily available when reading information on various websites?

 

[rdnelson99]

I am going to follow along with this one. I have two small frag but as soon as I finish stocking fish I am moving on to the corals. Could use all the ideas I can get.

 

[tarpon]

"Ive seen a 180 degree difference already"
Pun!

 

[Tracie6283]

Def following this. Were starting to get into corals and anything we can learn will be greatly appreciated!

 

[Ricksreef]

One thing to be careful of is water flow.Example,I have seen some aquarium pictures where a Hammer had so much water flow that it's tentacles were stretched way out and you could see it's skeleton.It is supposed to have medium flow and the tentacles should sway and you should't see it's base at all.

 

[jsmith]

"Ive seen a 180 degree difference already"
Pun!

Lol didn't catch that. Everything is doing really great.. I had a n issue a month or so ago with alot of my corals closing up.. ended up loosing my plate coral..everything has as come back full force..

 

[Gregcoyote]

Great idea. I have found out quite an bit about which leather corals will mix. For example Antelllia (waving hand) mixes well with mushrooms and other corals, but seems to be toxic to colt corals (and I suspect it is also harmful to Kenya tree corals). Mushrooms burn almost all SPS corals I have tested.

But the most important thing I think I have found is how important a varied flow pattern is. Flow from one constant direction is tolerated by some corals but not others.

 

[Greenturtle]

All mushrooms, even ricordeas, will not stick to Coral/Super Glue. From experience...

 

[Greenturtle]

Oh, and certain Zoanthids grow faster than others. IME the more green zoas grow much faster than any other zoas, and there were like 5 different colors on the same rock.

 

[Gregcoyote]

Oh, and certain Zoanthids grow faster than others. IME the more green zoas grow much faster than any other zoas, and there were like 5 different colors on the same rock.

The different colored zoas are different colors because they reflect back light at those frequencies. Is green the most efficient color? Why do they express different pigments?

 

[Ricksreef]

All mushrooms, even ricordeas, will not stick to Coral/Super Glue. From experience...

You're right,rubber band when possible,or use small piece of rubble rock in sand in shot glass until they attach to the rock,then place it where you want them.

 

[slitherbomb]

Can anyone tell me why the 2 mushrooms I bought melted away within two days? Lol all parameters normal, SG 1.026 trates 10. My lighting is 6x39w t5ho

 

[melosu58]

Several post removed for being off topic. Please keep all post on topic. Thanks for understanding.

 

[Greenturtle]

The different colored zoas are different colors because they reflect back light at those frequencies. Is green the most efficient color? Why do they express different pigments?

Green is the color of the sugars that most plants make when they make energy. That is why almost all plants are green. I assume that has something to do with the growth rate of the zoas.

 

[Gubernaculum86]

Green is the color of the sugars that most plants make when they make energy. That is why almost all plants are green. I assume that has something to do with the growth rate of the zoas.

Actually green is the color of chlorophyll a, which is the most common light catching pigment in plants. Im not sure what pigments the symbiotic zooxanthelle that live in the coral have. Might have to go dig through my coral reef ecology class notes.

 

[tarpon]

I have not read this anywhere, But im 99% sure that a coral would not have chlorophyll

 

[Gregcoyote]

I have not read this anywhere, But im 99% sure that a coral would not have chlorophyll

If it is a true algae in the corals tissues, and algae is plant life, wouldn't chlorophyll have to be involved?

 

[Gubernaculum86]

If it is a true algae in the corals tissues, and algae is plant life, wouldn't chlorophyll have to be involved?

Did some quick looking through my notes and some journal articles and found that the zooxanthellae contain "chlorophylls a and c, B-carotene,and the xanthophylls perdinin, and neo-perdinin, diadinoxantbin, dinoxanthin".

 

[tarpon]

Ohh. I just said that bc i think of corals as more of an animal and very different from a plant. Thats all

 

[tdwright1971]

Can anyone tell me why the 2 mushrooms I bought melted away within two days? Lol all parameters normal, SG 1.026 trates 10. My lighting is 6x39w t5ho

Light shock? or maybe they were already on their way downhill, or maybe something in the water chemical warfare from other corals?