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More specifics on lighting and coral species
11/7/11 Diamond Back Goby and Open Brain Corals --
10/04/10 Coral Lighting 4/16/10 Neon Candy Cane Polyps/Health/Systems 2/15/10
Favia placement 09/09/08 Hello WWM, Will Acanthastrea lordhowensis, Blastomussa, and/or Favia sp. tolerate being placed adjacent to each other, <In a word... no. Blastomussa are generally peaceful. Acans are notorious for eating/digesting their neighbors. Favia sp. vary from species to species but are usually somewhere in-between Blastomussa and Acanthastrea in terms of aggression.> or will they attack each other? <The Acan would likely eat the other two. The Favia sp. might put up a good fight, but would likely ultimately lose.> I saw a photo online of an aquarium with several different colonies almost right up against each other on the substrate, but couldn't tell if they were all different colors of the same kind of coral. <Still pics don't often tell the whole story. Maybe they weren't getting along at all. We can't know from just one picture.> What about different types of the same species (i.e. asst'd. Acans with "Aussie" Acans, or Blasto "Merletti" together with "Wellsi", etc.), can they be placed next to each other? <Blastos should get along fine with their own kind. Most Favia sp. can be placed relatively close to each other (within reason), but should still be kept at least 4in apart (farther depending on the size of the coral and length of its feeders/sweepers). Acans are just mean. I would not put them next to each other or any other coral.> Also, I saw for sale online two Favia sp. colonies, one called "Aussie reverse prism Favia" and the other simply "Aussie prism Favia". What is meant by prism, as opposed to reverse prism? <It's likely just a way of describing what the coral looks like (in terms of color pattern and/or polyp shape). I highly doubt it means nothing of importance for IDing the coral or knowing its care requirements. It sounds like just another made up common name (like "fire and ice" Zoanthids, etc.).> Is there a difference? Thanks in advance, Chris S. <Best, Sara M.> Favia-Bleaching-Lighting? -03/28/08 I recently got a Favia specimen. It is about the size of my fist, and is for the most part a powder blue. It has long brown splotches around the ridges, but I am sure that this is the natural coloring. Though especially around the top and not around the sides of the coral it is beginning to become pale around the ridges, but not in the mouths. They are still very brilliant. I think that lighting is the issue. Is it possible for a Favia to have to much light? <Yes and no. They can acclimate to just about any level of lighting (even intense lighting). However, this takes time. It sounds like the coral is starting to bleach in response to a sudden change in lighting.> How much is good. The coral was about a 10 inches form the surface where there are two VHO bulbs. One is actinic and the other is 50/50. <What was it under previously, when you purchased it?> I recently moved it to the sandbed, which is about 18 inches from the surface. Was this right? What should I do? Are there anymore details I should include? <Again, if it's a lighting issue, it's an issue of *change* in lighting. You should find out what kind of lighting the coral was under previously, then try and place the coral under similar lighting before slowing moving it to where you want it. If it continues to bleach, be sure to feed it well. Bleaching is not a death sentence. Corals "often" bleach out, then recover. Please see here for some additional info on Faviid health: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/faviiddisfaqs.htm Best, Sara M.> Caulastrea, Faviid gen., sys. - 04/17/07 Hello crew, <Hi Nick, Mich with you today.> First off I just want to thank you all for such a great site. <Welcome! Glad you find it helpful!> It's been a very long time since I last wrote do to all the great info you guys provide. After many hours of reading on this site and others I would like some clarification on a couple of Q's. <Go for it!> First the stats; 55gal. with 29 gal. sump\refuge with 20 lbs. LR Caulerpa and Chaetomorpha in the fuge, 4"-6"DSB in main and refuge, 70lbs. LR in main, Pipe organ (doing great), purple mushrooms (doing great), Vietnamese Zoanthids (doing O.K.), Caulastrea (doing O.K.), small piece of some kind of Porites (doing good), 1 neon blue velvet damsel (starting to morph:(, 1 copperband butterfly ( not eating Aiptasia :( 1 scooter dragonet (just now eating prepared foods) <Wonderful!> 1 algae blenny, 1 peppermint shrimp (also doesn't eat Aiptasia :( <Mmm, I sensing a trend...> and 1 blue hippo tang (I know I know tank is to small but no fear my friends it is small yet and there is a brand new 125 gal. mega flow in the garage waiting for a stand which is on its way. <Yay!> This will be the future home for all fish except the copperband. Ammonia 0,Nitrite 0, total Nitrate 10-20ppm (is this still too high?) <Zero is better, but this isn't bad.> dKH 9, ph 8.0 in the morning and 8.2 at the end of the light cycle, temp. is a steady 79-80deg. Lights are PC 260 watt (130w 10,000k white and 130w actinic) this is a Coralife deally. The actinics come on 1hr. before the whites and stay on 1hr. after, 12hrs. of total run time. The fuge has a 40w 5,000k N.O. setup that stays on 24/7 <Chaetomorpha does better with a dark period, but if you have Caulerpa in the fuge also I would stick with the 24/7.> and works quite well (coralline algae even grows down there). Whew!! think that covers it for the stats. Oh yeah also has a canister filter for bio media and polyfilter. I perform a 10gal. water change twice a week with IO/DI water to keep nitrate in check. Clean my wonderful Seaclone 150 every 3 days to keep this wonderful technology working. By the way I was being sarcastic!! <Heeeeeeeeeeeee!> Although it does pull 2 cups a week of dark gunk a week if I stay on top of it. <Wow! I'm impressed!> I clean my canister out once every 2 weeks and replace the polyfilter once a month. The tank has been running for a year before any coral was added. O.K. time for the Q's. First I bought the Caulastrea about a week ago and I have been researching them for a couple of months. I have gotten some mixed suggestions but the general consensus is that it needs moderate flow and moderate light. So I placed it yesterday (after QT) in the middle of the tank about 10" from the light in a pretty low flow area. I have 2 MaxiJets one 1200 and one 900 pointing at the front glass at a 45 deg. angle. It is unobstructed and has direct light. Also I feed it once a day with mysis but after it eats, the mysis, about 30 min.s. later it pukes it back up. Is this because the food is too big? <Nope, what goes in must come out.> One more question if I may. The zoanthid I bought about a month ago is in the same type of conditions as the Caulastrea and in the first week had some die off and some polyps won't open. also there is some curling over of one side of several polyps. Any ideas on what this could be? <Not exactly, but try placing it in an area of higher/high flow at least temporarily. This often seems to help.> Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time <Welcome!> and hope you all have great day!! <I wish the same to you! -Mich> Nick P.S I don't use any supplements and only proper ph 8.2 for my water 24 hrs. before use. <Very good.> Favites brain coral frag Hello All, << Blundell here. >> Love your website. I have an 85 gallon flat back hex tank. It will be a reef tank. << Difficult to light. >> I currently have about 50 lbs of live rock and a 4" DSB. A Remora Pro protein skimmer. I only intend to keep LPS corals and some zoanthids. The lighting is a single 175 watt MH with two 32 watt PC actinic bulbs for supplement. The light is hanging 6 inches above the tank. The rocks are situated in a mound under the light. The tank was cycled for four months before any fish were added. The current occupants are two Saddleback Clowns and two Neon Gobies. I only intend to add a couple more fish. Last Friday I was able to win a Favites - Abide and a button polyp in an auction from the Brooklyn Aquarium Society. << Hey, I almost came to speak there... I wonder whatever happened. >> It seems to be doing well about 12 inches from the top of the tank. Last night for the first time I was able to see it's sweeper tentacles. The Button Polyp opened right away and is the size of a half dollar and there seem to be four more polyps at its base. I have few questions, should the Favites be placed on the sand bed instead of on the rock. I know that open brain corrals should be placed on the sand, but does the same rule apply to the Favites. << In this case, I'd say up on the rocks so it is closer to the light. >> Should each green center be fed or does the whole colony benefit from an individual mouth being fed. << The whole colony benefits from a feeding, but I like to rotate feeding each mouth. >> Also, the Favites frag had a small half inch piece fall on the sand. It seems to have part of the brown wall and some of the neon green center. I also saw it extend very small, what I think are sweeper tentacles. And there is another piece that is about a quarter inch in size that has some neon and some brown wall. Can both these pieces survive? << Yep. >> I believe that both pieces were frags that were loose on the 3" frag that I won. Should I leave them on the sand or should I mount them on the rocks. << I'd probably mount them. >> Thank you very much in advance for all your help. Dan << Blundell >> Favia care Hi guys, been a while since my last question to you. Hope you can help out... << I hope so to. >> Picked up my 1st true coral about a week ago, a Favia Pineapple Brain. About 2 inches in diameter, lovely fluorescing yellow-green in color. At the time I was also replacing my light hood from one 10K white + Actinic (40W ea) with a PC hood, 2 10K white + 2 Actinic (65W ea) + lunar led lights. I was hoping this would be sufficient to sustain my brain. << That is something you should check BEFORE buying the coral. But in this case I think you'll be fine. >> To recap the tank real quick, its a 72 gal bow-front << Not much light for a 72 gal. >> + 10G ' fuge, approx 60lbs live rock. 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, 10-15 nitrates. In my recent war against Cyano, I made sure I have aggressive circulation in the tank. 2 Maxijet 1200's, 2 MaxiJets 400's, & an Eheim compact (60gph) all on a Natural Wave time, arranged for an oscillating effect both high & low in the water column (high-left + low-right go 1st, then high-right + low left, on about 1 minute cycles). Filtration includes an Eheim Professional II (2 chamber, heated, marine compatible) & an AquaC Remora w/Maxijet 1200 + prefilter compartment. I placed the brain as high as I can currently, which is about 10 inches below the water surface (water column is approx 22 inches high overall). << Yeah keep it up high. >> I have not once seen my brain extend itself (sounds like a motivational issue, eh?). I've been feeding the tank about twice a week (beside regular fish feedings) alternating between ESV spray dried phytoplankton & Sweetwater jarred zooplankton. << I would add live phytoplankton or Cyclop-eeze or golden pearls. >> Now the brain has steadily been accruing what I am presuming to be diatoms on it. I consistently have a low-level growth of the stuff in the tank, presumably due to silicate in my well water (the well gets quite a bit of sand in it, a test kit for it is currently on order). Its not exactly covered with the stuff, but its slowly turning brown. << Increase the water flow around it. >> Info on Favias seems a bit spotty. Culled from myriad sites, my understanding is they should be relatively hardy, a good "beginner" coral, moderately tolerant of nutrients, requiring moderate current & not necessarily blasting light, & nocturnal in behavior. I believe I have met these conditions, but I just am not really sure if my Favia is still alive or not. << I wouldn't think of any stony coral as being a beginner coral. Certainly Anthelia and Xenia is the best beginner route. Maybe even mushrooms. >> One article had commented that they can accrue some detritus, but by giving them a bit more current, it should help clear it up. I tried to direct one of the MJ1200s to go right over it, but not so much that it gets blown off its perch. I understand that if the coral is nocturnal, it may be only very late at night that it comes out, & I just might not have stayed up late enough to see. << Well it can open in the day, if you feed it in the day. So that is why I suggest that live phytoplankton. That can really help out. >> So I guess what I'm asking, is how do I know if its still alive or not? I'll probably be getting an RO unit in due time for the well water, but that'll be a way down the road yet (looking hard at the Kold Ster-il). In the meantime, I am preparing to perform Boyd Enterprises Chemi-Clean on the tank, after which I will add Chemi-pure filter media to my Eheim. As always, thanks for your insights... << I'm not a fan of those products. I'd suggest water changes as well. >> Brainstorming, Pete Cushnie << Blundell >> Candy cane coral care god love IPSF.com, but their freebies freak me out! I got a free candy cane frag with a shipment. I have no experience keeping corals. << Well they are certainly easier to keep than fish. >> I can't keep it in the main tank due to my Toby. I am currently keeping it in my 10 g. refugium. It has amphipods and macroalgae, hermit crabs and has 65 watts of pc light. amm 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 0, cal 370, alk normal range. I supplement weekly with 2 part calcium, iodine and iron. The only potential problem I foresee is that the ecosystem design has a very weak current. << That isn't ideal, but lighting is a big issue. >> Will this coral survive in these conditions? I am also feeding it daily with zooplankton, Cyclop-eeze and Sweetwater plankton. Are those foods good? Any other things I need to be aware of? << Good foods, I'd just put it wherever you have the most amount of light. >> thanks, Angela << Blundell >> Candy Trumpet Coral -- where do I place this guy? 1/8/04 Hey guys. <Howdy Steve> It's a simple question, but I don't see an answer anywhere on your site. <no worries... we are simpletons with simple answers ready at hand <G>> So, thanks for taking the time. Do I put my trumpet coral in the sand or try to get his stony end into a hole in a rock? <they only occur on hard substrates and have shown a clear intolerance of heavy matter/sand being showered upon them (as from sand sifting fishes when placed near the bottom of the aquarium. Please only place this coral in the top half of the tank in/among the rocks> I don't have a lot of places in the rock to put him and he's not balanced, so I was wondering if the sand would work. <at best, you can epoxy it to a very solid, flat rock if there is no risk of tipping or sand settlement. To be placed on the sand bottom then> I have a 12g nano tank with good lighting. Thanks! Steve Johnston <best regards, Anthony> Coral Questions 2/29/04 I have a few questions about candy cane corals. I read over the < http://www.wetwebmedia.com/acclimcoralslight.htm> Acclimating Photosynthetic Reef Invertebrates to Captive Lighting but just became more confused with the too much lighting and not enough lighting issues. I also read over http://www.wetwebmedia.com/faviidae.htm all three parts, but there was no lighting, acclimation, feeding help for this one. I have just a basic lighting set up... 4 foot 32 watt aquarium bulb (fluorescent in a hood placed upon a glass top) which I just made the mistake of turning on and looking directly at (bright for 32 watts) <do realize that "bright" to our eyes is the warmer end of the light spectrum which does not penetrate water at depth very well and is not a fair measure of adequate light for corals. Around 5 watts per gallon is a fair minimum for most tanks. I cannot speak for yours here without knowing the size and depth of the aquarium> and was wondering if this is enough for a candy cane coral if it was placed near the top of the tank?? <likely so if the lights are no more than 3" off the surface of the water and the coral is no more than 10" below the surface> I was also wondering about feeding and water flow? <as an LPS coral, they need fed very finely minced meaty foods (most any meats but brine shrimp) several times weekly... moderate water flow here> Secondly I have some Zoanthid which came on some live rock and I was wondering about lighting for them. If Zoanthus species, they may be bright light... if Palythoa they may tolerate moderate> They seem to be doing good so far (been there for well over a month)...haven't given them any special care as I didn't know what they were until recently (sounds silly...but I wasn't able to ID it). <do use coralrealm online to help you in addition to a good book like Eric Borneman's Aquarium Corals> I am planning on upgrading the lighting but haven't decided what to go with yet. <150 watt HQI 10k K lamps are some of the best lights/values around in the long run all things considered> Thank you so much for the help, you guys/girls are the best. Thanks again, Todd Hawman <best of luck! Anthony> Oz collected coral - low light upgrades 6/18/04 Hi hopefully just a quickie! Anthony, I believe is the coral expert. My coral I have now ID'd after much searching as a Leptoria phrygia or closed/lesser brain coral or maze/labyrinth coral. According to the information I was able to find I believe it requires good lighting as it is found on reef ledges (which is where I collected it from) so after a few weeks acclimating to captive lighting (and admittedly a bit too much moving around but I got it home quickly in heaps of water so I figure I'm pretty safe as no long, dark, water restricted transporting) on the substrate at the bottom of my tank I have moved it two days ago to the top third about 4 inches under the water surface and another 2 inches from the light with glass cover in this space. My lighting is one 36W daylight globe and one 36W actinic globe both fluoro which are on 12-14hrs a day. Does this sound like the right spot for it lighting wise? <it sounds like very weak lighting to be honest. Actinics do not count for much beyond aesthetics. A decent rule of thumb is 5 watts per gallon with daylight colored lamps> I mainly moved it because it was starting to darken, by which I mean the valleys which are normally fluoro green were becoming dark brown in areas (I am thinking this is due to lack of light/lower lighting than it is used to?) <exactly... and I don't expect it to change much under these present lights (other than a little greener from the actinics)> and ridges looking thin and rigid, rather than soft and full. Feeds well but some areas haven't been putting out polyps even at night. Have seen brown hair like stuff coming from the mouths which I assumed was poop as I fed it up to begin with once I figured out what I was supposed to be feeding it. Collected it before research admittedly and before I realized the necessity for prior research which I am now doing vigilantly! Thanks so much for all your kicks up the butt to get my act together and be responsible, I needed them! <indeed my friend... its a bit like MASH surgery around here with the volume of mail we get, but all out of love and shared admiration for these creatures. We want you to succeed... and we want to help improve/save animals lives through better husbandry> Also where it is currently placed there isn't as good water flow as it was and I believe they need moderate current levels. It is enough to blow the poop away as I watched it yesterday afternoon (lovely past time let me assure you) so is removing waste material the main issue with water movement? <more to it... growth, gas exchange, etc. The goal here would be around 20X tank turnover> I target feed so it doesn't really need it for feeding, or does it for calcium etc? <always test for calcium and alkalinity (magnesium for stony corals too) and dose as needed> Your knowledgeable advice much appreciated. In great debt! <best of luck, Anthony> Open brain coral <Anthony Calfo in your service> Just wanted to start by saying I'm new to the reef aquarium hobby and I've found your site invaluable. <outstanding... keep learning and sharing> I recently purchased a red open brain coral and wanted to know how it should be positioned. Should it be pointed straight up, or should it lean slightly. <conical skeleton place perpendicular in the sand, flesh face up> The reason I ask is that one side of the "oval" has a dark, rock-like appearance, while the other side is red at the base. <indeed a reflection of where it was collected but that matters not now in captivity. Your light source is directly above and the animal is no longer shaded or needs to be leaning for best health> I currently have it sitting pointing nearly straight up at the lights, and wondered if it would do better positioned with more weight on the dark side. <acclimation of any kind is inevitable, lean if you like but generally keep face up. Red morphs are deep water and require VERY slow and careful acclimation to bright lighting. if your tank is 24" deep or less and/or you have high intensity lighting... please be careful. Also know that these corals need fed weekly if not daily just to survive long-term (else they hang on for a year or two before attrition takes them). Begin here http://www.wetwebmedia.com/trachyphlliidae.htm and look for an article soon that I have co-authored with Steve Pro on this animal> Thanks for the help. <best regards, Anthony> Follow up ad Favites lighting - 3/5/03 Thank you for your reply. <No problem> Gosh, you guys are attentive. <We aim to please> I will wait patiently for Anthony's comments. <actually he stated to me that he agreed with my comments. So he and I feel there is no need for a second reply.> While I have your attention, (last question I promise), what are the light requirements for a red Favites? I know the requirements for a green/brown one, but how does a red specimen compare to a green/brown Favites brain. <Well, in my references, it is my understanding that the green versions usually require higher light and found in shallower water and red colorations are found in a bit deeper water with a bit less or moderate light. Being that these are Favites (which I have personally seen in habitat diving for research in the indo-pacific) I recall that the green and red were pretty much in the same areas in and around lagoons and near shore flats. The green were found closer to sloping walls at the leading edge near surface. In other words, they like a good amount to moderate light in my experience. They were shaded through the highest point of the sun, but you could try some experimentation. In my experience they are very adaptable. Although, sun, seven degrees off the equator, is very much different than aquarium lighting (or sun anywhere else for that matter). Look around various reef forums and do a search for "Favites care" and see what other aquarists are doing with their lighting schemes in relation to Favites sustainability. Later, Paul> Joey - Lighting for a Goniastrea - Is 175 watt metal halide bulb enough lighting for a Goniastrea? <Should be fine. Cheers, J -- > |
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