New Sun Coral

[ringwurm]

Here is the new Sun Coral I picked up from Waves the other day.

 

Here its getting ready to come out to feed.

 

Its only been in the tank for a few days and is eating daily. It seems pretty healthy.

 

Closeup

 

I love rics! I just moved these guys from my nano into the big tank. They are a bit shocked from the new lighting.

[R-3]

Man I gotta get a sun coral. I saw Joel had a couple last time I was there. Im ready now maybe Ill get one when I come up next week. Later Ryan

[wegotjs]

I got one from Joel about a month and half ago. They look great and add some nice color to those darker areas in the tank.

[Holly]

It's gorgeous!

[dippin61]

only thing i didnt like about my sun coral was the fact that it ate so much. It really fowled up my water. I wasnt about to take it out and feed it either. It started at about 15 heads, and grew to about 150. The thing was huge, and ate like crazy. Like at least anywhere from 5-10 mysis each head! Took me forever to feed that thing, and the nutrients it put into my tank were crazy. although i wasnt BB at the time either.

[ringwurm]

How often did you feed it?

[dippin61]

at least 2-3 times a week. Most of the time twice a week. but it would take me close to a hour to feed every head. Id feed the first round, let them digest what was in their mouth, then come back a few minutes later for round 2, and so on, until they stopped accepting food.

[Ronjunior]

Don't sun corals share food through their base? I've read somewhere about certain corals sharing their intake that way. Either way, I'd love to add some to my tank for color.

[dippin61]

nope.. each head needs to be fed. They dont share food at all through the base. if you only feed certain heads, the ones that arent getting fed, will die off. and quickly too. within weeks.

[cyenna]

^^ I have heard that too and not that I don't believe you but can you post a link on sun coral information? For some reason I can never find anything good.

[dippin61]

dont really have any links. just mostly experience. had my sun coral for just over 3 years (was one of the first corals i got for my old tank) . went from 15 heads to around 150.. stopped counting.

 

most of my knowledge came from talking to Marc Levenson (Melev) over at RC. Me and him had a project going a while back for his website, and got to talking a lot.

 

and a lot of info came off of RC for me as well. but mainly it all came through actually having one, and determining its behavior of what it liked, and what it didnt.

 

as for the food, at first it was from reading about them, then i noticed the small heads on the "back" side of the coral, the heads wouldnt make it long. because they werent getting fed, turns out.

 

also, they are not the least bit photosynthetic as well. doesnt really matter where you put it. But i have found that they prefer higher flow. That also helps them extend their polyps when its not feeding time.

 

i trained mine from the beginning. id put a little cyclopeeze in the water 15 minutes before feeding time, at the same time every time i fed it. after a couple weeks, the polyps would open on their own, without "pre loading" the water for them. they started coming out hours before feeding time, and also on days they werent being fed.

[ringwurm]

My wife picked up this book for me a few months ago. It confirms what has been said above. It also says that the coral is often found at the top of the opening of caves where there is alot of food and flow.

 

I highly recommend the book.

http://www.amazon.com/Aquarium-Corals-Selection-Husbandry-Natural/dp/1890087475/sr=8-4/qid=1167792451/ref=pd_bbs_4/103-5029185-4701405?ie=UTF8&s=books

[dippin61]

yeh, i had my sun coral on the bottom of my tank, kind of in a dead spot. My thinking was, it made it easier for me to feed them when the flow isnt all crazy. For some reason, i forget why, i decided to move them into higher flow. Wow... i thought they had extended before, but this was crazy. They were hugely fat, extended, and just generally looked super happy. So from then on, i made sure they were always in great flow.

 

they started being out almost all the time. late at night they'd retract, sometimes into the morning. but as soon as the lights came on, they started to be out.

 

great corals IMO. Just very demanding, and when happy, grow like crazy. the one i had was a rock about the size of 2 softballs.. if you can understand that, like in diameter (lol). and hungry eaters. but the sway they have in the current is quite mesmerizing, and id often catch myself staring at them. and nothing can beat that bright color.

[mister crabs]

are sun coral easy to frag? and does it mess up your chemistry badly when the heads die off? cuz not feeding all of the heads could be one way to keep the size in check. I love the way this coral looks but unsure whether it will do ok under PC lighting? and whats tank size requirements? I am planning on a 29 gallon biocube and with limited space i want as much color as possible.

[dippin61]

never tried to frag mine. As far as under PC lighting, it would be no problem. They are not photosynthetic. They must be fed to survive. And size of the tank doesn't really matter either. Its just the smaller the tank, the more prepared you must be for a nutrient level rise, if you feed within the tank.

[WAVES]

My wife picked up this book for me a few months ago. It confirms what has been said above. It also says that the coral is often found at the top of the opening of caves where there is alot of food and flow.

 

I highly recommend the book.

http://www.amazon.com/Aquarium-Corals-Selection-Husbandry-Natural/dp/1890087475/sr=8-4/qid=1167792451/ref=pd_bbs_4/103-5029185-4701405?ie=UTF8&s=books

 

 

Price just went up at Waves,,, I have been selling it for cheaper than Amazon...

[WAVES]

are sun coral easy to frag? and does it mess up your chemistry badly when the heads die off? cuz not feeding all of the heads could be one way to keep the size in check. I love the way this coral looks but unsure whether it will do ok under PC lighting? and whats tank size requirements? I am planning on a 29 gallon biocube and with limited space i want as much color as possible.

 

Ya, most of those that you see at Waves I fragged. Just hand me a hammer and chisel and its fraggin time!