Hammerstone Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 My soon to be my reef tank has lights rated for corals. My other tank doesn't. I read that sun corals like low light homes. Since they aren't photosythentic and need to be fed can I put it in the tank that's fish only that has the lesser light? I have the perfect place to place it in the tank. My soon to be coral tank is super bright everywhere and from what I read the sun coral is supposed to be at the bottom and somewhat in the shadows. I don't have any shadows. Sorry so long. I just fell in love with them ? the fish only tank just has two clowns, a cowrie, and two hermit crabs. 33 gallons. Link to comment
PDR Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 My sun coral has thrived in low light, high light, low flow, high flow, etc. imo light and flow really doesn't matter that much. They are a pita to feed if you have any shrimp or crabs and it can pollute the tank quite a bit. I've gotten to the point where I take them out and feed in a separate container 1-2x a week. Link to comment
Paandemonium Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 Light shouldnt matter much if at all, just remember to feed every couple days(spoiler alert: youre gonna get bored of it, I know I did) Link to comment
PDR Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 I agree. While very pretty when out, they aren't out most of the time, and feeding them does get old fast Link to comment
BJV Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 I agree. While very pretty when out, they aren't out most of the time, and feeding them does get old fast It gets old fast, both my dogs died when I got tired of feed them!?!?!?! Link to comment
PDR Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 It gets old fast, both my dogs died when I got tired of feed them!?!?!?! ?? Not quite sure the point your trying to make. No one said they were not feeding them... The point I was trying to make was a lot of people get sun corals because they are pretty without knowing the time and dedication it takes to keep them healthy. For me, the time and effort it takes to keep my sun coral healthy is not worth it, which is why I will probably trade it in, its not like I'm just going to let it starve. Link to comment
Hammerstone Posted October 22, 2015 Author Share Posted October 22, 2015 Do you have to glue down sun corals, or do they walk around? Link to comment
Slowtwitch Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 Do you have to glue down sun corals, or do they walk around? There is a "walking" dendro, but most do not move. Link to comment
Hammerstone Posted October 22, 2015 Author Share Posted October 22, 2015 Thank you!!! Thank you all for putting up with all my noob questions. This will be my show stopper coral in my fish only, lol, tank. Right in the middle. This tank needs color. It's over a year old and basically just has a clown pair. I think I'm going to leave it a clown tank and hope that when the male catches up to the size of the female that they might breed and there wouldn't be anything else in there to eat the young. It's just for fun about the breeding part and I know if they were to mate the young probably wouldn't survive but it will be fun to try. Link to comment
Hammerstone Posted October 24, 2015 Author Share Posted October 24, 2015 I don't know the abbreviations very well but I think they are called sps corals and those ones are hard to take care of. Are sun corals one of those? I was doing some research and y'all's advice has been spot on. I enjoy feeding so that wouldn't be a problem. Someone said they took their Suns out twice a week and fed them that way. Is that feasible? I wouldn't want to hurt it. I'm assuming they must stay under water for this, yes? Thinking of the weekend if the LFS has one. Anyone know a ballpark range of $$$ they cost? Do they sting, do I need gloves? I'd also want to get some nice food for them and do the turkey vaster for feeding the individual polyps. Link to comment
PDR Posted October 24, 2015 Share Posted October 24, 2015 I don't know the abbreviations very well but I think they are called sps corals and those ones are hard to take care of. Are sun corals one of those? I was doing some research and y'all's advice has been spot on. I enjoy feeding so that wouldn't be a problem. Someone said they took their Suns out twice a week and fed them that way. Is that feasible? I wouldn't want to hurt it. I'm assuming they must stay under water for this, yes? Thinking of the weekend if the LFS has one. Anyone know a ballpark range of $$$ they cost? Do they sting, do I need gloves? I'd also want to get some nice food for them and do the turkey vaster for feeding the individual polyps. They are considered a LPS coral. I have had mine survive all types of water conditions, flow, lighting, etc. So I wouldn't say they are hard to take care of in that respect. The main problem is with the feeding. They need to be fed 1-2x a week (minimum) and the problem is that they are very slow eaters, so any shrimp, fish, crabs, etc will steal the food before they are able to eat it. (shrimp can actually damage them because they reach in and rip the food out, which is why I have to remove mine to feed it). Since I'm the one who mentioned taking it out to feed it I can attest that it is feasible and many others do this as well. I just put it in a small tupperware container filled with water and feed it mysis and brine shrimp with selcon. I have done this for months with no ill effects. I tried feeding in the tank with the top of a 2L bottle covering it and it never worked for me. This method polluted my tank pretty bad as well. Also feeding them takes me 30-45 min. They do not sting as far as I know, I have never used gloves. I think I paid $40-$50 for mine. I was not trying to discourage you from getting one in my previous post, I just think a lot of people look at the pictures that are taken when the polyps are out and don't realize they won't have them out 80-90% of the time. This is what it will look like most of the time. (note when looking for one, the tubes should look "puffy", not sunken in like mine are is this pic, this was after not being fed for 2 1/2 weeks due to a family emergency that took me out of town). I just found this pic. This is what a healthy one should look like when the polyps aren't out. Link to comment
Hammerstone Posted October 24, 2015 Author Share Posted October 24, 2015 Thank you for showing me the difference between a healthy sun should look. It still looks pretty closed. I'm trying to learn all I can before buying one so Iam successful. This tank has zero hair algae so perfect spot for a coral plus this is my oldest tank, year and a half so far and two clowns in a 30 gallon. I need to study LPS. Do they send out sweepers? Link to comment
PDR Posted October 24, 2015 Share Posted October 24, 2015 No they do not send out sweepers. Check this out. http://www.melevsreef.com/node/286 Link to comment
Hammerstone Posted October 24, 2015 Author Share Posted October 24, 2015 Thank you that was a really cool link and with pictures too. ? Link to comment
Hammerstone Posted October 25, 2015 Author Share Posted October 25, 2015 I learned that they poo out of their mouths lol. Do they have a lot of waste or is it negligible. I know the feeding can be messy. Are there other corals that are not photosynthetic as well? Link to comment
Hammerstone Posted October 25, 2015 Author Share Posted October 25, 2015 Live aquaria looks to be out of sun corals :-( Link to comment
PDR Posted October 25, 2015 Share Posted October 25, 2015 Live aquaria looks to be out of sun corals :-( Divers den almost always has some. They have several in stock now. They are listed under nps not lps Link to comment
PDR Posted October 25, 2015 Share Posted October 25, 2015 I learned that they poo out of their mouths lol. Do they have a lot of waste or is it negligible. I know the feeding can be messy. Are there other corals that are not photosynthetic as well? They can regurgitate if over fed, but other than that, I haven't noticed it impact bio load. Yes there are several popular nps corals. If I ever was to get another I would get the black sun coral. Link to comment
Hammerstone Posted October 25, 2015 Author Share Posted October 25, 2015 Hey you guys my LFS has a couple of them, Suns, I called them they said around 16 polyps each for 39ish. They also have dendros they said were more expensive. Is it a good deal? Which would you buy, Suns or dendros?? I love this site you guys are so helpful!!! Link to comment
GoingPostal Posted October 25, 2015 Share Posted October 25, 2015 Dendros are larger, easier to feed and usually will stay open for many hours especially if you feed them a little daily. They make a nice showpiece, they do reach a larger size and longer tentacles than sun corals. With any nps, fish and shrimp can be huge pita and deadly if they continue to steal or bother the coral so you may have to feed while defending or with a cup over it. Dendros are usually 20 or so a polyp, suns are usually 30+ depending on size of the colony. There's also balanos, pink with clear tentacles, about the size of dendros but not a fan of light and aren't open as much. Heterospammia are walking dendros, they need light and prefer sandbed, there's a little worm in the base that moves it around sometimes, they are a pretty green, solitary coral. There's a dendro showoff thread in the coral section with various nps you should check out if you haven't. Link to comment
Hammerstone Posted October 25, 2015 Author Share Posted October 25, 2015 I'll probably go with the Suns as I am a coral virgin so this is my first. They are beautiful and more affordable. That way if I screw up or don't have luck on my side I dont lose a lot of money. Link to comment
Hammerstone Posted October 25, 2015 Author Share Posted October 25, 2015 How do you acclimate corals? Is it like fish? Should I just place it where I want it or glue it? Thank you in advance and thanks again!!! Link to comment
HarryPotter Posted October 25, 2015 Share Posted October 25, 2015 How do you acclimate corals? Is it like fish? Should I just place it where I want it or glue it? Thank you in advance and thanks again!!! You could search that pretty easily But yes, temperature acclimate and then slowly add your tank water. Link to comment
Hammerstone Posted October 25, 2015 Author Share Posted October 25, 2015 Thank you I was just excited and I know you have real life true experience and I trust you guys. Sorry for being a pest!!! ? Link to comment
Hammerstone Posted October 26, 2015 Author Share Posted October 26, 2015 Well I have to wait until tomorrow to get my sun coral. There was too much going on today to go to the LFS. We went to the pumpkin patch and started swimming lessons with the kids. That gives me more time to research. The kids had fun at their swimming lessons, even my baby girl who fell in. She was apprehensive but still is getting used to the water. I got my son re excited about his sun coral so that was cool. He said it had gotten a bit skinny and I td him some of the feeding tricks I learned off of here to keep his shrimp fr stealing his Suns food and also He didn't Know to Feed Each individual polyp, he was just throwing food in willy nilly not paying close attention to feeding it right. So he learned something new today. Link to comment
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