Very First Coral Finally!!!

[RedPhotog]

Hello community! I just wanted to post the new arrival to these forums. I introduced an elegance coral to my 10g system. It’s officially the very first coral I’ve ever had in this hobby, which I believe technically makes my FOWLR system an official reef! I’m very excited. 

 

Coral has veen acclimated and dipped, and after only a short couple of hours it’s beginning to open up on my sand bed. I would love to hear about anyone else having these corals, their success and opinions on care. I’m really happy with how my lights are making the green pop and it’s offering some very nice movement in the water flow. 

 

[NeonZoie]

Elegance corals are probably one of my favorites, im still far off from getting my first coral but one of those are definitely on my list! What lights are you using?

[Clown79]

I love elegance. So beautiful.

 

Yours looks really nice already.

 

 

 

[RedPhotog]

13 hours ago, NeonZoie said:

Elegance corals are probably one of my favorites, im still far off from getting my first coral but one of those are definitely on my list! What lights are you using?

I’m using a full spectral light from amazon, it’s like a mock version of the Kessil A80. Perfect for a 10g tank. Link below...

 

Leite LED Aquarium Lights Nano Asta... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075H8QN4R?ref=yo_pop_ma_swf

 

I went into my LFS hoping to get a neon green candy cane, but the movement along with the purple tips attracted me more. 

 

 

[seabass]

Elegance corals have had a reputation of being difficult to keep.  Although this might be because they seem to be subject to a particular disease.  However, other reef keepers have had good success.  I've also heard of people that successfully kept one, but after they added a second, they both started to suffer.

 

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-01/eb/index.php

[Clown79]

Let us know how the light works out.

 

[Aurortpa]

Beautiful!

[shoonjai]

Love it! How/what did you dip?

[banasophia]

Beautiful! Congratulations!!

[RedPhotog]

On 7/14/2018 at 11:02 PM, shoonjai said:

Love it! How/what did you dip?

I used the Seachem reef dip. Acclimated the bag by floating in the tank for 20 minutes. Emptied that water into a container, used my aquarium water inaother container.  I poured 2 caps for about a half gallon. Directions say to use 1-2 per gallon. 

 

Wasnt concered about the extra amount because all Seachem products I’ve used mention to use liberally without signs of systems from anytjing. 

 

Took about a 10 minute dip in a bath while I mildly squirted the container water at the skeleton with a turkey master. Got a lot of nasty stuff out for sure. Then I rinsed it in my water in the other container for a few minutes amd

placed it in the sand because that’s where I’ve ready they are the most happy. 

 

I wish however the coral wasnt wasn’t glued onto a piece of small live rock. Would be nice to have the bare skeleton exposed in the substrate. I don’t have any proper tools other than chisels and hand type saws, so if anyone has experience removing frags or rock bases from elegamce corals please post some

info I would love to hear them. 

 

I fed the coral for the first time yesterday and it greedily grabbed some mysis on its sticky tentacles and put it somewhere I’m guess the mouth perhaps, which I’m still trying to figure out where it is on this beautiful creature. 

 

Day 3 pic

 

 

[banasophia]

Gorgeous, thanks for the update!

[DSFIRSTSLTWATER]

Congrats looks really nice 

[Euphylin me]

very nice, just be diligent with keeping good water parameters, the Australian elegance corals are said to have better survival rates than the Indonesian ones. Not necessarily recommended as a first coral but it is beautiful none the less! I wish you the best and hope you are able to keep it! just dont be discouraged from keeping corals if something unfortunate happens to this one as they can be pretty hard to keep

[holy carp]

Beautiful blue tips.  You'll enjoy this coral.  A similar elegance was also my first coral, and may still be my favorite.  37 months later, it's quite a monster.  I even had to build it a new tank.

 

A few things:

• I hope your light works out.  Odd that they combined red, green, blue, and UV into one channel.  I'm sure it will be good at first, but as the coral grows may need a bit more coverage in order to maintain strong pigmentation. 
• Feeding is fine, but may not be necessary.  I've never target fed mine.
• They are commonly on the sand, but as I understand they actually do better mounted on rocks - better water flow, less contact with detritus.  The claims that touching rocks will damage their tissue is overblown.  I would not remove it from the rock it's on.  This thread may be worth referencing.  It could even be mounted up higher, but that's up to you.
• Mine has seemed to prefer lower alkalinity (6.5-8.0).  When alk was elevated the tentacles don't extend as much.
• Clown fish may try to live in them.  It doesn't seem to have any negative effects.
• They are able to sting the bejeezus out of most hard corals, but torches will overpower an elegance.  Not an issue yet, obviously, but give it room to grow.

 

Good luck with it, and keep us posted!

 

 

[sadie]

congrats on the coral!!  It is beautiful.

 

[RedPhotog]

[NeonZoie]

How long did you wait to introduce your first coral? Did you already add your fish? (If so how ling did you wait in between)

[RedPhotog]

4 minutes ago, NeonZoie said:

How long did you wait to introduce your first coral? Did you already add your fish? (If so how ling did you wait in between)

I waited a full month before I added fish. A pair of black and white ocellaris clownfish. Waited a month after that, then added the elegance coral. 

 

Sorry about the blue picture. I have my whites dialed super low. 

 

[RedPhotog]

On 7/17/2018 at 3:38 PM, holy carp said:

Beautiful blue tips.  You'll enjoy this coral.  A similar elegance was also my first coral, and may still be my favorite.  37 months later, it's quite a monster.  I even had to build it a new tank.

 

A few things:

• I hope your light works out.  Odd that they combined red, green, blue, and UV into one channel.  I'm sure it will be good at first, but as the coral grows may need a bit more coverage in order to maintain strong pigmentation. 
• Feeding is fine, but may not be necessary.  I've never target fed mine.
• They are commonly on the sand, but as I understand they actually do better mounted on rocks - better water flow, less contact with detritus.  The claims that touching rocks will damage their tissue is overblown.  I would not remove it from the rock it's on.  This thread may be worth referencing.  It could even be mounted up higher, but that's up to you.
• Mine has seemed to prefer lower alkalinity (6.5-8.0).  When alk was elevated the tentacles don't extend as much.
• Clown fish may try to live in them.  It doesn't seem to have any negative effects.
• They are able to sting the bejeezus out of most hard corals, but torches will overpower an elegance.  Not an issue yet, obviously, but give it room to grow.

 

Good luck with it, and keep us posted!

 

 

Thank you for the much informative post and video, this is awesome! 

[RedPhotog]

Just wanted to share a pic of my elegance coral. It’s been 2 weeks and it’s always open when my lights are on. It’s completely flat right now. I haven’t seen any signs of discoloration or anything. I’m really hoping I got a good specimen from my LFS. 🤞