hitchhiker sps

[reef hugger]

i recently aquired an orange ricordia rock. after a couple of days in my tank i noticed what i though was just an old encrusting sps skelaton and covered with alge, actually was alive. from what i can tell it is either porites or montipora. i haven't seen any good close up pics of either one to make a correct id. and my camera is a POS, so i won't be able to get a good pic of it.

 

since i have no experience with sps my ? is, does this coral have a chance under a 32w smartlite and 15w of NO actinic light in a 10g? if not, after xmas when the 20L with 2-55w pc's will be setup, would that be enough light? i planned on moving the ricordia to the 20 anyways.

[tinyreef]

if it recovered enough to show life it could very well survive under those lights. porites are pretty tough ime. for instance, they've survived your acclimation and even possible shading under the ricordia (?).

 

thing is the ricordia is probably the encroaching lifeform and the porites (if they are) will probably eventually lose out imo. i'd personally pick the ricordia over the porites anyway. the issue now is to maintain high ca/alk to give the sps a chance or transplant the ricordia away. (grow off, frag, or complete transplant)

 

you could tie a rubber band or fishing line (better) between the two to limit the ricordia's advance. if it grows on top of it you may be able to slice and frag off with less traumatic effect.

[kovu]

id wait before you do anytrhing. id wait to see if it even grows anymore. if it starts growing then you can think further, dont frag anything now.