Legacy Posted June 7, 2006 Share Posted June 7, 2006 Hi, I was wondering if Branch Live Rock (Dead Coral Skeletons) are an acceptable place to mount coral. A buddy of mine has this large piece in his tank and I'm just not covinced that it has sufficent level surface area to allow the frags to grow out, not to mention the possibility of it looking odd. This question relates to coral in general, but I think in his case specifically softies and LPS. Any insight on this topic will be greatly appreciated. Thanks, David Link to comment
ReefApprentice Posted June 7, 2006 Share Posted June 7, 2006 The only thing I would do would be zoanthids, GSP, or other corals like it. Link to comment
mattnano Posted June 7, 2006 Share Posted June 7, 2006 As long as the branch and frag are secure there should not be a problem, but I agree with you that it may look weird for some coral. Link to comment
Phixion Posted June 7, 2006 Share Posted June 7, 2006 Would it be better to try to trade it for actual rock instead? Link to comment
Legacy Posted June 7, 2006 Author Share Posted June 7, 2006 Matt, Post up a pic of it so people have a better idea of what it looks like. BTW, thanks to everyone for the replies! Link to comment
Phixion Posted June 7, 2006 Share Posted June 7, 2006 The tank with the branch piece in question in it (and 3 other pieces of large rubble) Link to comment
Pinner Reef Posted June 7, 2006 Share Posted June 7, 2006 All I've got in my tank is Tongan Branch LR, it is a PITA to get any frags mounted to it. You'll be using a lot of glue and get real good at unsticking your fingers. Also your gonna want to hunt for the smallest, fast growing frags possible as they are easiest to mount and spread over the glue quickest. That being said I almost have mine in a posistion where I like it. LOL almost. HTH -Pinner Link to comment
bigbabich Posted June 7, 2006 Share Posted June 7, 2006 That pic is very cool! it might be hard to mount some corals. Branching frogspawn and hammer might fit nice in the crannies. Learn how to dremmel and don't be afraid to use wire to secure things when needed. The coral will usually grow over it and so will other organics. Cool piece. PS: read up on the wire...obviously don't use copper, etc. Link to comment
mattnano Posted June 7, 2006 Share Posted June 7, 2006 This is a picture of my old 10 gallon AGA with a clover polyp and BTA mounted on my branch rock, as you can see it looked ugly. It may look very nice in your tank tho, just make sure its mounted good. Link to comment
Phixion Posted June 7, 2006 Share Posted June 7, 2006 I totally wasn't thinking when I picked out the pieces. I just thought it looked neat and it had more coralline on it than any of the other pieces in the vat I picked it from... I figured it would offer good places for things to hide. Link to comment
Pinner Reef Posted June 7, 2006 Share Posted June 7, 2006 I assume you've thought of this but how bout making a ledge or leaning the piece in question against the others so mounting is a bit easier. -Pinner Link to comment
Phixion Posted June 7, 2006 Share Posted June 7, 2006 I assume you've thought of this but how bout making a ledge or leaning the piece in question against the others so mounting is a bit easier.-Pinner I was thinking of alternate scaping, but what about if I put the branch on it's side?? Link to comment
Pinner Reef Posted June 7, 2006 Share Posted June 7, 2006 Shouldn't be a problem it's fairly strong. You'll notice My tank has some 1" diameter spires that extend like eight inches not to mention the shroom spire which is maybe 1/2" in diameter and six inches long. Link to comment
Legacy Posted June 7, 2006 Author Share Posted June 7, 2006 I agree with Pinner Reef's idea of turning it and making the branches into ledges... that's a really good idea. I also think it's time to get that piece of rock on the left off the glass. My 37 Aggressive tank has rock against the glass and cleaning it is just a pain. Seems that once you get your coral situated you wont want to move anything around for cleaning. Again, excellent advice... thank you. =) Link to comment
NYReef Posted June 7, 2006 Share Posted June 7, 2006 I'm a nut about aquascaping, two points, the branch rock looks great, but for frags its better to lay the branch on its side and use some flat pieces to put on top as a shelf for corals. It'll give you the best of both worlds as the branch coral has a very "reef" look to it. Second point, for cleaning and avoiding dead zones, plus allowing space to retrieve falling corals, leave some space between live rock and the glass. Link to comment
Phixion Posted June 8, 2006 Share Posted June 8, 2006 I re-scaped this afternoon, and I think it looks better now with the branch on it's side. I was worried at first that there wouldn't be enough sandbed exposed, but it worked out. Now I'm thinking I need another medium sized rubble piece for the right side or something. Also the glass has at least a half inch clearance between it and the rock on ALL sides! Here's how it turned out and looks now: Link to comment
drbegalke Posted June 12, 2006 Share Posted June 12, 2006 That looks better. Should be able to mount several different types of coral to it. I'd recommend using epoxy, so you don't have to take it out of the water to glue.... Link to comment
Phixion Posted June 12, 2006 Share Posted June 12, 2006 I definitely plan on using epoxy to mount corals and frags I get. Link to comment
winterparkmg Posted June 12, 2006 Share Posted June 12, 2006 I have a foot-long piece of Tonga that 'bridges' across some of my Fiji and I decided to go ahead and glue four different types of Zoas onto the topside, closest to my light. I figured after a LONG time, the zoas would eventually make a couple of color 'bands' around the LR and it would look pretty cool. I like the way you have incorporated a few pieces of branch to make lots of ledges though. Looks great now. Link to comment
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