Coral Questions Again

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Pazzoman

Piranha
MFK Member
Apr 5, 2009
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New York
Hey Everybody,

I have some questions concerning corals.

What kinds of corals can be placed together without worrying of them stinging each other (I think any polyp or mushroom cab be literally touching each other)?

How long does it take for mushrooms, specifically red mushrooms to grow large enough to be properly fragged?

Is it normal for a newly obtained duncan coral to open up for a day completely, and the just not open for the next 24 hours...duncans still close guess they are adjusting?

How do duncans grow?

When I obtain a sump with a fuge how should it be set ( figi mud, deep sand...etc)?

I've notice my button coral budding off some on the sand and some in the nooks and cranies of the rocks. Should they be assisted in anyway?

Also any cool looking easy beginner corals out thier? Tips will be greatly appreciated.

Sorry for the numerous questions...researching leads to many questions that needs to be sorted lol
 
Generally I try not to place corals beside eachother especially "agressive" ones, but from experience you can usualy put corals of the same type near eachother without TOOO much agression, like acros with acros, montis with montis, acans with acans... etc... but even this isnt a sure thing. If your corals are Fragging by themselves usualy I leave them be, or collect I a few of the frags to either trade or move to another location in the tank. The duncan is likely adjusting, as you probably have brighter light then its previous home (they preffer low to medium light), also if it ate something substantial they can close wile "digesting". If he doesnt open soon mite want to move him to a more shaded part of the tank, then throw some food its way.
 
Ok thanks kevin, I've been only feeding the NLS pellets, should is used some of the frozen foods for the corals? Probably I should purchase something from the "Reef Nutrition" product line?
 
For smaller LPS, zoas and in this case duncans, I would say larger items are good, like pods, mysids, amphipods, even brine shimp nauplii, etc, can be baught frozen as you mentioned or you can get them live (which I preffer as they don't foul the water), from companies like reef nutrition and algagen. For the duncans I would lean on the larger side of zooplancton, like Mysids and Pods, rather then brine nauplii, and dont bother trying to feed till they open up though (obviously).

The article I was reading (scientific jurnal) said that the guy drip fed around 400 000 brine Nauplii (live/enriched with phyto, about 1 gram of cysts i think), and a veriety of pods... they Cyclop-eese ones i believe (frozen 1.5x1x3.5" block), into his 55 gal (containing filter feeding corals) every day. Now that said this is for filter feeders... but all corals benifit/require feeding, just filter feeders need more haha. You would be surprized how much some of these corals can eat... the article on the feeding habits of some corals said some could eat over 10,000 brines in under 5 min...
 
Wow lol, btw is it possible to bring a sponge back to life? I 've noticed algae had grown on my orange sponge and looked like it was lossing it's color. Then I kinda almost directed the flow on it and in a few weeks it looks better then ever....i guess sponges heal quicker then corals which I think I heard takes longer depending on the coral.

Pretty much the newest thing is just the duncans, and they are still closed. I'll give them another day before I put them at the lowest spot, and adjust from thier.

Thanks for the info, good think I didn't get rid of my brine shrimp hatchery kit :) ...however I could never get them to adult size.
 
Generally brines are considered more nutrious when they are newly hatched any ways, generally its recomended you hatch them (about 24hrs) then add a bit of concentrated phytoplanton (till the water is a light green) then leave them till they eat that (about 24hrs depending on how much you added) then poor or drip them directly into the tank. But ya... you should have seen the cloud in the tank... something like 3-5 pods/brines per mL (or 90-150 per oz for the imperial types haha), little critters everywhere... most people would hate it.... LOL silly ppl needing crystal clear water.... personally I preffer healthy corals to clear water... but thats just me.

Sponges are actually hard to completely kill, as a sponge can recover from a single cell given time, the problem is if they die rapedly they can rot (killing the other heathy cells and tank mates), if your having algea problems on your sponge you should either change the water flow, or keep an eye on your parms. But generally speaking, your sponge should do better in slightly higher flow rate then most corals (being a filter feeder) they will eat up water born bacteria, phytos, etc, infact if you target feed them (which is a good idea) with something like nanochloropsis or a phyto mix they can actually grow so fast that they become annoying (sort of... its not algea fast) haha, resulting in occational cutting back required. SO like you said sponges recover fast if fed/proper water conditions.
 
Ok cool thanks a million, my duncans opened after I moved some rocks by the way. I fed them brine shrimp in spinlia (Spell Fail). They seemed to have glued on it and closed...guess there eating.

As for the sponge is thier an exact spot to "target feed" or should I just direct the food to the koriallia pump pointed at the sponge?

Also should I be target feeding the other corals? (Red Mushroom, button polyps, and other polyps)

Thanks Again
 
Sponges eat what ever hits them (assuming its the right size of food as the particels generally need to be small), so either squirt it on its head or infront of the flow, doesnt really matter. As for the others... you can probably feed them all enriched brines
 
No problem just shows I spend to much time reading about tanks and not studying for my classes... LOL on the upside I have a really light course load this year...
 
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