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-   -   NOY's Sun Corals (http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2279129)

noy 03/30/2013 08:48 PM

NOY's Sun Corals
 
Here is a FTS showing my Sun Corals Opening

http://youtu.be/xctw5RUavJo

Dendros
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8258/8...27a34d70_c.jpg
IMG_5556 by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/93072545@N02/]

Same Dendro months ago when i first got it
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8228/8...0e720bc0_c.jpg
IMG_4146 by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/93072545@N02/]

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8369/8...66ae77d2_c.jpg
IMG_4148 by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/93072545@N02/]

Up Close!
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8087/8...40fc5696_c.jpg
IMG_4772 by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/93072545@N02/]

Tubastrea (Faulkneri)
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8545/8...56b94d6e_c.jpg
IMG_5563 by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/93072545@N02/]

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8534/8...73658d69_c.jpg
IMG_5560 by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/93072545@N02/]

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8250/8...09d7049b_c.jpg
IMG_5558 by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/93072545@N02/]

under moonlights
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8225/8...81430261_c.jpg
IMG_4781 by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/93072545@N02/]

Actinic
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8528/8...e5eeaa66_c.jpg
IMG_3931 by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/93072545@N02/]

Upclose Tubastrea
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8229/8...aa8a4b60_c.jpg
IMG_4777 by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/93072545@N02/]

noy 03/30/2013 08:55 PM

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8242/8...893b6eae_c.jpg
IMG_4775 by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/93072545@N02/]

Tubastrea (coccinea)
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8107/8...841cf2fc_c.jpg
IMG_5562 by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/93072545@N02/]

originally from LFS - bit of a rescus project hadn't opened up in weeks in store you can see the tissue recession.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8232/8...0e15768d_c.jpg
IMG_4706 by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/93072545@N02/]

Tubastrea (micrantha)
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8531/8...7e5f0b39_c.jpg
IMG_4705 by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/93072545@N02/]

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8405/8...657cd664_c.jpg
IMG_5561 by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/93072545@N02/]

frag
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8535/8...6832db6f_c.jpg
IMG_5557 by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/93072545@N02/]

close-up
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8378/8...18c9a84c_c.jpg
IMG_4773 by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/93072545@N02/]

noy 03/30/2013 09:03 PM

Feeding time!

http://youtu.be/H5-NMIB9mSo

Bratyboy2 03/31/2013 03:05 PM

Nice corals! Great pictures as well! I want a large colony in my tank

alan.reef 03/31/2013 08:28 PM

Very nice NPS Coral you have. do you mind to share your filteration system?
i have hard time to keep mine NPS happy.

noy 04/01/2013 07:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alan.reef (Post 21347503)
Very nice NPS Coral you have. do you mind to share your filteration system?
i have hard time to keep mine NPS happy.

Nothing fancy.
35 gallon sump - corner overflow/bottom drain. CSC 250 skimmer (its rated for over 300g - i have a 110g tank). Carbon through a reactor. I was running biopellets but stopped for a couple of months now - a friend crashed his tank running pellets so that scared me. GFO through a reactor.

Refugium with chaeto/grape caulerpa. Mangroves (about 20 plants). The mangrove sit on a floating foam sheet tucked under the flow into the refug - i find that the water running over the foam made a bit of an algae scrubber (i have snails that eat the algae growth).

I change my filter socks every 2 days (i find that made a huge difference from once a week).

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8235/8...b989df2b_c.jpg
IMG_4111 by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/93072545@N02/]

With the sun corals the key thing is making sure they get fed regularly and decent water quality (with cal/alk levels required for skel growth).

What type of corals are you growing?

alan.reef 04/03/2013 05:03 AM

THnak Noy.
i have few piece Acan, Galaxy, Chalice, black and orange sun coral only.
i feed the blk and orange sun coral in the bucket, respond is low only few poly come out!!
possible the vibration on the small pump make them wont come up.
i shut off all the pump in the TANK and feed, the poly come out all but affect my water so fast.
taht why i want to learn something new to keep them happy and water quality.

noy 04/04/2013 08:46 AM

I'm not sure moving them is a good idea. I find that when i move them they get stubborn and won't open for a few days.

You may want to find a spot for them where you can easily access all the polyps. You will also need something to target feed with either a small turkey baster or "julian's thing" - i use both (baster for blood worms and julian's thing for brine). You will have to use a method to keep the fish away (if that is a problem) - either a 2L plastic pepsi bottle cut at the bottom or feed after the lights are out (which i do).

Once they settle and you settle into a routine where you feed them at the same time everyday - the polyps will open like clockwork.

I have a "special" mixture for colonies that won't open up. Its a mix of angelfish food (with clams/meaty items), reef roids, and mysis water. The clams have a distinct odour - i think that may be what the polyps react to. I turn off the flow and squirt some of this mix onto the polyps. I wait about 15 minutes and them i turn everything back on (except the return pump - i let the pumps blow the stuff around in the water a bit). You need to direct one of the pumps at the colony from a distance so it gets a sense of the mixture continuously. I find this routine gets them to open at regular times and after a week or so you can stop with the routine and they will still open.

This mix will dirty up your water so you can't do this regularly - only to get your polyps opening on a routine.

noy 04/06/2013 06:14 AM

Once your sun corals get established you will get propagation from your colony "spewing" out mini polyps. Unfortunately most of mine end up stuck under the rockwork and don't make it. This is the only survivor so far.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8402/8...41d52d1a_c.jpg
IMG_5633 by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/93072545@N02/]

alan.reef 04/08/2013 07:07 PM

nice Noy.

my PO4 still killing me..15% wc wont help!!!!!

karenvas2 04/09/2013 08:20 AM

Beautiful
 
Noy, what are you feeding and are you using automatic dosers?

noy 04/09/2013 08:58 PM

For the sun corals a rotation of blood worms, Mysis and brine shrimp. I target feed.

I usually dump a mixture of reefroids and cyclopeez manually (with some target feeding) daily into the tank. This is for other non-photo (gorgonians + chili) and sps. I would dose but don't have (or want to invest in) a stirrer.

karenvas2 04/10/2013 03:51 AM

Sun coral
 
Thanks for the info. Will try with my sun.

Tigé21v 04/10/2013 08:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alan.reef (Post 21378793)
nice Noy.

my PO4 still killing me..15% wc wont help!!!!!

Have you tried lanthanum chloride?

JmartWI 04/11/2013 11:10 PM

How do you get your sun corals to fluoresce like that under actinics? Is it the species, or the light setup?

noy 04/12/2013 05:56 PM

its the lighting setup and the photography.

riely 04/17/2013 02:11 PM

hey im new to NPS and thinking of getting a sun coral. looking for some basic info on them and things you have found to keep them looking good like do u have to feed every head every time and will they only come out at night or under actinics im runing LEDS 120w 3v ran at 2v

stunreefer 04/17/2013 09:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by riely (Post 21411908)
hey im new to NPS and thinking of getting a sun coral. looking for some basic info on them and things you have found to keep them looking good like do u have to feed every head every time and will they only come out at night or under actinics im runing LEDS 120w 3v ran at 2v

Riely, read this.

noy 04/17/2013 10:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by riely (Post 21411908)
hey im new to NPS and thinking of getting a sun coral. looking for some basic info on them and things you have found to keep them looking good like do u have to feed every head every time and will they only come out at night or under actinics im runing LEDS 120w 3v ran at 2v


Riely - i feed my sun corals every other night. I use a squirter thing called "Julian's thing" and a small turkey baster. They do need to be fed meaty foods (brine, mysis, blood worms).

However, I would recommend that when you first get them - to feed them every night. Most of the corals you get from the LFS are in bad shape so i would recommend feeding them nightly for a month or so to restore any tissue recession.

There are 2 basic kinds of sun corals - the dendros (Dendrophyllia see my pix) and the regular sun corals (Tubastrea). The dendros will stay open most of the day whereas the Tubastrea will tend to open only at night. But if you have a regular routine of feeding they will learn to open when you are ready to feed them.

I find the tricky part of feeding them is to keep the fish away. Some people use a 2L bottle thats been cut out to make sure the fish don't take the food from the corals. My routine is to feed right after lights out.

They are beautify corals and if you are ready to spend a bit of time feeding them, well worth it.

If you keep SPS corals together with sun corals - you will need a good size skimmer to maintain your water quality.

Hope that helps!

SantaMonica 05/03/2013 10:07 PM

Quote:

my PO4 still killing me..15% wc wont help
Let photosynthesis do the work for you.

coltrref 05/10/2013 09:24 AM

amazing noy

noy 05/24/2013 07:37 PM

thanks colt

Videos of Sun Corals (and its cousin Duncan) eating Live Brine

Tubeastrea (Sun Coral)
- notice how effective and sticky the nematocysts are in catching brine

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNn9Hxs-h5o

Tubeastrea (Black Sun Coral)
- there is one brine which is fighting for its life trying to escape

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjRumggrvsk

Duncan
- the nematocyst are nowhere as effective as the sun corals

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VI56w5dnPFw

Dendro
- probably the most effective

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVs7m8JliOE

Duncan (Green)
- larger colony uses bulk to envelop brine

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUHav13-G_o

NeilFox 05/29/2013 10:33 AM

Beautiful Noy! Your photography skills are outstanding also...

noy 05/29/2013 10:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NeilFox (Post 21558787)
Beautiful Noy! Your photography skills are outstanding also...

thanks for the kind comments!

tr1gger 05/30/2013 03:11 AM

Very nice sun corals! My shrimp acts the same way LOL


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