OK, last one for me. Disk coral, specifically, the
Fungiidae Cycloseris genus.
Illumination: Varies based on where collected. Take your cues from the Cycloseris color. Orange Cycloseris do well in moderate light. The green "Kiwi" Cycloseris also seem to do well in moderate light. More intense light for that tasty yellow linked above, I would imagine.
Flow: In reef tank flow terms, these coral are best suited for low-moderate current.
Buffering: total alkalinity and Ca++ buffered to near, or above, NSW levels. These are stony coral.
pH stability: Not sure, but I would think stable pH params (8.0-8.4) is advisable.
Nutrients: does not matter.
Feeding requirements: I would feed these coral occasionally. I usually put frozen mysis on the disk surface. However, this coral eats most anything, including dry fish food. In a tank with fish or shrimp, a container may need to be placed over the coral until it ingests the food.
Tank benefits: None.
Tank considerations: These coral are slightly mobile.
Recommended resources: None.
Comments: Cycloseris are small disk coral. I have a couple of specie, they don't get over about 2" in diameter. Other disk and slipper coral genus can grow much larger.
Each Cycloseris disk is an individual coral polyp. Cycloseris disk coral can be propogated by breaking it into pie-slice sections. Also, if a section of the disk becomes too damaged for the coral to grow back over the skeleton, baby cycloseris may start growing at the margins of the damage. After a while, these babies drop off. I've propogated my Cycloseris both ways.
Cycloseris can be placed on a very fine sand substrate. Healthy Cycloseris have a tremendous sediment rejection capability and sand that drifts onto them is no problem. They can move slowly by inflating and deflating their bodies.
Cycloseris are, IME, among the toughest stony coral. They are much more likely to do well than other sand-dwelling stony coral like open brains, elegance coral, or long-tentacled plate coral.
This is one of my
3-year old orange Cycloseris. At one time these were fairly expensive coral, but the price has moderated over the last year or so. A flatter, green Cycloseris sometimes shows up, sold as "Kiwi" coral.