Chipped Sun Coral

CalebWBrink2000 · May 19, 2017

I brought home a sun coral earlier today. I've spent the past hour and a half trying to mount the thing under an overhang with my puddy, and I absolutely could not get it to stay. Now, I'm beating myself up over it because I've chipped the edges of all the polyps. Any advice? How long will it take until it regrows/smooths itself out?

saltyfilmfolks · May 19, 2017

Not long generally. Its hard to know without experience, but they're really slow to acclimate and open up IME. So you can take your time mounting it. If you leave it on the sand in a good flow area itll open up for you and youll have time to add glue like a plug on the bottom of the frag and let it cure for days. . Then, add more putty and glue once its fixed to the first plug..

CalebWBrink2000 · May 19, 2017

saltyfilmfolks said:
Not long generally. Its hard to know without experience, but they're really slow to acclimate and open up IME. So you can take your time mounting it. If you leave it on the sand in a good flow area itll open up for you and youll have time to add glue like a plug on the bottom of the frag and let it cure for days. . Then, add more putty and glue once its fixed to the first plug..

You can see where the edges have been chipped. They were once nice and smooth. How much do you think this will impact the polyp? Do you think the damage is substantial?

saltyfilmfolks · May 19, 2017

CalebWBrink2000 said:
You can see where the edges have been chipped. They were once nice and smooth. How much do you think this will impact the polyp? Do you think the damage is substantial?

Yea its a bummer, but Id look at just finding a med to strong floe spot for it to rest. Thats going to be rough to mount.
you would have probably lost some polyps any way, as they grow with the flow. That looks like wild or maricultured so it had flow all the way around it judging by the shape.

Give it some rest, then stick a good plug or well shaped rock under it. it'll be easier to mount IF you even want to later.

CalebWBrink2000 · May 19, 2017

saltyfilmfolks said:
Yea its a bummer, but Id look at just finding a med to strong floe spot for it to rest. Thats going to be rough to mount.
you would have probably lost some polyps any way, as they grow with the flow. That looks like wild or maricultured so it had flow all the way around it judging by the shape.

Give it some rest, then stick a good plug or well shaped rock under it. it'll be easier to mount IF you even want to later.

I think I'm just gonna leave the thing there. It's getting solid flow where it is. I managed to shoot some mysis into the cups. A few pieces were consumed, even though the polyps weren't extended. I just hope it regenerates the chipped edges. How long do you predict that would take? A week? Month?

saltyfilmfolks · May 20, 2017

CalebWBrink2000 said:
I think I'm just gonna leave the thing there. It's getting solid flow where it is. I managed to shoot some mysis into the cups. A few pieces were consumed, even though the polyps weren't extended. I just hope it regenerates the chipped edges. How long do you predict that would take? A week? Month?

Hard to say really. It going to be the usual answer. Water chemistry and how much it eats.
Your ahead of the game if it's eating already.

CalebWBrink2000 · May 20, 2017

saltyfilmfolks said:
Hard to say really. It going to be the usual answer. Water chemistry and how much it eats.
Your ahead of the game if it's eating already.

I'm feeling a bit more hopeful. This is what it looked like last night:

Thanks for your help!

saltyfilmfolks · May 20, 2017

CalebWBrink2000 said:
I'm feeling a bit more hopeful. This is what it looked like last night:

Thanks for your help!

Dude thats great!
Is that another NPS there next to it?

The only reason I suggested putting it on a pedestal is to let those lower heads open up a bit more, but thats looking great!

CalebWBrink2000 · May 20, 2017

saltyfilmfolks said:
Dude thats great!
Is that another NPS there next to it?

The only reason I suggested putting it on a pedestal is to let those lower heads open up a bit more, but thats looking great!

Left of it is a cluster of red/lavender acans. They'll enjoy the feedings too. I'll try to find something to mount it on so that it's elevated a bit. For now though, I'm just going to let it settle for a few days before I touch it or move it anymore.

saltyfilmfolks · May 20, 2017

CalebWBrink2000 said:
Left of it is a cluster of red/lavender acans. They'll enjoy the feedings too. I'll try to find something to mount it on so that it's elevated a bit. For now though, I'm just going to let it settle for a few days before I touch it or move it anymore.

Good deal. I just got a new colony of the more orange sun corals. I wish mine were a healthy as yours.

CalebWBrink2000 · May 20, 2017

saltyfilmfolks said:
Good deal. I just got a new colony of the more orange sun corals. I wish mine were a healthy as yours.

I was pretty surprised to see such a response from it after all of the chaos. My current plan is to heavily feed them every night for about a month to speed up regeneration for the edges of the cups, and then after the little guy is settled in I'll likely switch to feeding every other day or every two days.

saltyfilmfolks · May 20, 2017

CalebWBrink2000 said:
I was pretty surprised to see such a response from it after all of the chaos. My current plan is to heavily feed them every night for about a month to speed up regeneration for the edges of the cups, and then after the little guy is settled in I'll likely switch to feeding every other day or every two days.

Watch the over feeding, but def spot feed. Kinda find the balance depending on your skimmer really IMO.

CalebWBrink2000 · May 20, 2017

saltyfilmfolks said:
Watch the over feeding, but def spot feed. Kinda find the balance depending on your skimmer really IMO.

My tank's filtration is bordering on overkill. About a fifth of the display in the back is nothing but macro algae that grows like a weed. Skimmer skims heavily and I have a chamber filled with Marinepure biospheres. If anything I predict I may have to replace the filter floss a bit more often, but other than that, I have so much life in this tank (7 years worth of microbes) that it should be able to process just about anything within a reasonable limit. Definitely gonna watch out for excessive algae growth. All I typically get is film algae on the glass. I can usually roughly gauge the amount of nutrients in the water by the rate of which the glass gets dirty.

saltyfilmfolks · May 20, 2017

CalebWBrink2000 said:
My tank's filtration is bordering on overkill. About a fifth of the display in the back is nothing but macro algae that grows like a weed. Skimmer skims heavily and I have a chamber filled with Marinepure biospheres. If anything I predict I may have to replace the filter floss a bit more often, but other than that, I have so much life in this tank (7 years worth of microbes) that it should be able to process just about anything within a reasonable limit. Definitely gonna watch out for excessive algae growth. All I typically get is film algae on the glass. I can usually roughly gauge the amount of nutrients in the water by the rate of which the glass gets dirty.

Yup cool, we are right on the same page.
Do yourself one favor, look for a black sun coral

Mine is COOOOL

CalebWBrink2000 · May 20, 2017

saltyfilmfolks said:
Yup cool, we are right on the same page.
Do yourself one favor, look for a black sun coral Mine is COOOOL

Dude I would totally dig one of those. They're so different from basically everything lol. If I have good success with my current sun coral I may have to dedicate a corner of the reef to be a sun coral garden. I'm really getting interested in NPS in general; they're just so cool. The LFS had a beautiful and healthy carnation coral, but I've yet to hear a success story with one.

saltyfilmfolks · May 20, 2017

CalebWBrink2000 said:
The LFS had a beautiful and healthy carnation coral, but I've yet to hear a success story with one.

Just buy it. No, there are no sucess stories period. But it was one of THE coolest things I had. just beautiful. Lasted roughly 3 months for me. Its cheaper than going to dinner and lasts a lot longer.

A lot of folks with more established tank have a LOT less problems with nps, likely due to the bacterial populations and dissolved organic diversity. I definitely don't have to feed my black sun as much as anyone says I have to.

CalebWBrink2000 · May 20, 2017

saltyfilmfolks said:
Just buy it. No, there are no sucess stories period. But it was one of THE coolest things I had. just beautiful. Lasted roughly 3 months for me. Its cheaper than going to dinner and lasts a lot longer.

A lot of folks with more established tank have a LOT less problems with nps, likely due to the bacterial populations and dissolved organic diversity. I definitely don't have to feed my black sun as much as anyone says I have to.

Haha that's tempting! I managed to entice my sun coral out during the day with food, and fed him heavily. Feeling good!