Ricordia tips needed

40B Knasty · Sep 9, 2018

I picked up this Ricordia yesterday at the Boston Frag Show. I was wondering how I should care for this coral.
First I would like to know what kind it is? I believe it is a Rainbow Ricordia Florida coral.
Should I keep this in a shaded area for a while?
My tank is 2 feet tall. The Ricordia is on the sand bed on a small chunk of live rock. I glued the frag plug it came on to the live rock. It is in the open under 4 T5s. All ATI 2x Blue Plus, Coral Plus, and True Actinic. I would suspect the Actinic not making to much of an impact with the coral about 24" away from the lights. Plus there being a glass top to probably reduce PAR a bit. Also a low flow with pulsing from my 2 Powerheads. I do have a bag of BRS ROX.08 carbon in a Tetra 10 filter that keeps my water very clean. So the lights PAR will not be decreased to much from a dirty tank.
Any tips, tricks, ideas, and experiences are welcome. Thanks in advance.
I do understand they can be tricky. I have done some research and get it that things can south very quickly. Trying to avoid that.

Lowefx · Sep 9, 2018

I have one also. I dont really care for it much. It's on the sand bed and I will spot feed once in a while. It does not get babies too often and is a slow grower.

DSC reef · Sep 9, 2018

It is a ricordea Florida and a nice one at that! Had pretty good luck with them. We kept the orange and blue variants. In the 75 gallon I kept them midway in the tank so they could take some light. Started with 3 then got rid of the rock after 12 or more covered it. I kept the flow low to moderate just to create a little random movement. Never spot fed them but reef roids was broadcast twice a week. Good luck man, that a nice mushroom.

40B Knasty · Sep 9, 2018

Thanks! @DSC reef it was probably the first time a Ricordia actually caught my eye that wasn't $400+. When he said $20. I couldn't pass it up. I think there is 4 heads on it. Fingers crossed. I always have bad luck with frag show pieces. After reading all the down falls of a Yuma and Florida's having a better chance. Hopefully it doesn't just end up being added to my boneyard of frag plugs for corals that didn't make it.
Thanks for the heads up about what height you had yours at, flow, and spot feeding. I do have Reef Roids and Hikari Coral Gumbo.