Sun Coral

[shornik]

I purchased this 2 days ago and the polyps haven't opened yet, I've been basting in when I feed my fish and sometimes I see some of the 'tubes' elongate, but the polyps have been stubborn. Is this normal and should I just be patient until it acclimates to its new home?

 

[Highgrade]

Sun Corals may take a bit of time to adapt to your parameters before opening up and your lighting may be a bit bright. You may want to change your lighting up a bit depending on the type of lighting. What type of lighting are you running? Most Sun Corals IME prefer lower lighting and low-med flow. Also they do better if the skimmer is not ran 24/7 unless you target feed regularly.

 

[shornik]

Thanks - I'm running an A/I Hydra 26, its at 50% at its peak. I put it kind of back in a cave'ish place in the rock work so it isn't getting any or much directly light and the flow is probably more medium then low. I'll keep watching it to see if it opens and if not in the next day or two I'll fiddle with moving it around to lower light areas.

 

[Highgrade]

Thanks - I'm running an A/I Hydra 26, its at 50% at its peak. I put it kind of back in a cave'ish place in the rock work so it isn't getting any or much directly light and the flow is probably more medium then low. I'll keep watching it to see if it opens and if not in the next day or two I'll fiddle with moving it around to lower light areas.

No problem. Sometimes they take time to open up fully and can be a pain at times. Good Luck!

 

[tomtom2245]

It looks to be in a good place. Is it getting some flow by it? They like some flow but not to be blasted so they can catch food particles. Check it at night. When first introduced, you are more likely to see them open at night until they learn that there is food during the day as well.

 

[WetWhistle]

You need to entice them open with fragrant foods like juice from mysis shrimp, brine shrimp or a food like oyster feast or something as simple as blowing up some detritus from your substrate. They open slow so you need to add the juice in first about 15 min before you feed to give them time to expand. If you don't the food will be long gone before they are even open and you will waste energy from unnecessary open and close. You can target feed as well by cutting off the top of a 2L pop and take off the cap. Place it over the coral and squirt in some juice. Then once it is open give it some food. This also helps stop fish and shrimp from steeling food. I find they like to be upside down best like on the roof of a cave with a good amount of flow. To low a flow and it will not get enough food. The higher flow brings a lot more food to it.

 

[ahiggins]

Toooooootally normal-thats why I gave mine up. I couldnt train it properly and I figured I would have killed it lol

 

[shornik]

Thanks everyone, that's what I love about Reef2Reef, get great advice and encouragement. I'll post a pic once its opened up and share anything I learn.

 

[WetWhistle]

They do take some time to adjust as they are fussy. But you don't want to much time going by before they come out as the longer it is the harder it is for them to bounce back. The one in the pic is pretty healthy at this point and the tissue is not sinking in. So you do have a little time.