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Thread: Sun corals

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    Apprentice Reefer0513's Avatar
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    Sun corals

    I am thinking about getting a sun coral and trying to keep it in my reef tank. I just love their bright colors, which I am always trying to add some color that stands out in my reef tank. Their feeding requirements are kind of scaring me off from owning one of these type of coral. Has anyone tried to keep this type of coral and if so what are the pros and cons?

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    Master Reefer THEJRC's Avatar
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    he he, interesting post given that I just finished adding a new colony of Tubastrea (sun coral) to my tank a few hours ago. lets see what we can go into here...

    Yes your going to have to target feed it from time to time, at least once a week. Feed each polyp a nice helping of frozen brine, mysis, cyclopeeze, etc. meaty foods are good here. If you can, feed more often nightly if at all possible. The biggest con here is that unless you target feed your tank is going to get a nice dose of excess food during feeding. With good target feeding excess food is not so much of a problem.

    Your going to want to start the coral low away from intense light, while tubastrea will thrive in a myriad of environments it takes a while to adjust to super bright lighting. Bear that in mind when choosing a final placement. If the final spot is going to be high up near intense light, move it up slowly over a few weeks time. Also perhaps the biggest issue is that obtaining a healthy colony is near impossible!!! Many LFS simply lack time and resources to feed these things back to good health. The first month or so expect to do nightly feedings to get the specimen to good health.

    All in all, they are hard work and an advanced coral... If your not ready to pour the feeding efforts into one I would encourage you to avoid it. If your willing to spend the time and effort... they're one of the most beautiful specimens available to the hobby!
    ~J


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    Sun Corals

    Thank you for the interesting reply to my post. So, in your opinion they are worth having, you just feed them once a week? Is this feeding schedule used after they have acclimated to your tank? What about when you first get them?

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    Assistant Moderator rayme07's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Reefer0513 View Post
    Is this feeding schedule used after they have acclimated to your tank? What about when you first get them?
    Yes, Sun corals are non-photosynthetic meaning they do not have the zooxanthellae that live inside them that feed off the light and giving the coral food. They feed by using their tentacles to take in food particles and that is how they feed. That is why with this coral feeding it is so important and forgetting a feeding or two can impact this coral quite a bit. The best way to feed this coral and keep it healthy is to make sure every one of the sun corals heads gets food and takes it in. I feed mine twice a week and they look pretty healthy. When you first get them you could feed them if you want just make sure that you do feed them once or twice a week.
    Ray or Raymond
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    Master Reefer THEJRC's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by rayme07 View Post
    They feed by using their testicles to take in food particles and that is how they feed.

    hmm... thank god it was me who caught this one first.... uhm

    Raymond... Raymond... Raymond....

    getting back to the question....

    I feed twice daily after getting a new colony until it is healthy then cut back to my normal regimen which is daily. For most who are not nuts about feeding... feeding every night or every other night to nurse the colony to health and then cutting back to once or twice a week is fine.

    Raymond...... gah....
    ~J


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    Assistant Moderator rayme07's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by THEJRC View Post
    hmm... thank god it was me who caught this one first.... uhm

    Raymond... Raymond... Raymond....

    getting back to the question....

    I feed twice daily after getting a new colony until it is healthy then cut back to my normal regimen which is daily. For most who are not nuts about feeding... feeding every night or every other night to nurse the colony to health and then cutting back to once or twice a week is fine.

    Raymond...... gah....
    huh you just confused the heck out of me. LOL seriously.
    Ray or Raymond
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    Apprentice Reefer0513's Avatar
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    I also was wondering what he meant by testicles. Never heard of a sun coral having testicles, but I was giving him the benefit of the doubt on it. Just trying to be nice. I thought to my self maybe it is a new species of sun coral he was refering too, who knows. LOL!

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    Insightful Reefer Rostr02's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by rayme07 View Post
    They feed by using their testicles to take in food particles and that is how they feed.
    By far the funniest thing I have read all day thanks rayme!

    Bob

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    Assistant Moderator rayme07's Avatar
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    LOL now I know what you meant. lol once again my spelling check fails me. I really need to double and triple check my posts. wow I am so embarrassed but oh well its life. I fixed it.

    Thanks everyone for bringing that up to my attention.
    Ray or Raymond
    There is no elevator to success in marine tanks. You have to take the stairs.


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    Grand Master Reefer CarmieJo's Avatar
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    When I had one I cut a 2L bottle off about 3 inches below the top and put this dome over the coral while it ate in order to keep the other critters from stealing the food.
    Carmie


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  11. The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to CarmieJo For This Useful Post:

    rayme07 (02-22-2010), sunny d polyp (02-23-2010)

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    Master Reefer THEJRC's Avatar
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    and along comes Carmie to pull the train back on the tracks!! I remember reading a post from you on that, its an excellent idea!!
    ~J


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    Master Reefer SaltyDawg's Avatar
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    OK...who is going to tell Ray about the birds and the bees...

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    Quote Originally Posted by SaltyDawg View Post
    OK...who is going to tell Ray about the birds and the bees...
    lol I am going to get teased about this for a long time.
    Ray or Raymond
    There is no elevator to success in marine tanks. You have to take the stairs.


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    Apprentice sunny d polyp's Avatar
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    I was just about to chime in and say don't buy one because I couldn't keep my Sun healthy and ended up donating him to a friend, everytime I tried to feed him/her the fish and crabs would snatch the food before the Sun had a chance to eat, I would stand there like a nut fending off the inhabinants that were like a pack of wolves.That's a great idea Carmie I wish I would have been smart enough to think of that. They are to me the most beautiful coral available and from what I've heard it's the sinle most photographed coral. I would love to do a species tank with these so I would not have the problem with excess nutrients trying to keep these healthy.
    Don't sweat the small stuff...

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    Master Reefer THEJRC's Avatar
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    ahem....

    all teasing aside... they are a little more work.... buuut

    let it be said that feeding my sun corals is my one super relaxing moment in life..... so much so everyone in the family knows

    "he's feediing the tubastrea... leave him alone"

    ahhh and in 15 minutes, I shall relax!!!
    ~J


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    Sun Corals...

    So true JRC, I guess you can tell by my pic how I feel bout Sun's.

    I'm gearing up for the 180 when my wife and I move. I would like to do a tank build but some of you guys would put me to shame with some of your builds, there is a lot of talent, art and knowledge here in this forum. I'm still adding Turbo calcium and mg manually, I've documented in a journal for so long I only test every month or so unless something doesn't look right. I guess I need to tech it up a bit.

    I am going to do a dsb, does anyone use a plenum anymore? I read amphibious's 135 build and using the pvc to keep the live rock of the top of the sand,what a great idea.

    Do you have a species tank for your sun's or are they in a mixed environment?
    Don't sweat the small stuff...

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    Grand Master Reefer CarmieJo's Avatar
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    Maybe some old school people are doing a plenum but they are not popular.
    Carmie


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    The people I have talked to do not use them anymore

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