Finally I have coral!

[tirtza]

Yeah!! Finally have some coral

About 1 hour ago I added 4 tiny $10 frags
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Two frags that were advertised as Kenya Tree....I'm not positive after closer inspection though (I can't tell if it's Cladiella spp. aka 'Finger leather coral' or Nephthea spp. aka 'Tree Coral')
[*]
One Caulastrea spp. aka 'Candy Cane Coral'
One tiny red Corallimorph spp. aka 'Mushroom'
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1st I dipped the coral in Flatworm Exit (one gallon of heated aquarium water w/one drop of FWE) for 50 minutes.
2nd I rinsed the coral in some fresh aquarium water.
3rd I dipped the coral in Coral Rx (one gallon of heated aquarium water) for 10 minutes
4th I attached each frag to a small separate chunk of rock using CoralAffix adhesive
5th Based on my Pocket Expert Guide to Marine Invertebrates I placed the rocks/coral in the appropriate areas based on light and water flow requirements.
I tried to do everything right and I'm really hoping that I did! Any thoughts or suggestions? Are there any improvements I can make?
I know the coral will probably take a little while to adjust...
But here's some early pics!

 

[tirtza]

More pictures....and of course questions...
One Kenya Tree opened up a little while ago (30 minutes?) and the other one is still closed up tight and looks terrible! Any ideas on why one would look great and the other looks so sad??

While I was attaching the coral frags to the rock it got a little messy. The tiny little mushroom is starting to open up...but there's a spike of adhesive poking up and I'm worried it could damage the mushroom. Should I cut that adhesive spike?

 

[spanko]

Nice Terri.
Is there a piece of bubble algae on the green rock ?

 

[tirtza]

Quote:
Is there a piece of bubble algae on the green rock?
lol....no that's actually a hole on the left hand side of the rock, it does look like bubble algae though (you are talking about the one with the little mushroom right?)
So I thought these were both Kenya Trees when I got them at the LFS, but now that they are open and in my aquarium I'm beginning to think that the one on the right is a Finger Leather Coral and the one on the left is a Tree Coral. What do you think?
Both side by side.....

Kenya Tree Coral?

Finger Leather Coral?

 

[flower]

I really like the candy cane coral. They are both kenya tree as I told you in another post. One is angry and still closed up, and the other is happy. On the mushroom...don't bother it. All it will do is tear the flesh. It will pull away from the glue on it's own.
Congratulations on your first corals!

 

[reefkprz]

doesn't look to me like the glue is actually touching the mushroom your fine to clip it if you want to remove the spike. I dont think the spike will bother the mushroom all that much but if you think its unsightly feel free to trim it off.

 

[flower]

A finger leather coral. The coral is smooth except a few pimples that look like dots.

 

[eric b 125]

They both look like the same coral to me. I had that stuff in my tank and it spread like the plague. I ended up giving the main rock of it away a few months ago, and I'm still finding stalks of it sprouting up. I just pull them out with hemostats and toss them out.

 

[florida joe]

Quote:
5th Based on my Pocket Expert Guide to Marine Invertebrates I placed the rocks/coral in the appropriate areas based on light and water flow requirements.
I am by no means an expert but I am sure that the location in reference to light and flow are meant to be finale locations. IMO you are better served by placing your corals low in your tank and in minimal flow areas and gradually moving them into higher illumination areas as well as flow if that is to be their final destination

 

[siptang]

Looking good and congrats!

 

[tirtza]

So I placed the Candy Cane coral in a moderate flow, high illumination area. High illumination is a relative term since I only have a 30 gallon aquarium with two 36 watt compact bulbs). There's one white fluorescent and one blue actinic). I placed the Candy on the top of the rock ledge closer to the lights. As far as proper illumination is this a good spot for the Candy Cane?