Getting a sun coral to open up

[emmitt2]

I'm in davie and trying to find a good sump/fuge or someone to cut the glass and put in baffles.
What size are you lookin to get?

 

[saltn00b]

well if you are talking to me, im about to move in a month or so - but to replace the older style sump i would likely need a 75g sump/fuge.
i was likely going to attempt to build it myself from a basic 75g and adding baffles.

 

[dchec2100]

Well, still nothing for me as far as it opening up. Last night tried a few times, using the plastic 2L bottle with the bottom cut out... stuck it in the sand a little. Tried frozen mysis, tried marine snow... still nothing. I'm going to pick up some cyclopeeze today and give that a go.

 

[saltn00b]

yea you wont get any results until you put the cyclop in - i went through the same process.

 

[emmitt2]

Did you try any selcon or zoecon? that works great for me

 

[saltn00b]

i tried zoe myself when i first get my sun corals, and they only barely tipped out.

 

[saltn00b]

but i should add mine are 'pink carnation sun coral' and possibly being a slightly more rare type are perhaps more finicky

 

[dchec2100]

Well, my LFS didn't have the frozen cyclopeeze, just the flakes... will these work?

 

[saltn00b]

i would assume its all the same - never heard any difference. i had to go to different LFS than the normal one to get my cyclop

 

[dchec2100]

Cool... I'll try mixing it with a little tank water in a small cup, and shooting it down over the polyps tonight.

 

[dchec2100]

Ok well that seemed to work a little... they opened up some, but I'm not sure how big they're supposed to get.

 

[saltn00b]

keep doing it every night around the same time, they will come around.

 

[dchec2100]

will they get any larger? They've opened to about the same diameter as they were when they were closed, pretty close to the picture above.

 

[dchec2100]

Anyone know how large the polyps will actually open to?

 

[saltn00b]

try some searches for sun coral pics. when you said just the flakes i assume you meant flake cyclop and not just flake food ?
did you try the bowl method of keeping them 'saturated' with the cyclop for an hour?
the usually are open fully when the outer most petals/tentacles/branches are perpendicular to the polyp or even further down than that, and could be any where from 1.5 to 2 times the size of the closed polyp

 

[dchec2100]

Originally Posted by saltn00b
try some searches for sun coral pics. when you said just the flakes i assume you meant flake cyclop and not just flake food ?
did you try the bowl method of keeping them 'saturated' with the cyclop for an hour?
the usually are open fully when the outer most petals/tentacles/branches are perpendicular to the polyp or even further down than that, and could be any where from 1.5 to 2 times the size of the closed polyp
Yeah, I've been using flake cyclop... it's helping actually... they're opening more and more each time. The 2L soda bottle with the bottom cut out is working well for me... after dowsing them with the flakes, I wait 15 min and dowse them with mysis shimp or other frozen foods.

 

[saltn00b]

maybe wait an hour so they can soak up that cyclop and open a lot

 

[dchec2100]

Originally Posted by saltn00b
maybe wait an hour so they can soak up that cyclop and open a lot
And then drop on the mysis? I'll give it a go...

 

[kengaroo]

My Sun Polp doesn't open up either. I have had it for over 3 weeks and the only time it opens up is if I use Selcon. Marine Snow doesn't seem to get it open. I have to force it to open by using Selcon every 3 days, otherwise it will stay closed? Does this mean it is not hungry?

 

[reefreak]

Just purchased a sun. This thread is some great information. Thank you.