Got a Sun Coral..is this location in tank ok for it

[05xrunner]

Well I was reading all up on these things today and thought it would be awsome to have one.
Went to my LFS and tehre one was.
Is this an ok place for it...I dont know if its still to much light hitting it. Should I redo some rock work so its more totally covered under a ledge.

 

[bonita69]

I am not sure on the placement , but your rock looks too clean?? How long has your tank been set up?

 

[05xrunner]

its been up..the rock is all new dry rock i just bought...thats why its soo clean.
That wasnt the question..I asked about placement. My water params are fine..i check them every 3days

 

[dejaco]

Mine seems to like a diffused light area. Even shaded, but with lots of current.
And I too wonder how new is that system?

 

[demartini]

it's fine there... that's a nice big one! I had mine out in the light and it opened the same as when I moved it in to a cave.

 

[05xrunner]

after 1 week...its comming along pretty good

 

[jerthunter]

nice, my one recommendation would be place it somewhere you can get at it easily so you can spot feed it. I'm sure you've heard about how many people cover it with a tupperware or cut off soda bottle to spot feed it. But again nice looking coral....

 

[05xrunner]

actually..I have doing the method of putting it in a separate tupperware and letting all the cyclopeze just float in there with it so i know everything gets some..and no fish to steal it.

 

[jerthunter]

another good idea.

 

[rykna]

Beautiful!!!! When I had my reef tank the cup corals ate the most of anybody! They would happily eat brine shrimp round the clock! If you keep yours well fed it'll grow like a weed! Again, beautiful cup coral

 

[renogaw]

i was originally going to say try to get it off the sand, but your last picture of it opening shows you placed it very nice on some base rock. the only problem with where you have it is the back polyps will most likely not get much food unless you constantly move it to feed it. i'm having that issue now--wherever i place it on my rocks, it keeps getting knocked off them by hermits or snails, but i don't have anywhere else but the sand to put it. since putting it in the open, it has opened more and i've seen more polyp's form. I wish mine was as big as yours though
can you explain what you mean by the tupper ware? do you take it out to feed?

 

[05xrunner]

yes...I did alot of reading before I bought it. There are alot of people that take it out and put it in a bowl and put the food in there so all the heads get some food and no fish to steal it. Seems to be working pretty good for me so far.

 

[renogaw]

hmm, might prevent all the food from going all over the tank too. i use a turkey baster with a very small opening, sort of like a coral spot feeder, but it still gets everywhere. only problem i see doing this is in the future if it spreads to your live rock you won't be able to tupperware feed them.

 

[05xrunner]

i will probably switch to some kinda small baster to feed each one

 

[renogaw]

i got the baster at local food store called stop and shop. its made by farberware, and is tapered at the end, and has a pretty good bubble that hasn't leaked air out yet. (i have a yellow older baster that the bubble leaks all the time because the seal is bad). the nice thing is how small the opening is--it keeps the food and cyclopeze in a little easier.

 

[pete43]

you can also use an aspirator(a smaller version of a baster)it's used for sucking bugers out of babies noses.My wife got an extra one her baby shower.That's what I use to spot feed,works great.

 

[emmitt2]

How often are you feeding it?
You need to feed that sun EVERY day, meaty foods at least for awhile,imo. Wether you take it out to feed(bad idea IME) or put a cup over it in the tank to feed, that sun coral definitely needs extra feeding.
See the bright white skeleton at the bottom? That is where polyps were that have recently died. Hopefully, it is on the way back since you got it and not receding since you got it but either way, I would feed it every day until that is gone and you cant see any skeleton.

 

[05xrunner]

it gets fed everyday..its doing pretty good and comming out alot now.
Alot of people who have great success with suncorals have been doing the tupperware feedings all the time.

 

[emmitt2]

I agree but taking it in and out every day puts alot of strees on a already fragile coral. Plus, talk about a pain to do every day. You have plenty of space there and I just think you would be better off putting a bowl over it inside the tank,imo.
I'm definitely biased since i LOVE using the bowl in the tank technique and have had alot of success with it. But i really dont see the downside to it if you have a decent clean up crew. The sun eats most of the food under the bowl and the little that is left is almost immediately eaten by my cleaner and fire shrimp, crabs and fish. My water parameters havent suffered at all feeding in the tank under a bowl.

 

[05xrunner]

well the tupperware was mainly to train it..its more open now. So i am probably going to start using a baster to spot feed it now. Since it seems to be trained to open when the lights are on now