new coral w/ pics please ID! advice!

crabbychris

crabbychris

Member
My first sps!
OK I bought a coral for $15 from my lfs that was dying because the lighting system went out and he just wanted to clear the tank for repairs. I have no idea what it is other than it somewhat resembles a goniopora coral of some kind. It was looking really bad but now what is alive on it is looking great. It's about 5 inches tall and about 3 1/2 inches in diameter. What are the care requirements? What is it? What are the chances of this type of coral recovering?

 
t316

t316

Active Member
I have no idea what it is, but for $15, I think you did good. It looks like there is enough left for it to survive. The top green section almost looks like a brain, but the rest of the pics contradicts this theory. I don't know.
 
crabbychris

crabbychris

Member
the alevopora pics i looked up didn't look like this, they all had longer polyps. The polyps on this one are only about 1/4 of an inch when fully extended.
 
valgae

valgae

Member
consider the state of health of this specimen. how many fingers are on each polyp? 12? 24? i'm sure when it get some proper care and lighting it will come out more.
 
crabbychris

crabbychris

Member
It's really hard to tell how many fingers each polyp has. If you count every individual ridge then it looks like 24 but the ridges sort of look like they are in pairs which would mean 12 fingers. And again I really can't be sure.
I really have no idea about proper care or the amount of lighting it needs since I have never owned an sps. I have done a little reading but care suggestions are inconsistent at best. It appears that most sps corals are all different so how do I know what care to provide? What would be a good starting point considering I am not 100% sure on the species? Not saying I don't believe that you are right. I just can't be 100%.
 
valgae

valgae

Member
hmmmmm...... try to get another pic w/ tentacles out. that way we can figure out what this is and give proper care advice. sorry i've een at work.
 
valgae

valgae

Member
def gonipora. med light, med flow. on the sandbed is fine. spot feed twice a week w/ cyclops. what kind of lights do you have?
 
crabbychris

crabbychris

Member
I have 2 12000k 54W T5s, 2 actinic t5's and 2 10000k/6500k 65w pc's for a total of 346 watts in the 90. The coral is very near the top of the tank. Do you think I should move it with the amount of lighting I have? I would like it better on the sandbed.
 
valgae

valgae

Member
no i'd leave it. thats not a lot of light. wait till it recovers a bit and polyps come out more. then you can move down.
 
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