Ripped off by LFS? Flower Pot coral

tj51

tj51

Member
I hate being a rookie! I love flowing corals, such as torches. Went today to LFS and saw flower pot coral and loved it. The owner said it was pretty easy to keep. Got home and have been reading and they say it is difficult at best. Is that true? If so, I will need guidance on keepng this alive (and will never to back to that store)
tank is 42 stretch hex
I have a 96 watt 36" daylight and 2 24 watt 20" T-5 (blue)
I have it set up about 1/2 way to the top, medium to light flow
Water is good, but working on 'trades (down from about 80ppm to under 30) by using seachem nitrate sponge in canister
temp 77-79
salinity 1.025
What are the problem areas of this coral?
Thanks!!!
Tj
 
reefkprz

reefkprz

Active Member
damn I was hoping you would say red. reds are the easiest to keep (still considered challenging), purple hard, greens nearly impossible. the hardest part is feeding they need very small micron meaty foods as well as photosynthesis. they usually go through a teady decline over 6-8 months. a friend of mine has had success by crushing cyclops and spot feeding hers. last I heard it was still alive. but she's one of those perfect water quality people. more equipment than a well set up labratory and been doing this for years. I wish you the best of luck. try foods like daphnia cyclops oyster eggs and spot feeding every couple days, thats about the best I can suggest. maybe some one else who has had some long term success (like keeping one for a couple years) can chime in with some better advice than my feeble attempt.
 
tj51

tj51

Member
I have crushed cyclops, frozen phytoplankton and live phytoplankton. I usually add a cube of either cyclops or phytoplankton everyother night and a capful of live phytoplankton on the other nights.
 
tj51

tj51

Member
The water is my concern. My wife hated the sound of the wet-dry so I'm going with a venturi protein skimmer and about 50lbs of live rock, plus the cannister filter with the seachem nitrate remover, cermanic spheres, and carbon
 
keith burn

keith burn

Active Member
Problem)well it is like this if you (your tank) work with them that look and go good if not that will not ...As for me and my tank we do not work well with them water lvl are spot on but thay go south fast in all of my tanks ???
I do not know why it is like this but that is how it works in my tanks...
Ps imo do not buy fish/filters/skimmers/corals/lights or full setups with out looking,reading and asking questions 1st.
You will save $ time and tears...
 
corallover23

corallover23

Member
Originally Posted by keith burn
http:///forum/post/2562913
Problem)well it is like this if you (your tank) work with them that look and go good if not that will not ...As for me and my tank we do not work well with them water lvl are spot on but thay go south fast in all of my tanks ???
I do not know why it is like this but that is how it works in my tanks...
Ps imo do not buy fish/filters/skimmers/corals/lights or full setups with out looking,reading and asking questions 1st.
You will save $ time and tears...
thats the truth, im learning a hard lesson
 
tj51

tj51

Member
yep! It was coming out and not much flow, so I stuck some tongs in to move my PH and before I could it retracted back faster than a dude in a cold shower
 
lexluethar

lexluethar

Active Member
I had a green one and it died after about 5 months. I still think it was because of my clown. They are difficult to take care of either way, but are one of the coolest/most beautiful things you can get for your tank. Keep us posted, I wish I had advise for you but what I did obviously didn't work so i don't want to pass info along that didn't work.
 
tj51

tj51

Member
The LFS owner knew I was a "newbie" he should have told me. He said that lighting wasn't a biggie, but never told me the care level was difficult. Maybe I'll get lucky with this but everytime it starts to open, it closes. Maybe shut off the lights for the night and let it unstress?
 
tj51

tj51

Member
Interesting....I just called the store and talked to the owner, he said he can't imagine anyone calling this a difficult coral. He's sold over 500 and only lost one. Oh well as stated above, I will read more and consider this a $50 lesson
 
reefkprz

reefkprz

Active Member
only lost one.... they are probably only in the store for a month tops so his chances at not losing them are fairly high its the customer that ends up losing them. what a jerk.
 
lexluethar

lexluethar

Active Member
Originally Posted by reefkprZ
http:///forum/post/2562961
only lost one.... they are probably only in the store for a month tops so his chances at not losing them are fairly high its the customer that ends up losing them. what a jerk.
Agreed, of course he hasn't lost any - he's sold them within a month or too. Everyone (including myself) that has had trouble with them is usually around the 4 to 6 month mark.
 
txfishman

txfishman

Member
i have had one in a 35 hallon pentagon for 2 years and it started out as a 1 inch frag and is now 13 inches and all over my tank. I had nio clue these corals were considered hard to keep.
 
E

emeralcrab

Guest
txfishman, any pictures? I've had one for about 2 months now, doing wonderful, so would like to keep it that way. Do you do anything special?
Here's a couple of pictures of mine. It only closes up at night and then is fully open all day. These picture are in my QT tank.

 
reefkprz

reefkprz

Active Member
Originally Posted by txfishman
http:///forum/post/2563224
i have had one in a 35 hallon pentagon for 2 years and it started out as a 1 inch frag and is now 13 inches and all over my tank. I had nio clue these corals were considered hard to keep.
I would be interested to hear what you do for it if anything. 2 years is a good lenght of success with them. whats your lighting, how far from the lights is it? do you feed it? whats your SG? any other insight you have may be helpfull to others.
 
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