sun coral feeding

[mkengr45]

Hello all, I recently bought a beautiful specimen of sun coral. I did some research before buying it so im aware that they need extra care when it comes to feeding. I have been removing the coral and putting it into a small bucket with tank water and putting in a big load of brine shrimp, and after a while it eats but the polyps dont fully extend. My question is this, do sun corals filter feed. I recently added some micro-vert to the tank and turned off my wet/dry and just left the powerhead in the tank on so that the food would be swirled around the tank for a while, when I did this the polypls came out all the way. Is adding micro-vert going to be adequate feeding if I do it this way. Any advice from sun coral owners would be super.
Thanks
Randy

 

[smarls]

mkengr,
Nice purchase. I dont have a sun, but i have been looking into getting one. The things that I keep running into about them is:
(i) LOTS of water flow...they need high flow areas;
(ii) lots of hand feeding - so this makes me think that they are not filter feeders, or of they are, they are not very good at it
(iii) light - irrelevent. so the advice i have read is to place them in a high flow area, high in the tank, so that the hand feeding is easy.
maybe after you add the micro-vert and the polps extend all the way, then you can shut off the powerheads, leave him in the tank, and fed him the brine with a turkey baster?
i think that the moving to the bucket may be what is causing him to close up, might be adding a little stress to him? Just a thought.
I would be interested to know other than the feeding, how you like the sun? Any pics?

 

[mkengr45]

I dont have any pics yet, but I absolutely friggin love the coral. The time I did get it to open all the way I was stunned at how awesome it looked. Super bright orange and yellow. I do have it in a high flow area with low light. I try and feed it almost everyday to try and train it to open in the daytime. I will post some pics after I take some.
Randy

 

[mebigloser]

They like very low light conditions.

 

[leigh]

Mine does like phyto...but to really keep it happy it needs something meaty as well. I have a sizable clean up crew including 3 brittle stars and a defensive line worth of hermits so I am not particularly concerned with overfeeding my tank--so I use the turkey baster approach smarls suggested--just place pieces of brine on the feelers to target feed. I try to do this as often as I remember which winds up being about 3x per week. It really should be closer to daily for optimal health and growth of the coral.

 

[smarls]

Mebigloser,
For some reason I thought they were light agnostic, as they have no zooantheliae (sp)? Then again, I read somehwere else that they are most often found in caves and under overhangs...so I guess my info is all over the place!
DId you ever try it in light, or have you always kept it in the shade?
Stewart
ps - whatever you are doing, it looks great!

 

[nm reef]

Sun polyps are an excellant addition if the conditions are right and the reefkeeper in willing/able to spend the time needed to tend to it. They prefer a moderate to high current away from direct light. Mine is sheltered under a over hang on the lower section of my reef. I try to target feed a mixture of mysis/brine soaked in zoe/zoecon at least twice a week(sometimes more) plus I dose DT's Phyto Plankton 3 times a week. My suns have regularly opened during the day since about the 3rd/4th week after adding them. Often I'll find them fully open early in the AM even without target feeding. For additional info check this link . Below are a few pics from some of my web surfin' ... these examples are not of mine....I've got a few pics but no where near the quality of these.

NMREEF website
Ka is the wheel that moves the world...and the man or woman that rages against it will be crushed under its rim.
nmreef@cox.net

 

[j-cal]

I use a plastic syringe with frozen brine and shoot clouds of brine at my polyps 5 times a week or so. I usually do it in the evening, and now they open up even before I put any in, at about the same time. Great polyps imo.

 

[mebigloser]

Stewart,
I placed it near the top of the tank when I first got him, but he would never open. I asked the nice people on here for some info on the Sun Coral and found that they will feed mainly after the lights are off and prefer shaded areas. I feed my with a syringe about 20 minutes after lights out.

 

[smarls]

Mebigloser,
Ahian, whatever you are doing, it looks great! I think you have cnvinced me to seriously look at gettingone of these, the pictures of them are just amazing.
I think based on all this info, I will need to build a new cave...down low...with good water flow - this is going to be tricky!
If oyu have any other advice on them, let me know. And if he opens up, grab a pic of him.
Stewart

 

[purity]

i like that idea on nm's link about diverting the other feesh from snagging the brine shrimp before the sun's can eat 'em.
this has been the biggest problem for me. i tried the plastic bottle method but can't do it because of the location of the sun corals. so then i'd try turkey basting brine shrimp but the DAMN cleaner shrimps get running up and snagging em!!
whatever little amounts the sun corals were able to get were literally snatched out from their tentacles by the scarlet cleaners- despite me beating them away from the area.
so i think i'm gonna try this diversion method. i might even hang some seaweed on the opposite side of the tank to get them away.
any additional input would be appreciated though.

 

[mebigloser]

They are a great coral, but one thing negative. Each polyp must be feed or it will die. This can cause some negative effects on your tank due to excess food in your tank. Just something to think about.
MBL

 

[mebigloser]

A updated picture.