Sun Coral help and suggestions

[koolaid]

I purchased a sun coral about 4 days ago. When I first put it into the tank it looked very good, the coral came out for a while. But since then the only time the coral starts to come out is after the lights are out and even then they do not come out all the way and not for very long. I have tried to feed with frozen krill, brine, and mysis with no luck. It is in the open so I can easily feed. Do you feel I should put it under a overhang or should I just wait to see if it gets use to the lights? I have a few shrooms and a few corals that seem to be doing fine.
PH 7.9 at night 8.2 during the day. amm 0, ite 0, ate 0, cal 400. 29 gal tank. 2 x 96w pc.

 

[michaeltx]

they are nocturnal corals . you can train them to come out during the day by feeding them during they day since they are non photo corals each polyps will need to be feed for it to survive. mysis shrimp, brine shrimp, are good foods for them.
I used a 2 liter bottle with the bottom cut off to go over the coral and feed through the top of it so they can get it before it floats away.
if you have it in the open the the lights may be causeing it to stay closed since it is a non photo coral it really needs to be in a shady place to keep aglae growth off it .
HTH
Mike

 

[a_fender69]

Well put!
You will find most sun corals in their natural environment under cliffs or over hangs with very little light. Move it to a dark part of the tank towards the bottom with minimal water flow.
Great idea on how to feed, I will have to try it.

 

[j-cal]

I used to use a syrnge to dose phyto on my sun polyps. Now they wont eat it much, but it does make them want to come out. Then id feed with mysis brine etc etc HTH

 

[jmesmcm]

I feed my sun polyps cyclopeeze through a turkey baster each night after the lights go out and they love it. They definately are a non photosynthetic coral and due much better with as little light as possible. I have both of my sun polyps in caves so they are out most of the day as well as all night.

 

[nm reef]

Many folks have success with sun polyps but they absolutely need to be direct fed on a regular basis to do well. I use a mixture of DT's and smaller meaty type food particles...they seem to respond well to smaller size offerings.Mine will start to open up any time food is added to the display...but really open up when ever I direct feed them. Best of luck with yours...they can be a great addition but tend to be more maintenance intensive than other corals.

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