Sun Coral Temp

[jerthunter]

Does anyone know what the optimum temperature is for a sun coral? I have had mine in my reef tank for about a year but I have decided to setup a pico tank just for the sun coral to make it easier to feed. So I am curious is a lower temperature would be better for the coral since I believe it is often a deeper water coral.

 

[jerthunter]

Well unless I find something else or hear something else I am going to try to slowly lower the temp to 75-76 degrees which shouldn't be a problem since some people keep their reefs that cool.
On a related note. The tank is a tiny little 2.5 gallon tank and I am using a hangon filter designed for 10 gallon for flow, I have an extra powerhead but I think that would be too much flow.
Any thought about what I could keep with the sun coral? It cannot need light since I do not plan on having a light on the tank and I do not want anything that will try to steal the sun coral's food.

 

[paintballer768]

I would say that sun corals are probably found on a medium depth reef, meaning quite far down. Probably colder waters, so this couldnt hurt it. 2.5 pico is going to have a really light bioload, still make sure you dont overfeed it, as hard as it is.
Tankmates that wont steal its food is kinda tricky. No shrimp I would say. Get like one damsel for the tank, feed it like 3 bites of brine and it wont bother you haha.

 

[jerthunter]

Well I am not planning on anything like fish for the tank, It is just way to small and I have a main tank I can keep my fish in. No crabs, shrimp or anything like that. The main reason I took it out of my reef is my fish and shrimp and crabs would steal its food.
Bioload might be a problem, I will have to wait and see how that goes since it seems to eat a lot. I am thinking about other filter feeders like feather dusters to filter to the water but I am not sure it that would just add to the bioload or if it would help.

 

[paintballer768]

Sitting here thinking for a second, I thought that maybe a feather or a sponge would be good. First, the if you feed your tubastrea DT's or phyto, these will work out great, mysis not so much.
The feather would be good for areas around the sun and it can get excess phyto since some is bound to escape. The sponge would be another colorful bright orange/red color, and feed off of excess as well. Helps ensure food goes to feeding and not ammonia.

 

[jerthunter]

I just did a ammonia test on the water and I am still waiting on the final results but there is detectable ammonia. This might be harder to maintain then I had hoped.

 

[turtlegirl933]

About 75 degress is good for sun coral.

 

[aquaknight]

Yea, might be a bit tough for a sun coral in a 2.5 depending on it's size. I bought a huge 50+ head piece that I had to feed over a block of mysis to in my 29gal. Let's just say, the nitrates are just now working their way down.

 

[jerthunter]

I am not too sure how it will work out with being so small and eating so much. I ran out of Ammonia testing solution so I have no idea if they are still high.
One benefit of being so tiny is water changes take very little time. Right now I am just using water from my display to do water changes... We'll see how that goes.

 

[paintballer768]

Its going to be tough keeping the ammo and such down in a tank that size. Just be very careful and make sure each polyp grabs as much as it can. I would even go to the extreme of keeping a very small, fine thread net nearby so that if I feed too much on accident I wouldnt be the end of the world.
And taking water from your display may not be such a good idea. It could already potentially have nitrates in it. Just remember I dont know how your tank runs and how fast it produces nitrates.
My 24 is temporarily overpacked with fish (or will be once they grow) and I feed my sun coral, with virtually no ammonia. It can definitely be done, just overfeeding is your worst enemy.

 

[jerthunter]

I know my display runs with practically zero nitrates so nitrates are not going to be a concern... Pretty much just the ammonia... I've had the sun coral for quite awhile (1 year) so I will watch it carefully and see how this goes. So far so good.

 

[bronco300]

so any pictures?? sounds like a cool tank to have a lot of sun polyps in a tank alone

 

[jerthunter]

Originally Posted by Bronco300
so any pictures?? sounds like a cool tank to have a lot of sun polyps in a tank alone
I will try tomorrow. But it doesn't look very good yet. I am going to slowly added small pieces of rock to make it looks less like a small box with a sun coral in it... I should put a background on it too so the heater and filter aren't quite so noticeable...

 

[paintballer768]

Also, the sun might not take to the transfer very well. It still might take it a few days to open and such after putting it in that tank. Kind of sucks but should be fine.
I just got this like mental image of a cool way to arrange your LR. Raise it in the back sort of like a wall, and put the sun coral on the sandbed, then put LR in a circle around it, not very high but I think that would look great.

 

[jerthunter]

Well I am not using any sand in the tank, and right now the pieces of rock aren't well arranged. However the sun coral has opened up fine each time I have fed it. I think it helped that I setup the new tank with my display tank's water so it wasn't a shock...
I am going to feed it today so I will snap a picture then... But remember, it is a work in progress...

 

[alexmir]

I take my sun coral out 3 times a week and put it in a tupper ware bowl with about an inch of water above the polyps. I thought it was gonna be more trouble than it was worth, but it has been so much easier, and so much cleaner than trying to put a dome over the top of it and feeding it that way.

 

[shrimpi]

I use tweezers or the seasquirt target feeder for mine.
The tweezers work best.. I just cut up some raw fishy food and place it in the suncorals tentacles.. or grab a few mysis with the tweezers and place it into the mouth.
I think the stuff you put into the water column like cyclops type stuff is harder for the coral to catch and takes more to fill the tank enough to actually 'feed'.
if you actually TARGET for real then you shouldnt have much problem. I also turn off the pump while feeding to prevent food from 'flying away'...
Good Luck
Jessica.