Whats wrong with the Flower Pot??

[deucey]

Hey I don't know if I need to post this here or in the reef forum but anyway here it goes. I have a flower pot coral in my 36g bow it is not opening very much at all....I have heard many diff things about the lighting requirements of this coral and to tell you the truth I don't know who to believe! I have a 10000K 175w MH, and two NO flor, one actinic and one 50/50 both 20w. That is my lighting right now...everything else in the tank is doing well except this coral...I just don't get it...I use seabalace and Kalkwasser for calcium and I also use reef crystals salt. I think I have enough elements in the water but I just don't under stand this coral...any input would be great!!
thanks in advance

 

[dshurett]

Where do you have this coral placed in relation to your MH lights and what water flow do you have it in?

 

[deucey]

well I have the coral placed in a shaded area of my tank its not getting full light...and I have tried it in the full light for a day or two but it didn't help! The coral is in a 36g bow front tank its 21" deep and the coral sits on the bottom. Sometimes during the day it will open to like maybe 2" but it is nothing like it used to be I mean it used to open up to like 4"-5"!! I don't understand what happened to it...I do notice however that my peperment shimp stay on it alot!! makes me mad!!! Is there anything I can do for it before it dies?
Thanks in advance

 

[deucey]

oh yeah its not a lot of flow on it I would say light to medium...

 

[kris walker]

Are your chemical levels (pH, ammon/trite/trate, alk, cal, and phosphate) ideal? Have you done a water change recently?
sam

 

[beth]

yes, I think this will be better off in the Reef Forum, as Disease is for Fish diseases.
Will move.

 

[deucey]

Thanks Beth I didn't know where to put it!

 

[deucey]

hey I have a pic if that will help but I don't know how you all could see it with out me emailing it.....any ideas if this would help...and i will get those water parameters...don't have them this min...
thanks in advance

 

[fshhub]

i can't say, from experience, but i have done alot of research on them, we are looking at one, but if you have other corals and they are doing fine, this may be your proble, it is my understanding that the goenopora(sp)(flower pots), need less than ideal conditions than other corals, they just seem to do better in tanks where other corals just don't do as well(particularly nitrate, i think), it was explained to me that they feed on the excess nutrients that you are trying to keep down in a reef system
i know it seems odd, but i have talked with someone who has had a lot of luck with them, and he says his do fine in his fo, and not as good in his reef, but if he took that same coral out of the reef and put it in his other tank(which only has them and fish) it seems to do better
if you do a search on google.com, you will probably find the same results(eventually), that is where i got most of my info on them
HTH

 

[trigahappynigerog]

does it open when the lights go out??? they are stubborn corals..just give it time and keep us posted.

 

[rzap]

hey uestek, I have had one for about three months, finally found a good spot for it, lots of light, med water flow, opens up about three to four inches with lights, liked it so much bought another one and this one will not open up at all...maybe half an inch at best, sitting same level as first one, same flow, not in contact with any other coral...so go figure... you gotta love this hobby!!!

 

[reefkeeper1]

They are normal found in pools and like to sit on sandy bottoms they do like current but no high current, low to medium pulsing current. Do you use phytoplankton in your tank

 

[ubeturwrasse]

flowerposts need high organics and nitrates to thrive. it also needs a regemented feeding pattern(i.e. every night at 8:00) they are not photosynthetic, so lighting is only a factor if there is too much. it needs med to low water flow. at least this is what works for me, and it is the result of the research I did before i got it.
If you have a skimmer, turning it off will help your goenopora.