View Full Version : Sun coral light level
I bought a nice size frag of Tubastrea faulkneri from my LFS. I know these guys are low light and need manual feeding a few times a week at night when the polyps come out. My question is I have no where in my tank I would consider low light. I placed it near the bottom of the tank, which is a 55 gallon long. My lighting is t5's and PC's (2 of each) which under most accounts is not too much light, but is this too much light for this coral?
fishieness
12-02-2006, 6:08 PM
they are completly non photosynthetic, but will open more in lower lighting.
see how it does in your lowest level. if it looks uphappy and isnt opening (but does open fully at night still) try shelving it off with a piece of live rock or another coral like a monti-cap (not sure if you have a monti with only 2 t5s and PCs, but it is just an example of a popular coral for this use)
You might also consider putting a critter keeper or bowl over it while feeding. A lot of times they starve in reefs. To be honest I take mine out every couple of days put in a bowl of tank water and give a good feed.
hth
Max
Uncarved Block
12-02-2006, 8:50 PM
After reading this thread I now have no intention of getting one of these corals.
Well I hope I am not going to regret it. Well last night it did not open. But sometimes that happens with new corals. This AM when I woke the night lights were still on and the daylights were off and still not open. So when the day lights came on to my shock there was a thin greyish-brown film on the coral, not that stuff you get when tank is cycling nor red slime, but does come off with water current. So I decided to move it by creating a low light area. The best idea I came up with was using the skimmer box for my wet-dry as the shade. So I slid it where I needed it, it always has algea growing on the inside bottom to break the light. After doing this one of the smaller polyps did come out but still that is one of maybe a dozen. I hope that film was not a sign of "sunburn" only time will tell.
fishieness
12-03-2006, 9:53 AM
i have found that mine come out no matter the time of day when i feed the tank cyclopseeez or something who's smell would reach to coral