Hello. My Premium Aquatics live rock (mix of Kaelini and Marshall islands), live sand, and curing tank crude came in today. As far as motile life goes, we've spotted one serpent/brittle star running for cover, 4 peanut worms, various tube worms, and one snail that looks much like a cerith, with a light shell and a dark red body. Plus, maybe one chestnut cowrie. Half the rock is covered in various thick encrusting algaes. (Our digital camera sucks, unfortunately.)
The big issue, however, is the corals that apprear to be alive on the Kaelini rock.
The first coral is almost hemispherical, dark green, and about 2-3" in diameter. It looks a lot like the favites and platygyra species on Live Aquaria. The 'cups' share walls with each other and are irregular shapes, but not like mazes, just like irregular shapes that tend to be vaguely circular. I'm guessing a favites. Looks a lot like one of the Favia ***rum on wetwebmedia, but that's from the Bahamas and this rock should be from the Pacific. (No tentacles are visible.)
The second is light green and looks like some other form of brain. It has a 1-2 inch diameter encrustment which builds up to tiny cups that look like the one I think is a favites/favita, but the cups are perfectly circular and do not share walls with each other. It doesn't look like the pictures of favites species I've seen as there is space of simple encrusting flesh between the cups, though not much.
The third large coral looks like a 4" fungia scutaria from our ID book, but we think it's dead, as part of it is broken off and I can't see much between the raised ridges.
As we were turning over the rock with the larger brain, it has small semi-translucent colonies of either buttons or favia-like species on the sides and bottom of the rock, but not more than 1" in diameter and too small to really tell what they are. They had many, many tiny cups.
Do any of the corals stand any chance of surviving curing? (This is uncured liverock.) If so, any guesses of light requirements? I had been thinking that I could upgrade early to 2x96 power compacts for the tank. (45 gallon, 24" deep. The corals are about 15" - 18" down.) I'm not sure I can get more potent lights at this time.
The big issue, however, is the corals that apprear to be alive on the Kaelini rock.
The first coral is almost hemispherical, dark green, and about 2-3" in diameter. It looks a lot like the favites and platygyra species on Live Aquaria. The 'cups' share walls with each other and are irregular shapes, but not like mazes, just like irregular shapes that tend to be vaguely circular. I'm guessing a favites. Looks a lot like one of the Favia ***rum on wetwebmedia, but that's from the Bahamas and this rock should be from the Pacific. (No tentacles are visible.)
The second is light green and looks like some other form of brain. It has a 1-2 inch diameter encrustment which builds up to tiny cups that look like the one I think is a favites/favita, but the cups are perfectly circular and do not share walls with each other. It doesn't look like the pictures of favites species I've seen as there is space of simple encrusting flesh between the cups, though not much.
The third large coral looks like a 4" fungia scutaria from our ID book, but we think it's dead, as part of it is broken off and I can't see much between the raised ridges.
As we were turning over the rock with the larger brain, it has small semi-translucent colonies of either buttons or favia-like species on the sides and bottom of the rock, but not more than 1" in diameter and too small to really tell what they are. They had many, many tiny cups.
Do any of the corals stand any chance of surviving curing? (This is uncured liverock.) If so, any guesses of light requirements? I had been thinking that I could upgrade early to 2x96 power compacts for the tank. (45 gallon, 24" deep. The corals are about 15" - 18" down.) I'm not sure I can get more potent lights at this time.
