Identification and care help

C

catchprj

AC Members
Sep 11, 2010
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Hey all,
I'm reasonably new to reef keeping so go easy on me!
I purchased a small zoanthid today to see how well it will cope in my tank (tank is only 6 months old). We recently had a major earthquake so the guy at the shop gave me another coral which had been damaged in the quake as a kind of 'gift with purchase'. I can't remember the name he gave to it and am struggling with finding websites to aid in identification.
You can also see from the photo the damage that it has suffered. Any ideas on how I could help its recovery or is it doomed?
Sorry about the photo quality - it was taken with my phone!

coral.jpg
 
That is a favia and it looks like it just fell and landed face down on that side. There is a very good cahnce you will start to see the colors come back in to those polyps. Favias are medium light, medium flow LPS corals and are fairly aggressive. the generally grow slow but some of the fleshier ones seem to grow a bit faster. Feeding the polypls with small pieces of mysis will help but good light and good water should do the trick just fine.

What type of lighting do you have and how far from the light is this coral? What type of flow to you have on the tank? HTH
 
Favia... cool thanks!
The tank is a pretty small 75 litres (20 gallons) although it does have a 50 litre sump (13 gallons). I have a T8 actinic and two HO T5's - one actinic and one marine blue. They are all 18" bulbs.
At the moment the favia is about half way down the tank so probably 30cm (12") from the light source.
In terms of flow, in the tank I have a 600L/hr pump and the return from my sump is [according to the box] 1200L/hr (although this is likely a lower as the water has to travel around 1m (3 feet) to reach the display tank). The Favia is not positioned in direct flow from either of the flow sources.
The tank is good in terms of chemistry (only nitrate at about 3ppm), lots of coraline algae growing, fish are happy and healthy.
Anything I should change?
 
i dont know if thats a favia.. and its looks to be in some bad shape its definitely lPS though so it can definitely color back up with care
your specs seem fine but what fish do you have in the tank?
EDIT:nvm its a favia haha
 
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Ok so the fish situation is less than ideal. I only have two fish in the tank - a picasso trigger and a juvenile emperor angel. I understand they will outgrow the tank but for the time being there is enough space and they seem happy. I also understand that the emperor angel may nip at corals but I will not know how coral hungry he is until I try! He hasn't touched either coral yet and seems much more interested in the coralline algae and my home made food.
At the moment I think the biggest thing that will hinder recovery of the favia is the fact that the picasso trigger keeps blowing coral sand on top of it. He's adamant that every item in the tank be covered!
 
From your prior post your specs and parmeters seen fine for the favia. The fish on the other hand look to be problematic on several fronts. Seems like you know what you are up against in that respect so I won't get into that. However, do you have plans to upgrade soon?
 
Yea I will be upgrading soon. In fact, I bought a larger tank this morning - 80 gallons + sump. I know the emperor will require a tank even larger than this in the long run but I imagine 80 gallons will be enough space for him in the mean time (and it is all my current finances will allow).
Still no sign of the fish nipping at the corals. Around 75% of the zoanthid polyps have been emerging over the last few days. The favia, being less active, is more difficult to discern its health, or lack of.
The emperor angel does a lot of grazing on algae. The coralline algae growing on the aquarium glass is currently more holes than growth. Is this normal or a sign that I should be feeding more greenery? The food I prepare contains finely chopped nori.
 
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