Leather Advice Please

[sapgranth25]

Hi,
i`ve got a light green leather with lots of little fingers no more than a centimeter each & from time to time little white polyps come out all over it so some sort of polyp leather with small fingers well the ID is not bothering me just wanted to give you a brif without adding pictures etc.....

i have stuck it to some LR but over the space of a week its bent over but throw a day it tries to straighten up but never quite gets all the way up rite also the polyps are not coming out maybe at night i dunno but i`ve had it just over a week.
i started it at the bottom of my 24inch deep tank seemed ok polyps coming out not bending as much but did have support of live rock behind it so...

anyway 3days ago i moved it up around 12inchs so only 12inch to my lights ( T5`s 3X24watts ) but its bending i`ve read this happens but when do you know its not happy because of the position of it rather than its in a new tank & its getting used to its different lights water etc etc

 

[sapgranth25]

UP DATE.

well after thinking i`ve now put the leather 3inch`s from the water surface & the flu val 205 (external filter ) outlet is 2inches above the leather so its getting 600ltrs per hour rushing 2inchs above it & already its straighten up & opened more than i`ve ever seen it so this maybe what it wanted.....

i guess if this fails then i`ll have to remove the leather to another tank as this is the best i can do in this tank for it.....

 

[Germanman]

it might be a lot going on for it in such a short time it will probably need to adjust to the lights as well as the new tank. they need good flow as well so thats probably why it perked up. if it wasnt happy in less flow then you probably need better flow in ur tank( a few bulk flows dont really cut it for corals). but keep an eye on it and keep us posted. also what are ur water parameters? just to check.

 

[sapgranth25]

Specific Gravity over 1.024 but under 1.025
Temperature 26c ( still tweaking it up )
pH 8.3
Ammonia Zero
Nitrite Zero
Nitrate below 15ppm

My tank turns over 16 times per hour ive tried tweaking my two 660l/h power heads but i also have mushrooms in the tank so its a little tricky....

Is it normal for leathers to bend? do they bend once settled say at night once the lights are off etc.......

 

[Germanman]

sounds good on the water quality and flow. they do bend at night sometimes depending on the species and thats normal for them to close and almost slump over but during the day they should be wide open as long as they are a photosynthetic leather.

 

[sapgranth25]

thanks i`ll see what happens over the next week before altering anything else

 

[sapgranth25]

The leather is now straight & opening & polyps coming out during light hours closing at night

but

i have stuck the leather wrong it is stuck to a bit of tube like rock like a straw so i put it in a hole then used coral putty & over the period of it straightening up i`ve noticed the disc/crown is not facing direct at the light its like sloping/facing me at times see picture

will the leather be ok like this because at times some of the fingers shadow bits of the disc/crown

 

[sapgranth25]

another pic

 

[RothChyld]

He will be fine and will straighten up as he needs to. I have 300 watts of Metal Halide lights hitting mine which is near the top of the tank and he loves it. I will attach proof as the first pic is 2 years old and the other was taken just now (although he is just waking up). He has more than quadrupled in size. When threatened they will close up to protect themselves. That is a sign that either (1) something is wrong with water parms (2) something disturbed him like a fish, hand, or other piece of livestock or (3) its nighttime! When they are new, it could also mean it doesn't like water flow conditions or lighting is too bright. I have a decent amount of flow there but not enough to cause him to bend or anything.

Mike

 

[sapgranth25]

WOW now thats more than doubled over the 2years...

funny thing is when it was in the lfs it must have been in shrunk mode because it was half the size it is now its almost the size of a cd.....

well im up grading the my tank soon from 29 gallon 2 50 gallon i`ll make sure i leave room for it to grow spread as im also getting halids over this tank good investment tho LEATHER CORALS because from what i`ve read when settled there near enough bullet proof & easy to frag.......

the leather i have is straight i`ve just stuck it into the live rock wrong but i guess if it needs anymore light it will bend its disc/crown towards the light but on the up grade i will make sure its facing the lights direct.