Leathers and light

[TracyZeuner]

How much light do these guys want. I got a small 4in leather from my LFS and he had it under MH at the bottom of a 20in tank. My tank is 24in deep and I have T-5's. The leather was great the first 2 days, but now he is leaning over and is retracted. To much light or not enough? He is about 6-8 in off of the bottom. Does he just need more time to get used to my tank?

[lvreefer]

What is your water motion like compared to the LFS tank? Its hard to comment on the lighting difference. Since there are sooo many factors, the only true way is to measure with a meter the light in both tanks.

[TracyZeuner]

I do have more flow than the tank he came from. I just moved him to a different spot,I'll see how he looks tomorrow.

[fsn77]

What type of leather is it?
It's hard to say what the reason would be at this point. The leather is still adjusting -- ours took a week before looking like it did at the LFS.

As for light levels, many leathers can adjust to varied light levels quite well. Some, however, are more light demanding and require higher light levels.

[TracyZeuner]

I'm kinda new at this but I think it is a mushroom leather coral. I will try and post a picture tonight. I have read that it can take up to a week for then to get used to a new tank

[Aliie]

I want to know about this also. Mine is doing the same thing. I also don't know what kind mine is and I asked the same Q: @ LFS and was told iodine is low. I'll take your input over theirs.

[fsn77]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8990589#post8990589 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Aliie
I want to know about this also. Mine is doing the same thing. I also don't know what kind mine is and I asked the same Q: @ LFS and was told iodine is low. I'll take your input over theirs.

There really are numerous possibilities as to why a leather isn't looking "happy."

Honestly, low iodine would be one of the last conclusions I would draw. Let's work through a few questions...
How long have you had the leather?
Where is it placed in your tank in terms of lighting and flow?
How long has your tank been running?
How often / much are your water changes?
Are your other water parameters ok? (NH3, NO2, NO3, PO4, alk, calcium, pH, salinity, temp., etc.) List as many as you can.
Do you have other corals? How are they doing?
How close is the leather to any of the other corals?
Any recent coral additions to your tank? If so, what?
What's your lighting like? How old are the bulbs?
Do you run carbon, phosphate remover, etc.?

I really don't mean for this to be 20 questions about your tank, but the more information that is provided, the more likely anyone is to narrow down the possibilities regarding what's going on. If your leather is recently added, leaving it be and letting it adjust is one of the best things you can do. If it continues to look bad for more than 7 - 10 days, turns funky colors, or starts to rot, then there is more to worry about.

[TracyZeuner]

Here is a picture of my leather. Do you think he is sick?The guy at the fish store traded my this for some frags. Its my first leather.

http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l21/TracyZeuner/Fish1440.jpg

http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l21/TracyZeuner/Fish1429.jpg

[jbittner]

Looks like s elegans (figi yellow leather)IMO Needs lot of light and flow. How many t5 watts do you have on you 180? I would leave it be for a few days and hopefully it will start to show it's polyps again (they tend to be very bad shippers IME). I seen no signs of tissue damage or necrosis (both good things). Yellow leathers do best in near SPS conditions (no nitrate, ph 8.4, cal 420, Mag 1300, alk 3.5 and so on)

[TracyZeuner]

Thanks!
I have 14 39watt T-5's. The fixture sits right on top of the tank. The leather is about 12in from the lights. The flow is a little more than medium.
ph-8.1
cal-440
Mag-1380
alk-3.25

[jbittner]

Sound good! Just give it some time. If it starts to turn black and disinigrating then you have a problem.

[Jon Evans]

I had a leather that survived a poisoning of my entire 75 gallon tank. They are pretty tough, but moody. It will probably be okay in a week.

[russ49merc]

i'd move it up as high as you can ..... yellow fiji's IME like alot of light

[Nikon_Guy]

The Yellow Fiji that I have started out a bit like yours. Not quite a shriveled, but not open well either. Mine took about a week to acclimate itself to my tank. I started it at the bottom and moved it up a bit every day.

It now resides about twelve inches below a 250 W MH that it gets four and a half hours of light from a day along with ten hours of light from 50/50 PC.

This is what it looks like today.

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l91/icebryce/yellowfigi.jpg

It's been a few days, how is your looking?

[jbittner]

T5's give off lots of light!!! Mine seems to better tward the middle of my t5 55 gal system.

[TracyZeuner]

He still hasn't opened yet. Tomorrow I'm going to move him up a little. I know I have enough light, on the other side of the tank there is a maxima clam that I've had for about 2 months and already shows signs of about 1/8in of growth.I hope mine looks half as good as yours, that thing is awesome Nikon_Guy. When and if mine opens I will take some photos- got a D50 for x-mas. As soon as I pay it off, I'm going to get a nice macro so I can get real close.