(Help) xmas rock advice

[Faviaphile]

Hi all,

I have always thought that x-mas tree rocks are beautiful but avoided them b/c I hear they fare poorly in captivity. 2 days ago I met up with a reefer who was selling an amazing peice for very little and I couldn't resist. He says he has had it for 8 months with no problem. I hear it can take up to a year to display problems and I don't want to lose it! Some of the poites is dead and is well covered with coraline so I guesss it's been dead a while. The rest of the tissue looks great, nice and brown. I would love to hear from other xmas keepers on their experiences.

I have read up on porites and the general theme is they need strong light and strong flow.

I feed phytoplankton every other day and have been directing some liquid planktonic food over the worms every day. I hear they need a lot of food to survive.

My tank: 75 gal 2 250wat MH, T5 2 10K and 2act with moonies.
Have a power head directing flow right over them and I keep them near the top.

Anyone have experience feeding or keeping them long term?

I'll try to post a pic too. It's a really cool piece.

[musty baby]

The porites/xmas tree rock that I have was severely burned by my 400 watt halides on my 90. I might try the rock lower in the tank to begin with and move it up gradually. Only a few of the worms are still kickin, but I do not feed my tank with any regularity. There is a positive side though, as the porites is doing great now at 18" under 400w hamilton 20ks and turned from the dull yellow/brown to neon green.

Good luck with your xmas tree worms.

[HowardW]

I don't think the Porites / Christmas Tree worm rocks require nearly as much light as some would think, and I've seen these flourish long term under 2-4 WPG of power compacts.

I keep several of these rocks in a 25g. tall under 2X65W PC's and usually only run one of the bulbs during the day. I think the secret to keeping them going is a 'dirty' tank and a steady diet of live phyto, I use DT's Special Reef Blend.

[dendro982]

You most likely are feeding fish buy the frozen cubes, the smallest particles can be used by filter feeders. If you have access to fine food, like Golden Pearls, oyster eggs or Zoplan, it will help. Daily feedings, twice a day feedings, if protein skimmer is working.
You can see the physical size of the worms and porites, and imagine the amount of food they need.
I have X-mas tree rock without worms for almost year and with worms - half of year only. So far, so good.