Flow for Elegance

[Coderabit2]

I just bought my first elegance yesterday and was wondering how to determine how much flow it needs? I've read a few posts saying that they prefer lower flow, but how do I determine what lower flow is? Any tips on how to judge this and how long I shoudl wait to see if the flow is to much? I'm thinking mine has too much atm.

Thanks
Cody

[Coderabit2]

The elegance is on the sandbed in my 90 gallon. The water flow is done by two tunze streams 6010s that do 1600gph each.

[elegance coral]

You are probably right about your Elegance getting to much flow. The flow should just be strong enough to move the tentacles and not the polyp. They do best in low flow. Here are a couple of videos of my corals that show the flow I have them in.


http://www.sharkle.com/video/132056/
http://www.sharkle.com/video/137873/

[Coderabit2]

Mine definitely have to much flow compared to those videos. I'll move her to a corner of my tank that has considerably less flow. On a seperate somewhat related note which would be better to move from a corner, fungias or blastos? What is interesting is that my plerogyra does very well in the same flow.

[elegance coral]

Your bubble and your elegance can survive with somewhat more flow. They will just open up much fuller with less flow, especially the elegance. The Elegance corals overall health is very closely tied to the flow it receives. The question about plate-v-blasto, I'm not sure. Maybe someone else can give their opinion. If it were me, I would move the plate.

[Coderabit2]

I moved her to a corner that has quite a bit less flow and also less light as it is slightly under a plate coral. It looked much better after the move, but I'll take pics tonight and see how she is doing when I get home.

[Coderabit2]

She is definetly not happy. I came home to find her all shriveled up without any polyp extension. I turned off my halides that had been on for two hours to see if that helps and so far after two hours she still looks the same.

Current tank parameters for my 90 gallon
Temp: 81.9
Orp: 389
pH: 8.49
Flow: 2x6010 Tunzes
Lights: 2x10k XM 250 MH, and 2x54 T5HO Actinics

I'm thinking of moving her from my mixed reef to my 26 bow softies tank. Would that be the best move right now?

The 26 gallon parameters are:
Orp: I'm sure it is less as the filitration is significantly less
Temp: 78
Flow: Seio 620gph
Lights: 1x65 PC Actinic and 1x65 PC 10k

[Coderabit2]

Here are the pics from last night

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c229/coderabit/DSCN2698.jpg

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c229/coderabit/DSCN2693.jpg


Here is the one as of right now

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c229/coderabit/DSCN2699.jpg

[elegance coral]

The combination of the temp being that high and the lights you have will most likely kill the Elegance. The amount of light they can withstand is greatly reduced as the temperature goes up. With the options you have, I would try moving it to the softy tank. Your Elegance is very sensitive in it's current condition, so you may run into problems with chemicals in the water from your soft corals, but I believe it's a chance you will have to take. Just try placing it as far from aggressive species as you can, like GSP.

[Coderabit2]

Alright I placed her in the sand of my softie tank away from other corals and in gentle flow. Should I be replacing the carbon frequently to help with the chemical warfare? The only leathers in the tank are two green sinularias. What should the plan be as far as lighting?

My other tank temp is typically not that high, but my fans just broke a few days ago and the new coralifes just aren't cutting to the old ones. However, thats another story.

[Coderabit2]

I replaced the carbon and turned off the lights for today. I don't think I've ever struggled with a coral like this :(

[Julio]

wow, what kind of flow do you have over the coral? alo do you have clowns in yout tank?

[elegance coral]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10896243#post10896243 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Coderabit2
I replaced the carbon and turned off the lights for today. I don't think I've ever struggled with a coral like this :(

It's not your fault that your coral is ill. There is soooo much conflicting advice out there on Elegance corals that it's next to impossible to figure out how to care for them. Unfortunately, I have heard way to many stories just like yours. You are doing all you can to save your coral at this point. All you can do now is hope that the damage it received in your big tank isn't to severe. You will probably know in the next few days. Good luck:)

[Coderabit2]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10896287#post10896287 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Julio
wow, what kind of flow do you have over the coral? alo do you have clowns in yout tank?

I didn't have very much before the move, just enough to move the tentacles. I'm almost positive it was the high temp and lights that caused it to shrivel up that bad as elegance coral said. I do have a clownfish, but he has never tried to host or bother another coral in the 6 years that I've had him.

[Coderabit2]

Here's a current pic of my 90 without the elegance as she is in my softie tank now. She was in the bottom righthand corner of the tank.

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c229/coderabit/DSCN2700.jpg

[elegance coral]

Wow. I like the torch.

[Coderabit2]

LPS are definetly my favorite type of coral :)

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c229/coderabit/DSCN2456_edited.jpg

Here's pics of it with flat worms that I treated.

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c229/coderabit/DSCN2350.jpg

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c229/coderabit/DSCN2346.jpg

[Coderabit2]

What is going on now? The temp is at 76F. Just barely turned on lights to take a pic.

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c229/coderabit/DSCN2705.jpg

[elegance coral]

It didn't look like this until the lights came on, correct?

[Coderabit2]

No it looked like this before the lights came on. I just turned the lights on to take the pic and they are back off.

[elegance coral]

The only time I have seen them swell up at night is after they have been severely damaged by intense lighting. I said you would know something in the next few days, unfortunately, it doesn't look good. I believe, its tissues have been ravaged by the over exposure to your lights. It will most likely deflate and come down with an infection. I have used iodine dips and dosed the tank with iodine to help fight off these infections. There may not be enough viable tissue left on this coral to save. I hate to give you bad news, but your coral is in very bad shape. Infection is the big enemy at this point and you may not be able to fight it off. Let us know how it goes. I'm sorry, and good luck.

[Coderabit2]

Aww such is life. Lets just hope luck is on our side. And to think it only took less than two hours of my MHs.

[Coderabit2]

Last night the elegance inflated a little more, but as of this morning she looked much better as she has deflated quite a bit. I'll let you know how she is doing when I get home tonight. I haven't given up on her yet...

[Coderabit2]

Updated pic

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c229/coderabit/DSCN2758.jpg

[Coderabit2]

It now starts to swell after I turn the lights on. What does that mean?

[elegance coral]

I believe they swell up due to O2 levels climbing within their tissues. If the light is simply to bright they will begin to swell shortly after the lights come on. If the light is only slightly to bright they begin to swell later in the day. Usually by morning the swelling has gone down. In my opinion, this constant swelling is a sign that the cell walls within the coral are being damaged. This damage eliminates the corals ability to fight off infections. It is amazing how very little light can cause some of these Elegance to swell. Some of them are collected form depths of 100 ft. or more. There is not much light that far down.

[Coderabit2]

What would your suggestion on light be? I can take one of the bulbs out and have just one 65 watt actinic pc running. How should I acclimate it?

[elegance coral]

Is there a way you can place something between the light and the tank to shade the area the Elegance is in?

[Coderabit2]

Do you think it is being bothered by the coral next to it? I'm wondering if the coral banded shrimp in the tank is bothering it too. I'll find something and try and shade the coral. Should I find something that is slightly transparent? I've also had a thread going on my local reef website if you are interested.

Localreefthread (http://www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=20890&PN=2)

[Coderabit2]

Here's some new pics as of today. I only turned the light on for the pics.


http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c229/coderabit/DSCN2773.jpg

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c229/coderabit/DSCN2771.jpg

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c229/coderabit/DSCN2774.jpg

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c229/coderabit/DSCN2778.jpg

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c229/coderabit/DSCN2782.jpg

[lbaskball45]

why is the powerhead pointed directly at the coral?...by the way. the coral should not look like that. Most likely it is stressed..

[Coderabit2]

The powerhead is pointing at the green sinularia because it has been bumped, but was originally parallel with the ground. I definetly agree that it is stressed, thats what this whole thread has been about and how to fix it.

[Coderabit2]

I found a piece of plastic so as to block all the light coming directly perpendicular to the elegance. Here are the pics after having lights on for 7hours.

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c229/coderabit/DSCN2787.jpg

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c229/coderabit/DSCN2783.jpg

[Coderabit2]

Not the best of pics, but the coral definetly looks much better. If the coral swells up during the night again I'm going to remove the coral banded shrimp to see if that is pestering it to influence some of the swelling.

[chris wright]

Looks like the health of your elegance is turning around. It's a shame that the elegance corals available in the states aren't as healthy as those in Australia. I watched the video posted by elegancecoral on the first page, and was suprised to see how slow that coral took the food. Mine touches food and its got it, my fingers to if I'm not careful :lol:

Hope your coral recovers, I'll be following to see how you go.

Cheers

Chris

[elegance coral]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10934165#post10934165 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by chris wright
Looks like the health of your elegance is turning around. It's a shame that the elegance corals available in the states aren't as healthy as those in Australia. I watched the video posted by elegancecoral on the first page, and was suprised to see how slow that coral took the food. Mine touches food and its got it, my fingers to if I'm not careful :lol:

Hope your coral recovers, I'll be following to see how you go.

Cheers

Chris

Hay! Don't be pickin on my Elegance corals :D . They're getting their strength back. Hopefully they will be attacking the food like yours soon.

[chris wright]

:lol: Mate thanks to info from your thread on elegance corals and answers to peoples questions, I have been able to meet the needs of this amazing coral, and sit back and enjoy :D for that I want to say thanks.

I'm glad to hear that yours is healthy, and hope that everyone who are keeping these corals see them come up to the health that we experience here in Oz. I'm sure you've seen plenty of aussie corals to know what i mean about how well they can take to food. Its an unreal experience when they get hold of your fingers. I don't do it deliberately, but sometimes the flow is sudden and catches me out :lol:

Cheers

Chris