Scolymia Australis Tank Questions?

[CuttleKid]

HI, Ive never kept lps corals but i really want to get into it after seeing pictures of the bleeding apple scolymia! I have an empty 8 gallon biocube that i want to turn into a scolymia species tank and as a fragging tank for these beautiful corals. Im not going to have live rock in the tank. Just a deep sand bed for the corals to sit on and some rock rubble here and there to help with the biological filtration. I have a few questions for anyone who knows about or has kept scolymia.

-Is an 8 gallon large enough to house a couple of these corals?
-How high/low lighting do they require
-How difficult are they compared to zoas, mushrooms, and anemones (which I successfully keep)
-what do they feed on?
-Any general knowlege about scolymia australis?

Thanks

[crsaz]

They are relatively simple to keep good lights medium flow and they will gladly accept a variety of meaty foods from mysis to silversides and almost anything inbetween. I would upgrade lights though. the bc comes with pc's if Im not mistaken I would go with somthing like the nova extreme 4 bulb or a 70w MH. and I would suggest going with some of the cheap scoly's at first(like the one in the link) before getting some $200-500 specimens

http://www.vividaquariums.com/10Expand.asp?ProductCode=05-5026&Category=Coral%20And%20Invertebrates:LPS%20Corals&SortBy=Price (http://www.vividaquariums.com/10Expand.asp?ProductCode=05-5026&Category=Coral%20And%20Invertebrates:LPS%20Corals&SortBy=Price)

[CuttleKid]

These are the lights and tank i have

Aquarium Volume: 8.9 gallons
Dimensions: 12-1/2" x 13" x 15" high
36 watt canopy
lighting includes: (1) 18 watt True Actinic 03 Blue straight pin
(1) 18 watt 10,000K Daylight straight pin
(2) 0.75 watt Lunar Blue-Moon-Glow LED

Are these lights sufficient for the more expensive types like the bleeding apple?

Im looking into purchasing from here in the future.http://www.vividaquariums.com/10Expand.asp?ProductCode=10-0004-10&Category=Coral%20And%20Invertebrates:WYSIWYG%20Aussie%20Corals&SortBy=Price They say they need low light. Is that true?

If so will my biocube be ok?

Please let me know soon!

Thanks

[CuttleKid]

No one knows?

[thejuggernaut]

Id like to know also..trying to figure out what i can keep in a 29 biocube with stock lighting (Twin 36 watt PC)

[CuttleKid]

Its been a while, someone please chime in!

[CuttleKid]

can anybody respond?

[crsaz]

Im sure they'll survive but they wont thrive under those lights and expect to see a slight dulling of colors

[CuttleKid]

Finally! Thank you! Would they do better under halides?

[amonchak]

Zoas and mushrooms can be kept under "low" lighting. All my lps seem to thrive under t5 lighting (216watts over a 55 gallon). Based on my own experiences lps typically need more light than what the BC currently has.

That being said if you think the lighting will be enough I would change out the actinic for a 50/50 or daylight bulb to maximize the PAR values from the current lighting you have.

[deuce2002]

i have 2 scolis and would never keep that expensive of a coral under pc's and fragging them ive only seen it done once and that is risky fragging a coral that beautiful and delicate i would never and could never understand.

[crsaz]

for sure go t5's. I don't understand fragging one either. they will never grow back the same it will deformed

[CuttleKid]

hasnt anyone read the 2009 third quarter volume three of Reef Hobbyist?

It explains the knew technique of fragging scolymia that gets about 99% survival rate whereas the old technique, the dremel rotory tool yields higher then 50% mortality rate.

[ChrisOz]

Thanks for the link to both reef hobbyist (cool online mag) and that fragging article... super useful.

[PelagicMagic]

I keep three (scolymia australis) under 1050watts of metal halide lighting. I am using ushio 20k+ bulbs for color and also have 220w of 03 actinic VHO lighting. I keep mine off the sand bed on rock rubble and they are shaded by sps colonies. I have two vortech mp40's, two tunze
6100's and 800gph return on two 1/2" swirls on a 4'x2' tank. I feed them silversides a few times a week.

I would never frag one either.

I hope this helps.

[kelly1]

I have one doing very well under 250 halide on the sand bed. but i do believe the type of lighting you place it under can affect the color of the scolymia

[ReeferChick85]

Although it can be fragged, but like the rest I would never be able to cut one up. Just way too beautiful to chop up. As far as your lighting,I don't think 2x18w bulbs is enough for them to color up nicely.They'll survive but won't be as vibrant as they should be. Some corals do well in certain lighting conditions and some don't. It varies for sure. As for feeding, I direct feed mine 1-2 times a week mysis/Rods Food. They're growing very nicely and are doing really well in my tank. Both these bleeding apples were in really bad condition when I first got them. The colors were faded and the one on the bottom had a "pac-man" like cut,but as you can see it has healed itself since and doing awesome :) Oh btw,my lighting is 3x40w pc bulbs on my AP24 and I've had these scolys in my tank for over a year with no problems :) The color choice of bulbs I'm using has enhanced my LPS corals a lot :)

Here's a pic of my 2 scolys. They just got fed so they aren't fully expanded :)
http://i524.photobucket.com/albums/cc321/reeferchick85/RC/KatRazr_13084.jpg

[fishez4alivin]

I kept my scoly's under PC lights on my BC14, but they seem to like my 10x39W Powermodule more. BTW, here is that scoly that was cut for that article. It has grown into a circle, with it's flesh, but the skeleton needs more time. This pic was a few months after it was initially cut.
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj173/fishez4alivin/IMG_6430.jpg