Brain coral (dead)

[Powx]

I am new to the hobby and have a unique question. Around 1989 I traveled to Jamacia and ended up bringing home a chunk of brain coral, weights about 30-40 lbs. It was already dried out when I was given it, I was 13 at the time, I know now that I shouldn't have brought it back with me, but it's here. It is the size of a 2 year olds head, looks like a brain for those who do not know, and my question is if it would potentially harm the reef tank I am setting up. It has been displayed on a shelf for 20+ years but I think it would add a definite uniqueness to my reef tank. Any issue I should be concerned with regarding this?

[billdogg]

rinse it well and you will be good to go. Where do you think "reef rock" comes from?

[Powx]

I knew where reef rock came from :lol:

Just wasn't sure if there may be any negatives associated with it.

Congrats on rotm too! Your tank looks great!

[m0nkie]

cool. some pictures would be great!

[Powx]

Just got the brain coral rinsed off, here are a couple pics!

Won't let me upload more than one per post, but one gives a good idea of it ;)

[billdogg]

That will look really cool.

[inetmug]

maybe bleach it out first if you want that fresh new look?

[Mike Ordner]

Back in the early 80's I was on a college trip to Mexico and brought back a large brain coral head (can't do that now). Lot of time between now and then but still had a chunk left and it is in my DT now. Have encrusting coral growing over it now.

[cloak]

IMHO, I would just keep it on the shelf. Maybe bleach it before doing so though.

If you put it in your tank, eventually it's going to get covered in nuisance algae, but once that subsides coralline algae will most likely take over. Now you just have this big purple ball in your tank. I'm not sure if you were planning on attaching any corals to it, but zoanthids aside, it would look kind of weird with a bunch of different corals attached to it. You would be better off just using live rock. Remember, this is JMO.