elegance coral (deeper water, sand bed)

septicdeath · 04/24/2012, 10:30 PM

Well, I have not tried to keep a elegance coral since 1993, back then I am positive I had was was considered the Reef version, no pink/purple tips, hacked from a larger skeleton, etc, etc. Fast forward to 2012, picked up what I thought looked like a healthy specimen. Had a perfect spot for it, had my RBTA decided to migrate to the area, and moved it up into the live rock, noticed no where near the extention that it had in the sand, so I decided to look it up.

WOW

Post after post about how NOT to grab this coral. Something about them now being juvinal and from the deeper water, and no where near the same coral as what I used to get. Sounded 100% positive it was just going to start dying and the best I could do was to slow its death down. (Not my intention, at all. Its a large coral, taking up quite a bit of valuable display space, that could be better used if its just destined to die).

So, since I know one can find 100,000 opinions and basically if you look hard enough, you'll find something that confirms your search.

So lay it on me, I have 20 X tank turn over at the max (apex controlled vortechs), 8 X sump turn over, 1"-3" sand bed, single radion over 50g cube.

Opinions? Recommendations? Personal Experiences?

Used to be this coral was High Flow, High Light, and all of a sudden, its LOW flow, low - mid light, Only in the sand bed, and isolated from EVERYTHING.

Let me know what you think, and let me know (even more important) what you have experienced.

Thanks in advance.

-John

TimeConsumer · 04/25/2012, 04:53 AM

I've lost two elegence corals so far. One indonesian and one australian. I absolutely love them, but I can't keep them alive. Both times I have placed them in the sandbed with very low flow. I'll probably try again, I'm stubborn.

BfishLpond78 · 04/25/2012, 06:08 AM

I do not consider myself and expert or even an intermediate. I am a novice in the reef world since i've only been really into it for 6 months, but what I do have is experience with my Aussie Elegance which I've had for about 5 months.

In my experience I have had best success with random low flow, low lights to medium lights (5 t5's over a 55) and 2 or 3 times a week small feedings.

I feed usually mysis or finely chopped up raw shrimp and over time the feeding response of my elegance has increased greatly, along with the overall size of the polyp and tenticles.

I attached some pictures of when I first got mine and the most recent picture about a week ago.

willietang021 · 04/25/2012, 11:46 AM

Elegance coral is my second favorite coral of all. (dendrophyllia is my fav!) I had 6 of them 5 never last more than a month. one lasted for 6 months until I had to moved, and finally it gave up on itself. I had them under LEDs, T-5s, MH, PC. tried med flow and low flow. I found that they like to be in the constant moving flow but nothing direct. They like to be on a piece of pvc or rock rather than on the sand bed directly where sand can irritate their tissue. Once it is in one spot, never touch it or move it again, if not they will die VERY easily. I feed it raw shrimp meat finely chopped.
One thing I did different and kept the only elegance coral that live on was I added the Prodibio Biokit reef into the tank.
http://www.marinedepot.com/Prodibio_...ADAOMB-vi.html
Everytime after I added the reefbooster, it react strongly and a lot more happy!
Also it was on a piece of PVC on the sand bed, under a single radion LED in my 24 nano. with no one within 4" when fully opened. my 2 mp10 was making dance constantly but it doesn't flap around at all.
I am in search for another piece of unique looking rare color elegance coral, once I found it I will try to keep it alive again.

here's a picture of my lone alive beauty, the pic was from the seller, I only have a camera phone and won't show the true color

JAustin · 04/28/2012, 07:11 AM

Here is mine purchased from Petco. 4 months old and looking better every week. She enjoys a snack of squid and mysis every now and then.

I believe the deep water elegance corals can be kept but require the "expert only" tag.

My elegance is kept 18" under a 250w phoenix MH and two actinic t-5s. Flow is medium and Par is 175-200. The flow doesn't make the tissue fold over but it is enough to keep the tenticals waving and moving around.

Cheers
Jason

willietang021 · 04/28/2012, 12:09 PM

Very nice elegance coral JAustin! I am glad you are able to find a nice piece in petco. I just went to my local petco yesterday, and they too have an elegance coral. But it seems like it is near the end or its life.....

JAustin · 04/28/2012, 01:15 PM

Thanks willietang021. I know it's all about supply and demand and I think some days I should not have bought it but at the price of 34.95.....I knew someone would buy it and I just thought it should be me. Plus, i've been reading that they were now tough to care for and I figured I was up for the challenge. It went through a week of not being inflated but I wasn't worried. I know LPS can do that, like some nems that just are going through a lul in activity. Every now and then it does close up, but when it opens it's bigger than before. It seems it does it after every water change I do. It likes the new water so it does a water change too.

What a great coral. It's my way of having a nem in an SPS tank....without having a nem in a SPS tank.

septicdeath · 04/28/2012, 05:14 PM

Well, that's the issue. I had it on a PVC stand pipe, but a stupid RTBA decided to walk right over into the exact same spot. (yeah , I know, go figure) I was going to see if the elegance could stand its own, they are no pansies themselves. But I read into it, and basically not a good idea, so I moved it. And it didn't like sitting on live rock at all, so the next day, I removed another softball sized rock and made a new spot for it just like the original but on the other side, and put it back on the sand bed on the stand pipe pushed into the sand bed. It's a long coral, with it's center elevated above the sand, but it's left and right side are on the sand bed.

The new spot gets the radion, but quite a bit is indirect, as is flow. The way it's nestled into its spot, the up flow to the mp10 pulls slightly across it, but the larger rock behind it blocks enough to where the flesh is just gently swaying, I believe th flow and light are good, my concern is my need to move it again and replace the PVC stand off with a taller on so the lowest points of the coral are not resting on the sand bed (which happens to be a mix of fuji pink (1-2mm) and Bahamas OoLite (.1-1mm). If they don't like sand, the Oolite is probably the worst,although i don't encounter sand storms even with two mp10's.

Maybe I'll let it sit, and make a move if it doesn't at least open to what it was at the lfs within 3 more days, or should I just do it now and get it floating 1/4" or so above the sand (obviously the center skeleton will still be in substrate, but none of its flesh would be resting on it (probably hard to judge, as who knows how much water it can take in, if I set it now, it could just end up still touching he sand if it opens even more?).

Thanks for the Responses, pics, keep them coming.

John

Quote:

Originally Posted by willietang021

Elegance coral is my second favorite coral of all. (dendrophyllia is my fav!) I had 6 of them 5 never last more than a month. one lasted for 6 months until I had to moved, and finally it gave up on itself. I had them under LEDs, T-5s, MH, PC. tried med flow and low flow. I found that they like to be in the constant moving flow but nothing direct. They like to be on a piece of pvc or rock rather than on the sand bed directly where sand can irritate their tissue. Once it is in one spot, never touch it or move it again, if not they will die VERY easily. I feed it raw shrimp meat finely chopped.
One thing I did different and kept the only elegance coral that live on was I added the Prodibio Biokit reef into the tank.
http://www.marinedepot.com/Prodibio_...ADAOMB-vi.html
Everytime after I added the reefbooster, it react strongly and a lot more happy!
Also it was on a piece of PVC on the sand bed, under a single radion LED in my 24 nano. with no one within 4" when fully opened. my 2 mp10 was making dance constantly but it doesn't flap around at all.
I am in search for another piece of unique looking rare color elegance coral, once I found it I will try to keep it alive again.

here's a picture of my lone alive beauty, the pic was from the seller, I only have a camera phone and won't show the true color

TucanSam007 · 04/28/2012, 05:26 PM

I have an aussie pink tip elegance for the past 6 months. It's my favorite lps. My clowns host it so it was my alternative for a nem. It's one of the only lps in my sps tank and I don't think I'd enjoy my tank as much without it

.

JAustin · 04/28/2012, 09:44 PM

It's no big deal if it opens up and touches the sand. Just not a good idea for it to open up against a rock and get its tissue damaged. It would take strong flow to even do that.

Post a pic of it.

willietang021 · 04/29/2012, 02:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TucanSam007

I have an aussie pink tip elegance for the past 6 months. It's my favorite lps. My clowns host it so it was my alternative for a nem. It's one of the only lps in my sps tank and I don't think I'd enjoy my tank as much without it

.

I don't like my clown fish hosting my elegance, because the elegance will eventually shorten itself and it might cause damage or death.

septicdeath · 05/02/2012, 03:17 PM

Here ya go, the RTBA made another journey across my tank, across a real nice acan colony and my scoly. He was making his move from one rock to another, with 3-5% of his foot attached, so I grabbed him. He made a quick trip back to the LFS. My clowns are now trying to host my little duncan, and its not looking bad because of it. I do think I will try to get a larger frogspawn or torch, as I've seen them host those corals before and since they are hosting the little 2 headed duncan, and before that a small torch, I know these guys are happy hosting corals.

Here is a pic of my elegance, Im temped to move it back to the original location that I made for it, but Im not ready to move it, and read your post about NOT moving it.

septicdeath · 05/07/2012, 11:54 AM

Well, I dont think this thing like the move. The picture above is the most it has opened since the move, Rather than move it, I tried to move rock around it to affect lighting (decrease it a little). In the center, its receded all the way to the skeleton. Although the sides seem to be wanting to open, the small spot in the center where its skeleton is showing.

Not sure what to do, keeping a eye on it, I dont want to give up, but also dont want to risk kicking my water quality to hell. Maybe I will donate it to the LFS that has a huge system that can handle its die off if indeed it continues?

Im watching the small part of the skeleton, its about 1/4" or so while the whole coral is 6 - 7" long, and its only on the top part (as opposed to the top and bottom rail of the skeleton).

Wow... fail...

04/24/2012, 10:30 PM	#1
septicdeath Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2011 Posts: 167	elegance coral (deeper water, sand bed) Well, I have not tried to keep a elegance coral since 1993, back then I am positive I had was was considered the Reef version, no pink/purple tips, hacked from a larger skeleton, etc, etc. Fast forward to 2012, picked up what I thought looked like a healthy specimen. Had a perfect spot for it, had my RBTA decided to migrate to the area, and moved it up into the live rock, noticed no where near the extention that it had in the sand, so I decided to look it up. WOW Post after post about how NOT to grab this coral. Something about them now being juvinal and from the deeper water, and no where near the same coral as what I used to get. Sounded 100% positive it was just going to start dying and the best I could do was to slow its death down. (Not my intention, at all. Its a large coral, taking up quite a bit of valuable display space, that could be better used if its just destined to die). So, since I know one can find 100,000 opinions and basically if you look hard enough, you'll find something that confirms your search. So lay it on me, I have 20 X tank turn over at the max (apex controlled vortechs), 8 X sump turn over, 1"-3" sand bed, single radion over 50g cube. Opinions? Recommendations? Personal Experiences? Used to be this coral was High Flow, High Light, and all of a sudden, its LOW flow, low - mid light, Only in the sand bed, and isolated from EVERYTHING. Let me know what you think, and let me know (even more important) what you have experienced. Thanks in advance. -John

04/25/2012, 04:53 AM	#2
TimeConsumer Registered Member Join Date: May 2011 Location: New Orleans, La Posts: 1,018	I've lost two elegence corals so far. One indonesian and one australian. I absolutely love them, but I can't keep them alive. Both times I have placed them in the sandbed with very low flow. I'll probably try again, I'm stubborn. __________________ Steve - Reefing by the seat of my pants 75g Mixed Reef - Reef Octopus Extreme XS 160 - 6x54w Fan Mod Tek Light - Dual MP10w - SG: 1.026 - Calc: 420ppm - Alk: 8dkh - Mag: 1300ppm

04/28/2012, 07:11 AM	#5
JAustin Acropora Nut Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Oklahoma City Posts: 1,419	Here is mine purchased from Petco. 4 months old and looking better every week. She enjoys a snack of squid and mysis every now and then. I believe the deep water elegance corals can be kept but require the "expert only" tag. My elegance is kept 18" under a 250w phoenix MH and two actinic t-5s. Flow is medium and Par is 175-200. The flow doesn't make the tissue fold over but it is enough to keep the tenticals waving and moving around. Cheers Jason __________________ John's SPS / Clam Reef - Drilled 50g, CaRx, RKE, 2x250 Ushio 20K, Luminmax IIIs, B+\P+ T5, vertex IN80 W/BB1000, 2X mp10s, 2X koralia nano, GFO, Carbon RX. Feed your reef, feed it!

04/28/2012, 01:15 PM	#7
JAustin Acropora Nut Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Oklahoma City Posts: 1,419	Thanks willietang021. I know it's all about supply and demand and I think some days I should not have bought it but at the price of 34.95.....I knew someone would buy it and I just thought it should be me. Plus, i've been reading that they were now tough to care for and I figured I was up for the challenge. It went through a week of not being inflated but I wasn't worried. I know LPS can do that, like some nems that just are going through a lul in activity. Every now and then it does close up, but when it opens it's bigger than before. It seems it does it after every water change I do. It likes the new water so it does a water change too. What a great coral. It's my way of having a nem in an SPS tank....without having a nem in a SPS tank. __________________ John's SPS / Clam Reef - Drilled 50g, CaRx, RKE, 2x250 Ushio 20K, Luminmax IIIs, B+\P+ T5, vertex IN80 W/BB1000, 2X mp10s, 2X koralia nano, GFO, Carbon RX. Feed your reef, feed it!

04/28/2012, 05:26 PM	#9
TucanSam007 Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Suffolk, Long Island Posts: 657	I have an aussie pink tip elegance for the past 6 months. It's my favorite lps. My clowns host it so it was my alternative for a nem. It's one of the only lps in my sps tank and I don't think I'd enjoy my tank as much without it . __________________ 65g sps tank, 20L sump, Apex, ATI Sunpower 6x39/Reef brite, SSA CS1, 2xMP10wes & 1 MP40wes, Eheim 1260, Tunze Osmolator, Two-part, GFO/Gac

04/25/2012, 11:46 AM	#4
willietang021 Registered Member Join Date: May 2011 Location: Newhall, CA Posts: 193	Elegance coral is my second favorite coral of all. (dendrophyllia is my fav!) I had 6 of them 5 never last more than a month. one lasted for 6 months until I had to moved, and finally it gave up on itself. I had them under LEDs, T-5s, MH, PC. tried med flow and low flow. I found that they like to be in the constant moving flow but nothing direct. They like to be on a piece of pvc or rock rather than on the sand bed directly where sand can irritate their tissue. Once it is in one spot, never touch it or move it again, if not they will die VERY easily. I feed it raw shrimp meat finely chopped. One thing I did different and kept the only elegance coral that live on was I added the Prodibio Biokit reef into the tank. http://www.marinedepot.com/Prodibio_...ADAOMB-vi.html Everytime after I added the reefbooster, it react strongly and a lot more happy! Also it was on a piece of PVC on the sand bed, under a single radion LED in my 24 nano. with no one within 4" when fully opened. my 2 mp10 was making dance constantly but it doesn't flap around at all. I am in search for another piece of unique looking rare color elegance coral, once I found it I will try to keep it alive again. here's a picture of my lone alive beauty, the pic was from the seller, I only have a camera phone and won't show the true color

04/28/2012, 12:09 PM	#6
willietang021 Registered Member Join Date: May 2011 Location: Newhall, CA Posts: 193	Very nice elegance coral JAustin! I am glad you are able to find a nice piece in petco. I just went to my local petco yesterday, and they too have an elegance coral. But it seems like it is near the end or its life.....

04/28/2012, 09:44 PM	#10
JAustin Acropora Nut Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Oklahoma City Posts: 1,419	It's no big deal if it opens up and touches the sand. Just not a good idea for it to open up against a rock and get its tissue damaged. It would take strong flow to even do that. Post a pic of it. __________________ John's SPS / Clam Reef - Drilled 50g, CaRx, RKE, 2x250 Ushio 20K, Luminmax IIIs, B+\P+ T5, vertex IN80 W/BB1000, 2X mp10s, 2X koralia nano, GFO, Carbon RX. Feed your reef, feed it!

05/02/2012, 03:17 PM	#12
septicdeath Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2011 Posts: 167	Here ya go, the RTBA made another journey across my tank, across a real nice acan colony and my scoly. He was making his move from one rock to another, with 3-5% of his foot attached, so I grabbed him. He made a quick trip back to the LFS. My clowns are now trying to host my little duncan, and its not looking bad because of it. I do think I will try to get a larger frogspawn or torch, as I've seen them host those corals before and since they are hosting the little 2 headed duncan, and before that a small torch, I know these guys are happy hosting corals. Here is a pic of my elegance, Im temped to move it back to the original location that I made for it, but Im not ready to move it, and read your post about NOT moving it.

05/07/2012, 11:54 AM	#13
septicdeath Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2011 Posts: 167	Well, I dont think this thing like the move. The picture above is the most it has opened since the move, Rather than move it, I tried to move rock around it to affect lighting (decrease it a little). In the center, its receded all the way to the skeleton. Although the sides seem to be wanting to open, the small spot in the center where its skeleton is showing. Not sure what to do, keeping a eye on it, I dont want to give up, but also dont want to risk kicking my water quality to hell. Maybe I will donate it to the LFS that has a huge system that can handle its die off if indeed it continues? Im watching the small part of the skeleton, its about 1/4" or so while the whole coral is 6 - 7" long, and its only on the top part (as opposed to the top and bottom rail of the skeleton). Wow... fail...