Good shade corals?

[Capt_Cully]

Any corals you can think of that grow in shaded areas. The side view of my tank is pretty lame because the aquascape and corals above shade it out. Would LPS do ok under there you think? Or will it affect coloration? Not a real pro with them. Been into SPS so long I'm racking my brain as to what I could put down there to spruce up the view.

Thanks

[Treasure Coast]

Some mushrooms and most kinds of Polyps should be ok. They will stretch towards the light. Softies like Colt Coral will grow pretty much anywhere. There is always Sun coral but hard to keep healthy.

[cloak]

Something like a Blastomussa merletti or perhaps a chalice might be ok. These don't require very intense lighting IME. Some of the Chalices can get a little expensive, but being that there's so many of them out there you should be able to pick up one of these along with the Blasto for a decent price. It's definitely worth a shot. GL.

[Capt_Cully]

I'll give it a shot. Definitely looking to stay away from anything invasive. When it comes to expensive, I've done the designer and named coral thing. Selling frags etc. these days, if it's pretty and healthy I'm happy. Not looking to make my money back, have bragging rights, or anything like that.

Appreciate the input!

Acans? Scolymia?

[anbosu]

Yes, acans were the first thing I thought of when you asked.

[Rob Pnuke]

I have Cyphastrea in shaded area's on my sides that grow great and keep their color.

[karimwassef]

I hate shade corals. My brightly lit tank kills them like ice cream on a 110 summer day.

It used to.. now I nearly bury them and hide them under rock ledges.

The three than needed the most shade were:

1. Favia / Platygyra (red and green)
2. Montipora Setosa (orange)
3. Some Chalice (red, purple)

I've gotten frags to survive, but they really need shade or very dark water. One of the LPS owners says his chalices need almost no light and grow better in the overflow!

I prefer my light loving rough water SPS.

[karimwassef]

Favia - in the light (recently moved to share in the pic)


Favia - in the shade



Setosa - in the light


Setosa - in the shade


Chalice - in the light



Chalice - in the shade

[joshbrookkate]

Thanks, all, for the suggestions!

[A.Astore]

I know my sun polyps offer an amazing splash of color! They are NPS but I think once they are nursed back to health their feedings can be reduced to not as often and if you have a decent flow what carries left over food you will possibly be able to avoid target feeding too often. I have mine in a shaded tunnel and they are out almost all day (if not all of them the vast majority) and then all out in full extension mornings and evenings. Mine came in looking horrible and have already started to show new polyps coming in. Just a thought if you are willing to think beyond the LPS and SPS. I completely understand staying away from the invasive mushrooms/polyp route! Trying at all cost to avoid those because I like to be able to some rock... I only paid how much for it

[Dkuhlmann]

karimwassef how long has that Favia been in the shade? I'm curious how fast they grow. I've got one that hasn't grown at all and I've had it 3 months but it's been in full light at the bottom of my tank. I've got good lighting now, much better than the Chinese black box that I had previously. I just moved it into the shade after reading your post.

[karimwassef]

My favia recovered in a month once it went into the shade. It heals and grows fast but it needs to feed.

I dose amino acids, phyto and coral powdered food (feast). The more targeted, at night, the better. The more you feed it, the faster it'll grow. Think of it as photosynthetic tubastrea.

[karimwassef]

Originally Posted by karimwassef

My favia recovered in a month once it went into the shade. It heals and grows fast but it needs to feed.

I dose amino acids, phyto, frozen coral food (cyclopese) and coral powdered food (reef chilli and coral feast). The more targeted, at night, the better. The more you feed it, the faster it'll grow. Think of it as photosynthetic tubastrea.

I have another favia that grows slowly - but it's more photosynthetic=small tentacles or none at all at night.

[karimwassef]

My trumpets are the same, by the way. They need to feed or they're not happy



Hungry little piggies:

[karimwassef]

Here's the favia at night









At dusk- getting excited to feed

[karimwassef]

8 months ago:


Now:


In the top video: The polyps on top, that came is almost dead when I got it, have reconnected and filled in.

In the lower video: I accidentally damaged some polyps on the side last week, but you can see the tentacles extending out to defend the damaged area and feeding to gather local resources to rebuild the dead tissue.

[HammerLover]

I've always loved bubble corals under a cave but beware of its sweepers it can get very long.

Cyarinas are another beautiful underrated coral that do well in shaded places and low flow. Its very peaceful too as well.

[slgcmg]

Definitely scolymia

[rastafarian]

Dendro (Dendrophyllia)? I have a couple in my tank, similar to sun coral (Tubastraea) but a bit easier to keep in my opinion. They prefer low light (none is fine) and low flow.

[Tweaked]

I keep chalice under overhangs to completely block the light. They do well like this for me.

[wildman926]

Originally Posted by karimwassef

I hate shade corals. My brightly lit tank kills them like ice cream on a 110 summer day.

It used to.. now I nearly bury them and hide them under rock ledges.

The three than needed the most shade were:

1. Favia / Platygyra (red and green)
2. Montipora Setosa (orange)
3. Some Chalice (red, purple)

I've gotten frags to survive, but they really need shade or very dark water. One of the LPS owners says his chalices need almost no light and grow better in the overflow!

I prefer my light loving rough water SPS.

Thanks for the info...it explains my troubles with #2 Montipora Setosa.

[karimwassef]

I'm actually considering keeping an older halide on one part of the tank to keep thes guys happy. Like two or three zones with different age bulbs to created a shaded section without real shading.

[ReefWreak]

Karimwassef, great posts and info.

The favia/platygyra are definitely a good bet, though you really have to be careful because while they are slow growers, their sweeper tentacles are not. They can reach 6-10" from the colony. They're also a good buffer coral to keep zoanthids/palys at bay because of their sweepers.

I just picked up a beautiful colored diploastrea from Cherry Corals, and this thread is making me wonder whether I should just leave it in the shade, it may keep it's colors no problem. I also have a favia that has been in the shade since I got it almost a year ago, and it has kept its color and is slowly but surely growing, same with a platygyra/maze brain. I bought a favia from Cherry Corals 6 months ago, and even at the bottom of my tank, it bleached immediately, and still hasn't recovered 6 months later, so it's in the shade.

I guess the upside of LEDs is that there is plenty of shade for when you have shade-loving corals!

[karimwassef]

Yes. I think we need to look at the reefs we create as containing different zones and depth is not the only control variable.

[karimwassef]

Sellers should indicate the light used of the frags they sell.

LED frags usually bleach, then come back with a vengeance for me.

They don't usually even look like they did when I first got them.