Well I did it...

[jason412]

Against my better judgement and knowing how hard elegance corals are to keep alive these days I purchased one. I got it because when I saw the picture of it I thought it was one of the most healthiest Elegances Ive seen in a long time besides the pictures you all post haha. Anyways, I have been doing as much research as I could. I have a 125g barebottom and thought this may pose a problem for it since I have a descent amount of flow so thanks to my fiances old tupperware container, old sand, and some rearranging of the rocks I created it its own descently slow flowing lagoon. I also have it situated in the lowest light area of my tank until I see how it responds to the VHOs/MH's. I can already tell it likes the VHO's because it started getting bigger and opening up soon as I turned them. This coral has been acclimating for 2 or so hours and I made sure all the levels are the same. They did tell me its an aussie coral so maybe I got lucky. These pictures were taken after it was in the tank maybe 30 minutes so I think its definetly looking good for that short of time although I am no expert. I only kept the VHOs long enough to get a shot of it. The other picture is using the flash. I am terrible with a camera so I aplogize. I will probably give it a day to get accustomed before I start slowly turning on the lights. Anyways here it is:

[silvers]

For me elegance corals have been very hardy. I have had one for over a year with no problems and I have put it through some crap. From way to much flow and light. to hardly no flow and light. I feel the same about Goniporia though so go figure

[Loverotties]

Welcome to TRT!And it looks nice!

[jason412]

Thanks its good to be here. I usually just absorb all the info from the forums and dont post too often but I just had to this time. Ya I hear ya about gonipora, Ive never tried one of those just because of the rumors. I used to have an Elegance about 10 years ago but I gave it to the Miami Seaquarium because I figured it wouldnt make the trip across country and couldnt bare to kill it and I didnt have the funds being 14 to really afford a bigger uhaul so that I could keep water in it for the fish/coral etc. Ok so its been over an hour now since its been in the tank I noticed it was starting to slowly close back up a little bit so I turned the VHOs back on. Its now even bigger than it was earlier and I think it wants me to keep the lights on. I took the day off work today so between the tank and my princess Ill probably keep ya updated quite often because Im excited about it lol. Anyways heres some updated pics. Jason

[Hop]

LOL. "don't post often"???? You've been here about 18 months and both posts are here

Looks healthy and nice to see you start posting!

[jason412]

Ya lol not too often...Funnier thing is over on RC Ive been a member since Feb 2002 or 2003 I believe and I only have 13 posts lol. Whats even worse is I have been reading these forums every night for those past 4 years or so. I actually wasnt supposed to buy any coral any time soon because I just bought that 125g for fathers day which the fiance gave me permission for but I couldnt pass this up. Shes been home and still hasnt seen it lol. Anyways heres an update I just fed it 3 pieces of silversides and it has chowed all the three pieces down fast.....hungry little fella! Anyways gonna go be back soon gotta carry in some groceries. Jason

[Hop]

Ahh, you always have to have an impulse buy!

I surfed RC for two years before I registered and posted... Then much like here, I start talking and can't shut up

Nice father's day gift btw. I'm still waiting for the new calcium reactor, but they seem to think a festive shirt and shorts cut it...

[Reef-Keeper]

sweet coral, looks healthy too !! great find

[theplatypus]

Originally Posted by Hop

LOL. "don't post often"???? You've been here about 18 months and both posts are here

Looks healthy and nice to see you start posting!

heh

I lurked here for atleast a year before registering.

[Elegance Coral]

I think its cool that after all this time it was an Elegance coral that got you to start posting. Are they awesome or what? God's gift to mankind!

[Casey]

Good luck with it.

[jason412]

Ya they certainly are a gift. Well it stayed open all night last night and still lookin good. Ill post some pictures soon as I can find some batteries for the camera. Im kinda wondering how long it takes for them to digest/poop because it seems as if it hasnt quite expanded as big as it was yesterday evening after I fed it so wondering if this is because its still digesting the food I fed it. Id say its about 3/4 the size it was last night. Anyways guess Ill run to the store and get some batteries, Ill try and get a couple tank pics so you can see where/how I have him in the tank.
Jason

[jason412]

Ok back from the store and just shot some quick photos. I think the next place I need to go post/read in is the photography forum lol. Ill give ya a little background info on the tank and why I moved to the 125g. I originally had a 2 75g tanks plumbed together, one was my reef tank, and the other was my porcupine puffer tank. I had a problem with Dictoyta, dunno if I spelled that right, so I bought 2 long spined urchins for the reef tank. Turns out they didnt touch one ounce of the stuff. So I tried going barebottom and it worked. To this day I havent seen any of it come back. So I left the urchins in the tank figuring they could help me clean all of the coralline algae that was taking over the tank and it worked for a while. Until one decided to get its cavity sucked into the seio. I woke up that morning and found a terrible sight. Almost all the fish were dead including my porky. The survivors were the bicolor and flame angel, a mandarin, and a perc clown. Most of the coral was lost except for my huge frogspawn, 3 out of the 4 clams, 1 piece of acropora, and all the polyps I had. Ya my Porky was my puffer who was my pride and joy. I got him through mail order and arrived with hardly any fins and a bad case of ick. I brought him back to life and became our family pet. He would spit water out of the tank at us when he was hungry and the only way he would eat is if I would put him in a big peanut butter jar and hand feed him. That was how I got him eating when he was in such bad shape. So whenever I fed him I would just place the jar in the tank and he would happily swim into it. So I told the fiance that since she wants more room in the living room I could get 1 bigger tank and would get rid of the 2 75's which are my sumps in the basement now. Figured it was a great time since the rocks were going through a mini cycle and everything was living in buckets as I trying to keep everything alive. So she agreed and thats how I ended up getting it plus I tihnk she felt bad for me for losin porky. But ya the water was a really weird yellow color specially since the one died and then chain killed hte other one with its toxinsor whatever it wsa they released. Anyways the elegance has opened up more now than even what these photos show. Oh and disregard the 2liter soda bottle in the tank, that was my DIY flow meter haha. As you can see in the pics its in the far right corner of the tank in the tupperware container.

[jenajet]

Out of curiousity, why is it in a bowl? Very nice. I love them but I lost one and havn't gotten brave enough to try another. Also your tank looks nice.

[jason412]

Thanks I placed it in the container so that if it receives too much light/flow in an area I can move it without disturbing the coral. Ive already had to move it just a little while ago because I turned on the metal halides and within 20 minutes it was starting to retract its tentacles so I moved it back to where I had it and it didnt even know it was moved besides the lower lighting. I tried moving it in a little to try to get it a little closer to see how it repsonded to the 10k bulbs.Plus I thought since i have barebottom I could place it in the container with sand to give it a softer surface than rock for it to expand on. I also think the container shelters the coral from the current. Only the tentacles wave around because they get longer than the side of the container, the rest of the coral is pretty much stationary. I got scared when I saw the tentacles retracting and wasnt sure if I should leave it in the light a little longer to see if it would progress closing up or only to adjust and reopen. Problem is I cant keep the lights off forever due to the other corals/clams. Just dont wanna leave it there too long and possibly hurt it. It could also just have been adjusting and maybe it woulda been fine. Guess this where I could use some advice haha. Here is what it looks like after having the metal halides on for around a couple of hours, under 10k bulbs.



Good news!! it seems to be coming out more and more to the light and I now have both bulbs on and doesnt seem to mind one bit! im pumped. Just not sure if it liked direct light from he MH. Just seemed like it needed a little adjustment 6 inches to the right is all. Keep ya updated.
Jason

Ok gonna keep editing this one well heres a new pic!!



Nother hour or so