Heliopora - any tips ?

[Anonymous]

Does anybody have any experiences they could share with me regarding Heliopora (Blue ridge coral). I have had a speciman that is about the size of a junior league football in my tank for about 6 months. This think is a painfully slow grower !! It is also an ugly brown under my 6500 k (400w) halides. My questionis do any of you have any tips for it?? I just switched over to that new 12000 kelvin "Sunburst" bulb from ALS and it appears to be making my other SPS look better.
I am esp. interested in whether any of you think I should add some sort of IRON additive to the tank to assist this coral's deposit of new tissue? In "A practical guide to Corals" the author states that this coral's skeleton is made up of deposited Iron salts.... well this may explain the slow growth as I do not presently dose and Iron supplement... I am thinking of starting to use Kent's version... any thoughts??...
And hsa nyone tried those new 12000K bulbs??? .. thanks for any replies.

Sincerely,

N8theGr8

 

[Anonymous]

Hello N8,

I have a piece of Blue Ridge coral in my 29 gallon SPS tank that grows out of the water! It was attached to a piece of Green Star Polyp rock (or should I say the GSP were attached to it!) It was almost dead when I put it in my tank about 2 years ago and now it is about 6 inches tall and I have fragged the tips about 5 times. I find that the fragments foot out VERY fast. I am unsure about the iron thing but I use tapwater for my reef which comes out of a well in my backyard. The water is untreated and contains SO much iron that it stains all the water fixtures (tubs, toilets, etc.) and stains white clothes. I don't think you will see a color change with this coral. I used to have it under 4 NO bulbs and now, 2 years later, It is directly under a 250w 6500K Iwasaki Halide and 2-75 VHO Actinics and the color has not shifted a bit. A few pictures of this individual coral can be seen on my website.

Good luck with the Heliopora!


------------------
Sean Bradley
Photographer : Still Reefs Photographic Productions