Lower Light Corals

[curator]

In my new rock arrangement, I have a shelf, under which I'd like to place some corals, or other invertebrates. It is not completely dark, but much less light than other areas.

Any suggestions of what would thrive there?

Thanks,

John

 

[jgoal55]

sun coral - if you wanna deal with the daily feeding

 

[reefscape]

chile coral

 

[xyzpdq0121]

Do you really think a Chile or Carnation are the way for someone fairly new to dump their money on?

 

[reefscape]

now tell me anywhere in the thread ...did it say they where new

 

[reefscape]

only said new rock work...hell new rock work dont all ways mean new to hobby

 

[reefscape]

but a sun would be fine?

 

[reefscape]

you are right my friend...new rock arrangment ...to me an i guess you also means he redid his aquascaping..oh well some people

 

[family reefer]

I have a similr arrangement in my tank and I have placed an open brain and a platygyra in there. Both are well after about 4 months in there...

 

[jmaneyapanda]

I, too, think a chile or carnation would not be a good idea. Both require significant laminar flow for food collection, and historically live less than say 6 months in most tanks. This is not only just my opinion, but a rather accepted premise in this hobby. They are like gonioporas- while some have success, the vast majority just die in captivity.
As family mentioned, there are many LPS that can do very well in indirect light though. Many of the really fleshy LPS (ie- scolymia, lobophyllia, trachyphyllia,etc) can do quite well in situation such as this. Sun corals quite simply just require constant feeding. No other real specialized requirements, so if you are willing to feed every day or two SPECIFICALLY to this coral, go for it, but if not, dont get one.

 

[blind1993]

what about an acan? i know they have to be fed but not how often.

 

[schwaggs]

How much light is on this tank and how deep is the tank?

 

[curator]

It's a 29 gallon Oceanic Biocube with 72 watts of light.

 

[curator]

Tank up and running for 7 months.

 

[photokid]

i vote no on the acan the need more light than that.

 

[skriz]

I second the negative on the acans

 

[schwaggs]

You should be able to keep Candy Cane Corals (Caulastrea) or brain corals (both open and closed brains) under there depending on how much light actually gets reflected under the overhang. 72W may not be enough to reflect enough light, however. If you do decide to try a photosynthetic coral, you should be prepared to move the coral out into the light if it doesn't do well. Of course, this doesn't apply to the non-photosynthetic corals mentioned above. Another non-photo you could try is a sponge.

 

[reefscape]

sponge...good thought...+1 for you

 

[jmaneyapanda]

Amberjack;142767 wrote: Jeremy, I've heard the same thing about Gonio being difficult. Didn't stop me though. Check out mine going to bed after her 7 mo. birthday. Pretty cool, huh.. I hope she can be one of the record breakers.:up:

I hope it does well for you too. So, let me ask a question- and this is not a loaded question, I am just curious as to what your response will be. Why did you get one of these if you heard it was a difficult species, and had a dismal survival rate?

I am not saying my $hit doesnt stink. I, too, owned a goniopora once, but I was ignorant to the fact that they did poorly, and sure enough, it withered and died.

As I said, you may be successful, but overall, the majority wont be. Good luck.

 

[curator]

Are sponges relatively easy?