let me have it

[cyclops23]

ive got this thread in the reef dicussion forum too. i was stupid and bought a carnation tree coral from the lfs before i even knew what it was. now i come to find out that they're hard to take care of and require low light. im into moderate light with 312w t-5's (not individual reflectors) on my 55g. i was thinking that i wopuld place the coral in the middle of the tank and put a peice of acrylic over it on the cross bar support to filter out some of the light. would this work, or will it still be too bright? what can i do? also, would feeding it 4-5 times a day be enough? i really got myself in a pickle here. here's a link to exctly what i got:
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=645

[reefnewbie54321]

Your issue is not light its going to be feeding it. You should have noted that on liveaquaria it says Expert Only. These corals have a 99% death rate so dont expect it to live. Not trying to be a downer just being realistic. Heres what you can do ...

- Read this entire thread
http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=524097

- Provide laminer flow directed at the coral to create swirls around the coral itself alowing it to pick up alot more food particles from the water colum.

- Food is the hardest part. Most people assume this coral can eat pythoplankton and various zooplankton but the only people with success are feeding it Ultra Pack wich is synthetic coral mucus and Shrimp Larvae Feed. It is also benificial to stir your sand bed to realese bacteria which is also a good food source.

[whiteshark]

WTG dummy! :lol: Just kidding, of course. My mom did the exact same thing. I came home one day, and there is a dendro sitting in the tank. Everything has gone well so far, and it has actually dropped off a few babies. I try to feed phyto ( but eveidently this won't work...) and I stir up the sand bed also.

Anyway, good luck to you and your dendro!

[reefinmike]

lol... did you even reed the product description before you bought it?

"It is extremely difficult to maintain in the reef aquarium, and should be housed in an established reef aquarium, by the more advanced marine aquarist. It requires low lighting combined with medium to strong water movement. It is necessary to have a constant current with an abundance of algal plankton."

[cyclops23]

no, there was no product description. the guy at the lfs (whos a pretty good friend of mine) told me how awesome this coral he was getting in was. it came in as i was talking to him, and as soon as i saw it, i loved it. it never even made it into the lfs system. i took it straight from the bag it came in. there was a couple of BIG f-ups in this whole thing. first and foremost, i should have researched it BEFORE i bought it. another is the guy who sold it to the lfs never told them how hard it was to take care of, he obviously didn't care. the lfs guy didn't know, or he would have told me. and it all comes back to me not knowing before buying. im going in there tommorrow to see if i can work a deal with them, cause i got a feeling Jason's(lfs dude) not going to be real happy with his supplier. hopefully i can trade it for something easier, cause i'm definitely no expert.

[djmuzzi]

Flaming him does nothing to keep this creature alive...


Some where there is a dendro project thread I think.... I can never seem to get access to the search function though... (yes I know I can pay for it)

[djmuzzi]

whiteshark,

you got pictures?

[cyclops23]

im not flaming him, i was the one who screwed up. anyway, there wasn't really any spot in my tank that would work for the dendro, the one spot i thought would work, all it did was wilt. so the guy at the lfs setup a cube specifically for it, and its doing much better. im too busy to feed it constantly, but since he's been feeding it several times a day, it really is looking much better. im glad its filling out, i really didn't want the coral to die from lack of planning on my part. the lfs guy said he wants to buy it, and at least he can give it the attention that it needs :)

[djmuzzi]

wasn't referring to you sorry

pS the Dendronepthea thread is:
http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=524097

[whiteshark]

One side of the rock

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g282/whiteshark_2006/P5250040.jpg

Othe side of the rock

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g282/whiteshark_2006/P5250039.jpg

And the starfish checkin it out

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g282/whiteshark_2006/P6080063.jpg