Lighting Requirements for Yellow Fiji Leather?

reefy em · #1 04/19/2006, 10:40 PM

I have a 58 gallon Oceanic that has 4 96W PCs over it (two daylight, two actinic) and was wondering if this would be sufficient to keep a yellow fiji leather? I have been wanting one of these for a long time but noticed on here that the concensus is they like a lot of light and flow. I plan to get a frag from a member someday in hopes that it would do better than a non-aquacultured colony. Is this enough light for one in my tank?

PatrickJ · #2 04/19/2006, 11:01 PM

They seem to do great under intense light. Halides seem to do the trick.

You need to put it where you put acroporas...at the top.

reefy em · #3 04/19/2006, 11:12 PM

I plan on putting it under the highest flow and at the highest point I can so it'll get light, I just need to know if my PCs are enough.

ACBlinky · #4 04/20/2006, 01:44 AM

I've got a frag under 80W of PC in my 5.5g, it's been there for months and is doing very well; it's growing well, has full PE, and recently started attaching to the surrounding rockwork. I think that while these guys do like quite a bit of light, they're not overly hard to please, at least IME.

XeniaMania · #5 04/20/2006, 04:36 AM

I think you'll be fine. Leathers in general aren't too light demanding, however, they will genefit from more intense light. They can get burned by halides.

reefy em · #6 04/20/2006, 09:44 AM

ACBlinky, do you have a picture of your frag?

Thanks for the advice.

aquaman222 · #7 04/20/2006, 08:45 PM

Leathers are undemanding in general, but this particular leather is IMO the most difficult of the bunch. Likes high light, halide preferred and gentle current. Not extreme circulation.

smatter · #8 04/20/2006, 10:02 PM

Don't worry. just get it, you've got plenty of light.

ACBlinky · #9 04/20/2006, 10:09 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by reefy em
ACBlinky, do you have a picture of your frag?

Thanks for the advice.

Sure, here you go. Sorry it's not the best pic, but you get the idea. This is the little guy a few weeks ago, he's grown significantly since then

widefx · #10 04/20/2006, 10:16 PM

The most important thing is good water quality if your tank isnt over 18" deep you will be fine mine is under 2 130 pcs 2 10000k 65w and 2 acnic 65w each

frederickk · #11 04/21/2006, 06:21 AM

The leather look nice so as the torch.

MIKE NY · #12 04/21/2006, 08:01 AM

mine likes the bright light also with good flow and will brown out just like an SPS in lower light.......

XeniaMania · #13 04/21/2006, 08:36 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by ACBlinky
Sure, here you go. Sorry it's not the best pic, but you get the idea. This is the little guy a few weeks ago, he's grown significantly since then

Blinky,
It would be interesting to follow up on your coral growth after a month or 2. I've been studying and researching coral allelopathic warfare, and looking at the picture, the torch will be on the losing end. Based off my studies, your leather should be the dominant coral, followed by the GSP, xenia then torch. Hopefully that comes out true, at least I'll know I grasped the concept correctly..

No worries, no corals will die or anything, just grow slower. Just by removing 1 leather made a huge difference in my tank, and leather 2 and 3 are going within the next week.

RichConley · #14 04/21/2006, 11:31 AM

You think the xenia is going to win an aleopathic war with a torch?

Torches are nasty.

aquaman222 · #15 04/21/2006, 12:58 PM

I agree, that torch will burn anything it touches, including the leather. It is not called a torch just for it's looks.

reefy em · #16 06/19/2006, 10:48 PM

Thanks everyone. I just got a frag from a member at our club's frag swap a couple of weeks ago. I had trouble getting it to stick to the rock so I tied it loosely down. Well, it didn't like that and rotted that section off. I glued it again and now it's staying, we'll see how the little guy does. Hopefully it'll look like ACBlinky's in not too long...

Here he is:

DJ88© · #17 06/19/2006, 11:21 PM

I have had two of these great corals and my sister currently has one as well. Mine has been in my tank for about a year and a half(give or take) and my sister has had hers for about two.

Here is a shot of mine showing how close it is to the waters surface as well as how far away my 400W pendant is. My old yellow leather lived directly below a 250W Iwasaki in a 33 gallon tank.

These corals LOVE intense light. If you can ever see a shot of a "field" of these corals they are situated just below the waters surface unlike regular sarcophytons.

Mine started out about 3" square. I am going to attempt to start fragging it soon.

reefy em,

best way to get a sarco to attach especially these ones is to lay them in a bed of crushed coral in a tupperware container with a loose mesh top to allow flow. They will grow onto the crushed coral which you can then glue to a larger rock.