How high to keep a bubble coral

vader88 · #1 10/04/2007, 08:45 PM

How high would you keep a bubble coral in a 29 gallon biocube with the following lighting

1 36 watt 10,000k
2 36 watt actinic bulbs
1 36 watt 50/50 bulb

144 watt total PC's ...

I'm having a problem with extension. When I had it in the sand it never expanded, when I moved it up midway, it expanded ... now it's not expanding much anymore .... not to mention ... ever since I've had it ... it feeder tentacles have never come out very far.

seapug · #2 10/04/2007, 11:04 PM

a shaded spot with low flow but raised up a little off the bottom would be ideal. Have you looked at it at night? Mine completely transforms once the lights go off.

kuoka · #3 10/05/2007, 12:14 AM

Bubbles can be moved to the top if you acclimate it. But overall they prefer medium to high light and low to medium flow. In fact they won't open up if the flow is too strong. As for the feeder tentacles, it depends on the type of bubble. For example the white bubble has short feeders while their green brethren from Fiji are longer.

Rockhead21564 · #4 10/05/2007, 07:26 PM

You only have 54 watts of lighting, you don't count actinic towards a total. Thats too low. kuoka is right about low flow, but they definitely do not care for high light. most like indirect lighting and VERY little flow. I also really don't think you have all those bulbs in a 29 gallon biocube. Are you sure that you don't have 2 bulbs of 2 shafts that are connected to a base? If you actually have 4 seperate bulbs, change out the 50/50 for a 10k so that you have 3 each 10k's and 1 actinic.

kuoka · #5 10/05/2007, 08:08 PM

Here is the care info for a bubble coral (note the lighting)...

Care:
Hardiness: Bubble corals are moderately hardy and sometimes take a while to adapt to the aquarium conditions and start to grow.

Lighting: Prefers moderate to strong lighting, but will tolerate fairly low light conditions.

Water Current: Bubble coral prefer low to moderate water currents and lack of bubble extension may be related to excessive water current.

Temperature: Does well within a range of at least 75º to 84º F.

vader88 · #6 10/05/2007, 08:24 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Rockhead21564
You only have 54 watts of lighting, you don't count actinic towards a total. Thats too low. kuoka is right about low flow, but they definitely do not care for high light. most like indirect lighting and VERY little flow. I also really don't think you have all those bulbs in a 29 gallon biocube. Are you sure that you don't have 2 bulbs of 2 shafts that are connected to a base? If you actually have 4 seperate bulbs, change out the 50/50 for a 10k so that you have 3 each 10k's and 1 actinic.

It's 4 seperate bubls. It's a upgrade from nanotuners where your adding two additonal bulbs.

I'll head to the store tomorrow to get some bulbs...

thanks

Rockhead21564 · #7 10/06/2007, 05:18 AM

Kouka I have had a problem for a long time regarding what books say about lighting. What does moderate to strong mean? What range tempature? a 400 watt MH at 10k is substantially stronger than a 20k and in another spectrum of light. so to me you have to take a book and use it as one step in the information highway I have more than a couple weeks doing this and can say that the best results are from indirect lighting, difused would be a better way to put it. also, I've always wondered about how something can say medium to strong, but gee also weak. Hey just my experience, not a law,lol. Good luck.

kuoka · #8 10/06/2007, 09:59 AM

Rockhead, point taken. Obviously you could bleach or harm a bubble under 400 watts of MH (you can probably pop corn!). LOL Anyway I was just sharing what every source I've read on the subject suggests. And in this case, Vader's lighting would probably not bleach or otherwise harm the bubble; in fact he/she said the bubble didn't open up when placed on the sand and did open up as it was moved higher up. My bubble seems to prefer stronger lighting too. But again your point is taken and reefers should consider their lights before they take what the www or books say as gospel.

kau_cinta_ku · #9 10/06/2007, 10:31 AM

here is my experience with my bubble coral. I have a 75 gal tank with dual 400 watt 20K XM's and 68x turnover. well the lighting wasn't the prob as he liked the lighting anywhere in the tank the prob was finding a low flow area in the tank. but after i found the lowest flow area in the tank he opened up very nicely. and is about mid level in the tank.