blue ridge coral (Heliopora coerulea)

[shane 1111]

what is the care requirements of this coral?

my 50 gallon tank has 2x96w pc,s.
i already keep Montipora digitata, Montipora capricornis
i have good water flow


any one have pic's of them?

[shane 1111]

any one

[shane 1111]

i ordered one and i am getting it tomarrow

[secrest]

High light, Medium to High Flow. More demandind as far as light goes than montipora sp.

[shane 1111]

it is a soft coral
and it is More demandind than an sps and i have a collieflower coral

[shane 1111]

anyone else have any more info on this coral

[shane 1111]

....

[Rikko]

They're pretty easy. Polyps on mine tend to extend later in the day and for a time at night - I've never looked in in the middle of the night so it may not be a nocturnal feeder, perhaps just a delayed retraction.
They're dead easy. A customer of ours grows them in his sump that has nothing special for lighting.. I like a little PC over it and he's fragging it constantly. I found a frag in one of our display tanks a few weeks after arriving at the store; it was completely buried in the substrate and I was sure it was dead but thought I'd take it home. Not even a single stressed or dying looking area on it. Easy, easy coral.
It's an encrusting coral that I've seen references to having it even grow onto the tank glass. Brown when alive, blue when dead.

And, to be honest, I don't really like it that much. It's kind of a "meh" coral.

[shane 1111]

i ordered it from LiveAquaria.com
is LiveAquaria a good site to get aquatic livestock

[shane 1111]

......

[fishome25]

I wouldn't really consider it a soft coral. It does have a hard skeleton. I think the recommendations given are pretty much on the button. It is an easy coral, shouldn't give you any trouble.

[Grunt007]

Research BEFORE you buy. Your setting yourself up for failure, and more importantly loss of life if you don't. MY .02....

[Tarasco1]

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/blue,pip.htm

[shane 1111]

Originally posted by fishome25
I wouldn't really consider it a soft coral. It does have a hard skeleton. I think the recommendations given are pretty much on the button. It is an easy coral, shouldn't give you any trouble.

it is defenetley a soft coral

Blue Ridge Coral
(Heliopora sp.)
Click here for a larger image
Quick Stats
Care Level: Moderate
Light: High
Water Flow: Medium to Strong
Placement: All
Tank Conditions: 72-78°F; sg 1.023-1.025; pH 8.1-8.4; dKH 8-12
Color Form: Blue, Tan
Temperament: Peaceful
Ideal Supplements: Calcium, Iodine, Strontium, Trace Elements
Origin: Indo-Pacific
Family: Helioporidae



The Blue Ridge Coral, sometimes referred to as the Blue Coral, is often mistaken for a small polyp stony (SPS) coral because it has a hard blue exoskeleton with long, thin polyps. It really is an octocoral (soft coral) and its growth forms are branching, plate-like, columnar, or encrusting. Its body is composed of calcium carbonate and iron salts, which lend its distinctive blue color. However, the polyps are either brown or light blue. They are an interesting and peacefull coral that will add diversity to your reef aquarium.

The Blue Ridge Coral is generally peaceful towards other corals in the reef aquarium and will do best added to a well-established tank. It requires moderate to high lighting with a medium to strong water current in the aquarium. Calcium, strontium, iodine, and other trace elements will need to be added to the water.

It contains the symbiotic algae zooxanthellae from which it receives the majority of its nutritional requirements through photosynthesis. It does not require additional food to maintain its health in the reef aquarium, but it will feed on micro-plankton or foods designed for filter feeding invertebrates.


this is from LiveAquaria.com

[fishome25]

I understand it is not a sps coral. but when you see it, you will see its not soft.

[shane 1111]

Originally posted by Grunt007
Research BEFORE you buy. Your setting yourself up for failure, and more importantly loss of life if you don't. MY .02....
i did Research i wanted to fiend out other peoples experences with it.
i have a stack of books
i rarely buy aney thing with out Researching its care
i like to find out all i can about my corals,fish,and inverts

i dont like being acused of killing things

[shane 1111]

i know it is not soft

[shane 1111]

.........

[Rikko]

Originally posted by shane 1111
what is the care requirements of this coral?

my 50 gallon tank has 2x96w pc,s.
i already keep Montipora digitata, Montipora capricornis
i have good water flow


any one have pic's of them?

Originally posted by shane 1111
i did Research i wanted to fiend out other peoples experences with it.
i have a stack of books
i rarely buy aney thing with out Researching its care
i like to find out all i can about my corals,fish,and inverts


I'm sure you can appreciate why it appears to some people that you didn't do any research.

Anyways, don't be too worried about this coral. It's hardy and easy to please. Just, like I said before, not that entertaining to watch, but I'm more of an LPS guy.

[shane 1111]

the order came in it is a nice blue color and all the polyps are open i love this coral

[rmesola]

it's rare to actually get it in blue from what I hear.. but I have a blue ridge that was a hitchiker on a rock with polyps...

over the last year it's grown almost 2 inches vertically....

It likes strong water flow and I have mine in front of the spray bar on my return and it opens day and night....

forms a lot of mucus and that must be swept away... get a turkey baster and blast the mucus off if you see it....

It will survive in almost any conditions (my skills earlier on were not good and the tank was smaller) but will thrive and grow faster in good tank parameters with good calcium... it's a soft coral but it also uses calcium for it's bones...

I agree the brown is a soso coral and the only reason I have it is coz it hitchhikes its way to my tank...

[MiddletonMark]

My Heliopora seems to thrive in a high flow area - does well with bright light. Polyps out in the afternoon once it got settled in - a neat coral.
Seems to shed skin from time to time. I've got mine under 250w in my SPS tank, and it seems to do well in that environment [frag I got encrusted pretty quickly and is growing at a visible rate]. IMO it seems much like my yellow fiji toadstool [S. elegans] that thrives in my stony tank and doesn't do as well in my softie tank. Not sure if it's flow, light, or low-nutrient water ... but it sure likes at least one.

Technically, Heliopora is an Octocoral [with the soft corals, gorgs, mat polyps] - but it is in it's own Order within that Class [and the only coral in it's Family and Genus] ... a pretty unique coral genetically.

Borneman puts it `Although technically an octocoral, Heliopora is hermatypic and has much in common with stony corals and hydrocorals as with octocorals'.

If you like classification, it's got lots of appeal there :lol:

[MiddletonMark]

Yup, mine is just a frag - so no real `structure' beyond a single piece off it [one of my newest frags, 3 months old or so]

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/563/28196helipora.jpg

[wayne in norway]

Mine is a pinky brown, with blue edging. It arrived on some live rock.
Mine is growing slowly under inadequate light, so it seems quite tough. I understand it prefers higher temps.

As the only octocoral to generate a hard skeleton it seems to make a mockery of softies,sps , lps classification. This was once a much more diverse genus/family/order, but all but this were killed by a cooling event

[shane 1111]

mine has browned in color but still is a nice blue

[rmesola]

the skeleton underneath is blue so the leading edge (growing tip) has a blue tint since the overlying tissue is thin... then it browns over when the tissue gets thicker....

I just fragged mine that I had and all frags are doing great....

(dump them somewhere and they'll be there when you come back looking for it as long as it gets some light)

They also grow fast... I've had almost 2 inches of vertical growth in about a year...

[shane 1111]

mine used to be all blue whal it was open and it is good size
it is probley my lights. i have pc's and it is at the top of the tank