Carnation tree coral?

[saltybench]

Are there any varieties that are not going to just die? My husband is obsessed with them but everything we’ve been looking into say they are “expert” only. What makes them “expert” only? The water parameters seemed pretty standard recommended range, i just don’t quite understand what the issue would be? If anyone can give me their experience with them or any insight I’d be really grateful. I’d like to add it’s not like we’ve got one and are scrambling but it’s something we would like to look into getting further down the line

 

[dennis romano]

Carnations are non-photosynthetic. They have to be fed several times a day with a variety of very fine food. A lot of tanks cannot handle the extra nutrients being added. A very well established tank IMO is necessary. I have a twenty year old tank and they are still hit or miss for me.

 

[Tumey]

@Dr. Dendrostein Your knowledge would be helpful I’m sure

 

[saltybench]

Carnations are non-photosynthetic. They have to be fed several times a day with a variety of very fine food. A lot of tanks cannot handle the extra nutrients being added. A very well established tank IMO is necessary. I have a twenty year old tank and they are still hit or miss for me.

Interesting! Thank you. So more of a nutrient rich tank would be better?

 

[Mexican_Bigfoot]

Interesting! Thank you. So more of a nutrient rich tank would be better?

They hunger for large amounts of planktonic feed, "reef snow", aminos and microfauna for nutrition but don't necessarily want super high "nutrient" levels.

 

[MaxTremors]

Interesting! Thank you. So more of a nutrient rich tank would be better?

No, they want nutrient poor water (like most corals, ie nitrates at 10ppm or lower and phosphates at 0.08 or lower), but they need to be fed multiple times a day. So it’s a catch 22, by feeding them multiple time per day (and you can’t really target feed them, they have to be broadcast fed), your nutrient levels are going to be very high. In a very mature tank with very productive nutrient export (protein skimming, refugium, carbon dosing, algae scrubber, etc), you might be able to feed it enough while keeping nutrient levels at an acceptable level, but even then it would be difficult. The only other option would be to do water changes every other day,

 

[sp1187]

so not a carnation but kinda sorta along those lines.
non photo synth.
chili coral.
i currently have four in mine.
getting ready to frag one of them.

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

@Dr. Dendrostein Your knowledge would be helpful I’m sure

Sorry I'm late sir. You rang sir......

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

so not a carnation but kinda sorta along those lines.
non photo synth.
chili coral.
i currently have four in mine.
getting ready to frag one of them.

These corals are one of the hardiest and if you were to start on NPS tank one of the first corals to get. If they ever close up but they don't look like they're decomposing they will bounce back. I have some that are 6 months old and others that are over 2 years old and counting. My nitrates I believe right now are at 80 PPM and phosphates are .11. and they're still alive and thriving. I cut one up for frags and frags still alive and happy. I don't know your tank setup, and everything is different, I would spot feed it when you see it open and spot for you to when it's not. Unless your tank can handle broadcast feeding but I could have swore I saw a torch in the background and that water needs to be pristine unless it was an anemone and the water still needs to be pristine. So spot feed it as often as you can use Red Sea ab Plus or something similar. With the ab plus mixed some Coral Curry or anything similar to those powder foods. And spot feed it especially when it's open. When it's not open entice it with some food that I mentioned. Keep us posted. The pictures I'm posting our Carnation corals which are even more difficult to care for but I figured out how to make them thrive with just two oysters for every 11 gallons for filtration live oysters and a pound of ceramic Spheres about 1 lb for every 11 gallons, no skimmer but I do water changes every 2 weeks to 3 weeks. Right now I have a 7.6 gallon nano tank it has 11 Carnation corals all of them alive and happy and going on month number two. Unheard of no one's ever done that before. I'm on Instagram Dr. Dendrostein.
Google dictated so hopefully it makes sense what you read

 

[velvetelvis]

If your husband loves the look of Dendronephthea, I suggest photosynthetic Stereonephthya, Nephthea, and Lemnalia. They're very similar in appearance, but at least partly photosynthetic. I have a tank full of them and I'm addicted!

Marine Farmers is a great source of Stereonephthya and pink Koji Wada Nephthea. Gorgeous corals.