favia question

[ngarcia11892]

so i got this favia about a week ago and was just curious as to if its encrusting or not, my lfs said it wasnt and would grow like the open brains but i wanted to double check.

 

[dlandino]

If you place it on a rock, it will encrust and fuse to the rock. On the sand like you have it will cause it to spread and grow outward making it easier to remove and frag later on. That is nothing like an open brain coral.

 

[FaviaFreak]

it will puddle out

 

[gillundr]

I'm not an expert with favias but the few I have will grow faster if they are actually on a rock that they can encrust over. If they are on sand they still grow, but slower. I think it's because if they are on sand they need to build skeleton, where on a hard surface they only need to encrust. Just my experience with favias. I also notice that they do best in shade (at least in my tank) under my 250 watt 14k pheonix and T5 actinics. They bleach out when under direct light even down on the sand (I have a standard 120 gallon tank that is about 24 inches deep) I put them under overhangs and they seem to do best there with just reflected light, but my lower nutrients may attribute to them bleaching faster in higher light as well.

 

[Russellaqua]

I agree 100% with dlandino above. Any and all Favia encrust and are not open brains. Open brains are things like Trachyphyllia/Wellsophyllia, and Symphyllia. Favia, Favites, Goniastrea, Platygyra, etc. will all encrust and are "closed" brains.

 

[SaltWaterDave]

Agreed with everyone above. It will definitely encrust if you put it on some rock. In my experience they take much longer to grow on the sand because they have to form a skeleton instead of encrusting.