Psammocora Watermelon

[spamvicious]

I was given a small frag of this sps coral and when I placed it in the tank it was more flat, a couple of days later and it’s become more 3d in appearance.

Does it need more or less light? Does anyone know? The colour hasn’t faded it’s just different time of day

 

[IceNein]

I have no personal experience with psammacora, but I think it's always useful to see if Than has a writeup on any coral I'm unfamiliar with on the Tidal Gardens website. Whether or not you buy from him, there's lots of useful information there.

Tidal Gardens - Psammocora Coral Care

Psammocora are an uncommon stony coral in the aquarium trade. Its appearance in many ways resembles other encrusting small polyp stony corals such as Montipora, Leptastrea, Pavona, or Leptoseris.

tidalgardens.com

The images I see definitely have a "3D" growth like you are describing.

 

[Dburr1014]

I was given a small frag of this sps coral and when I placed it in the tank it was more flat, a couple of days later and it’s become more 3d in appearance.

Does it need more or less light? Does anyone know? The colour hasn’t faded it’s just different time of day

I'm a little confused the way you worded your post.
3d? Are you saying it grew some? Well, that's good!

 

[spamvicious]

I'm a little confused the way you worded your post.
3d? Are you saying it grew some? Well, that's good!

I mean like in the first photo you can see more of the green because it was flat. Now you can’t see much of the green, maybe asking if it’s receding is a better word than 3d.

 

[Dburr1014]

I mean like in the first photo you can see more of the green because it was flat. Now you can’t see much of the green, maybe asking if it’s receding is a better word than 3d.

Browning or losing color at first introduction to new system is kinda normal. Your water, lights, ect are different than where they came. It should be short lived and return.

 

[spamvicious]

Just to be clear as I think my first post was confusing.

I had noticed the change in shape from flat to more of a dome and was wondering if that was how the coral grows or I had it in the wrong place in the tank.

When I mentioned not being able to see as much green I meant in relation to the shape changing.

 

[Science/G]

My Watermelon Psammocora is getting probably about 150 par up high near my AI Prime, in fairly strong flow. It took a while to get going, but now, 1 year plus, it looks great.

 

[Dr_Orpheus]

Don't be afraid to give it a good amount of light and flow! They can normally handle a wide variety, but I've noticed they tend to do best in at least moderate flow, if not higher and at least 150 par for better coloration. I have kept small pieces under 300 par and they still did well, but I may have been pushing it as the color sometimes fades slightly. I THINK that one encrusts and makes itself rounded of sorts as well.