What has been your coral NEMESIS?!?

[TopShelfAquatics]

Mine has always been blastos, can keep merlettis but not welsi. At least for very long, get maybe a year or year and a half out of em at most and they slowly wither away. Even feeding them twice a week and I've tried about every combination of light and flow you can think. I've heard many times they don't like a lot of light and I don't blast them but then you'll see them in someone's tank next to their acros and they're doing fine. Idk. Mostly it just makes me sad bc they are my favorite coral and I can't seem to keep em. Even set up a dedicated 90 gal a few years back to house just them and there is currently not even 1 in there lol. I seem to have the best luck on the higher side of low light with lower random flow but can still never seem to keep them long term. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. And thanks for listening to me ramble haha

Blastos can definitely be tricky. For us they have always done best in pretty low light and at most medium flow. They definitely don't like clean water. We get the best color around 15 to 20 nitrate. Also we have seen that some inverts like peppermint shrimp will go after them at times also Copperband butterflys will nip at them as well. They are definitely amazing corals! Don't give up you'll find that sweet spot.

 

[TopShelfAquatics]

I have never been able to keep blastos alive. No matter how well everything else is doing in the tank blastos die on me in a few weeks.

How are the nutrients in your tank?

 

[SpyC]

How are the nutrients in your tank?

This was in a tank from 12 years ago so I don’t recall the exact numbers, but po4 and nitrates were essentially 0. Biopellets craze and ulns got the best of me haha. I have yet to try them again in new tanks. Afraid of them lol.

 

[yanetterer]

Ricordea are one of my favorites. I’ve tried them in every tank under PC, T5, MH, and LED, low nutrients, high nutrients, feeding, no feeding, it doesn’t matter, nearly 15 years of trying and they all eventually wither away. Fingers crossed, I have a Florida that is doing fine after about 6 months so maybe I’m finally getting lucky, although the Yuma a couple inches away is shrinking.

Another favorite are Trachys. Weirdly enough, no problems with the flat bottomed Indo kind, but the pointy bottomed Aussies have all died within a few months. This has happened even when I’ve had both side by side.

 

[TopShelfAquatics]

This was in a tank from 12 years ago so I don’t recall the exact numbers, but po4 and nitrates were essentially 0. Biopellets craze and ulns got the best of me haha. I have yet to try them again in new tanks. Afraid of them lol.

Oh I would bet the ultra low nutrients were your problem. They definitely do not do well in super clean water. You should give them another shot! They are super cool corals!

 

[TopShelfAquatics]

Ricordea are one of my favorites. I’ve tried them in every tank under PC, T5, MH, and LED, low nutrients, high nutrients, feeding, no feeding, it doesn’t matter, nearly 15 years of trying and they all eventually wither away. Fingers crossed, I have a Florida that is doing fine after about 6 months so maybe I’m finally getting lucky, although the Yuma a couple inches away is shrinking.

Another favorite are Trachys. Weirdly enough, no problems with the flat bottomed Indo kind, but the pointy bottomed Aussies have all died within a few months. This has happened even when I’ve had both side by side.

The Floridas have always been hardier for us, hopefully yours will grow nicely. With Trachys we have always found the Aussie variety to be much more sensitive. When definitely pretty low lighting bordering on shading. I have one in my personal tank and the moment I try to put it where it gets direct light it shrinks right up. It lives happily shaded underneath my big torch.

 

[StatelineReefer]

Definitely got a laugh from this one! Is all your other SPS doing well?

Not in my tank, not right now anyways. I moved in April and am just now getting tanks back up and running, maybe this time I'll have more success, we'll see. Got 4 starter crayons in my 60, 120's livestock is all ready to come back to me, minus a maricultured colony that didn't like the new tank.

 

[kingoftheHiLLpeople]

Euphyllia and its relatives.

 

[TopShelfAquatics]

Not in my tank, not right now anyways. I moved in April and am just now getting tanks back up and running, maybe this time I'll have more success, we'll see. Got 4 starter crayons in my 60, 120's livestock is all ready to come back to me, minus a maricultured colony that didn't like the new tank.

Hopefully this go around everything will do amazing for you!

 

[TopShelfAquatics]

Euphyllia and its relatives.

What typically happens with them?

 

[Planted Reef]

Mine would be acans. Especially red. A week or two in my tank and they inevitably turn orange. Red and blue when purchased and they turn orange in my tank. Any ideas? I recently bumped my lighting down thinking that might help but no. Even stuck them in a shaded spot. Still turn orange.

 

[reefandriver]

Amazeballs goniopora. Other goni’s seem to do well. Mai Thais, Ora red, etc. Ive been through no less than a half dozen frags of these pricy little sob’s.

 

[Alexopora]

Xenias and gsp Ashamed that I can keep anything from acros, monti to hammers, micromussas but struggle with Xenia and GSP. They all just shrivel and melt.

 

[cancun]

For me any kind of Tenus.....I have a mixed reef, mostly LPS....Torches, frogspawn, and hammers. SPS staghorn, monties, large Spongode colony...

Nitrates 5 to 10
Phosphates 0.03
Alk 9.5
Calcium 440
Temp 80

 

[HBtank]

What is that one coral that you have always just struggled with? Maybe it does't grow well for you, won't color up the way you want it to or just flat out dies in your system? We grow hundreds of different species here at our farm and it can definitely be tricky to find a balance that makes everything from softies to the pickiest of SPS corals happy. Over the years we have found a pretty good balance. With that said I have to admit Orange Passion has always been the nemesis of our farm. We often joke about it just not liking us.

We have a new colony that luckily is taking off so hopefully soon we can declare that we have defeated our nemesis and will have some awesome frags available to everyone.

So what is your nemesis??

How did you finally get it going good? What was the secret? I have a new frag of it

 

[HBtank]

My nemesis has been Zoas, but I am seeing a turnaround with nitrate dosing.

 

[Yellowjacket]

I can’t keep Goni‘s alive for more than a month. They start out strong then retract and slowly wither away. Nitrates are constant at 5.0 and Phosphates I try to keep at .10. I try them in medium and low light and medium flow. Nothing seems to work. My Duncan’s, elegance and torch are doing well.

 

[Sailaway]

I’d have to say aiptasia, I can just never keep those suckers alive. They never reproduce and are SO easy to kill.

 

[SFFrag]

Elegance corals. Have only tried two and both appeared to get some sort of infection. Acropora, Stylophora, zoas, alveopora, and torches have all done fine in the tank.

 

[TopShelfAquatics]

Mine would be acans. Especially red. A week or two in my tank and they inevitably turn orange. Red and blue when purchased and they turn orange in my tank. Any ideas? I recently bumped my lighting down thinking that might help but no. Even stuck them in a shaded spot. Still turn orange.

Acans can definitely be tricky. If they are freshly imported specimens it is almost a certainty that they will change colors. We see it happen here at our farm as well We try to hold on to them for a while to see what their color will be in an aquarium setting before listing them. With that said we have also found that different kinds of lights can cause different color morphs as well.