What's the BEST coral you've ever owned? Share a photo!

[notsobigtime]

I have a few right now. I really like my hephaestus, sticker shock, and some little shop of horror zoas, but I'm kinda partial to my wwc lineage dragon soul torch or my super nice jawbreaker mushroom. I got a new lense for my phone so hopefully better photos will be coming. Excuse the nasty tank. I was/still fighting an algae bloom after starting feeding. Corals are loving and its though!

 

[TAL]

Ms

Bubbalicious & Baby Bubbs

 

[Tahoe61]

The sps weed Red Planet. Close second is Pink Lemonade.

 

[Rjramos]

Favorite for many reasons!

Many of you have probably seen my favorite coral here on R2R. It’s my 25 year old pearl bubble. I also have a regular bubble that is 24 years old. Together, these are the oldest living things I’ve ever had, even older than my grown kids, now young adults.
Although not the most colorful or expensive coral, it is favorite for many reasons.

First being it’s age and growth. Here is a 1996 picture of a picture, of both the pearl and regular bubbles. I had the pearl bubble for 1 year prior, when I set up my first reef aquarium. I bought these at a LFS here in Miami called Reef Keeper, which shut down many years ago.

Secondly, I have appreciated and give myself a pat on the back for keeping it alive for so long and for its resilient ability to survive.
In the incipient stages of the hobby it lived under Berlin method, lots of live rock and protein skimming. VHO fluorescent bulbs and metal halides were the best lighting back then. I started with 440 watts of VHO, and a chiller to keep things cool. I ran into problems like anyone else has faced in this hobby, hair algae, aiptasias, power outages lasting weeks after hurricanes several times. But still, I never gave up and neither did the corals. The rock base left behind over the years was around 20 inches in 2006 when I moved it to a newly set up 120 gal, where it lives on today. This was the first time I fragged it for a better fit and to pass on to others. Within the security of its walls many clown fish and even a pair of Midas blennies have spawned. 2 years ago, in April, I had to tent my house for termites. Everything in the 120 gal went outside to a dual 60gal frag system I had built. Again, I had to chop it, cause the water was not deep enough to contain it. Again, I passed on and sold some fairly various sized frags.
Lastly, I’ve enjoyed being able to share pieces of this legendary coral with many other reef hobbyist. Here are pieces of it I currently have in my frag system. The first one, got too big for family members tank I set up, and I traded it for a smaller one I had.

Here it is today.

This interior broken skeletal fin from the crest will be cut and form a baby bubble.

 

[MelReefer]

Still a frag but I’m feeling that this will be a stunner someday.

 

[Vette67]

My purple acro. About the size of a volleyball. Grown from a1.5” frag. Took about 4 year’s to get this size.

 

[pdt7361]

This is a tough one for me to say only because I was so proud of this coral and the stupidly lost control of my parameters and let it die.
I bought a single head of dendro and grew it out to 20+ heads...such a nice looking coral. I'll have to see if I can find any pics of it at it's largest.

 

[Kan9]

This would be one of my past favorites but now gone

WOW! Is that a frogspawn? How big was it and what happened to it?

 

[rainmaker]

WOW! Is that a frogspawn? How big was it and what happened to it?

Yes it s a frogspawn and was about the size of a soccer ball
I broke it one day when doing a water change and it slowly went down from there

 

[CoralAddict645]

Got this one as a single head in 2018. Sold about 4 heads during those 2 years. Definitely made all my money back and a few extra grands

 

[Camaro Show Corals]

But do you have the infamous lemon drop BTA? Ok that’s a joke! Don’t attack me people!

My next door neighbor does.... lol JK but I do have a Colorado sunburst.

 

[BighohoReef]

Has to be my Mellow Yellow bounce. This lovely lady came to me by way of a LFS live sale. The first week I had her she started to melt. Fortunately for me she wasn’t melting but was splitting and instead of one bounce I now have three large bounces! Gift that keeps on giving

 

[TAL]

Favorite for many reasons!

Many of you have probably seen my favorite coral here on R2R. It’s my 25 year old pearl bubble. I also have a regular bubble that is 24 years old. Together, these are the oldest living things I’ve ever had, even older than my grown kids, now young adults.
Although not the most colorful or expensive coral, it is favorite for many reasons.

First being it’s age and growth. Here is a 1996 picture of a picture, of both the pearl and regular bubbles. I had the pearl bubble for 1 year prior, when I set up my first reef aquarium. I bought these at a LFS here in Miami called Reef Keeper, which shut down many years ago.

Secondly, I have appreciated and give myself a pat on the back for keeping it alive for so long and for its resilient ability to survive.
In the incipient stages of the hobby it lived under Berlin method, lots of live rock and protein skimming. VHO fluorescent bulbs and metal halides were the best lighting back then. I started with 440 watts of VHO, and a chiller to keep things cool. I ran into problems like anyone else has faced in this hobby, hair algae, aiptasias, power outages lasting weeks after hurricanes several times. But still, I never gave up and neither did the corals. The rock base left behind over the years was around 20 inches in 2006 when I moved it to a newly set up 120 gal, where it lives on today. This was the first time I fragged it for a better fit and to pass on to others. Within the security of its walls many clown fish and even a pair of Midas blennies have spawned. 2 years ago, in April, I had to tent my house for termites. Everything in the 120 gal went outside to a dual 60gal frag system I had built. Again, I had to chop it, cause the water was not deep enough to contain it. Again, I passed on and sold some fairly various sized frags.
Lastly, I’ve enjoyed being able to share pieces of this legendary coral with many other reef hobbyist. Here are pieces of it I currently have in my frag system. The first one, got too big for family members tank I set up, and I traded it for a smaller one I had.

Here it is today.

This interior broken skeletal fin from the crest will be cut and form a baby bubble.

Congratulations on such a wonderful specimen!! You definitely should be Very Proud as the growth over the many years is unrivaled!!

What par does it thrive at? What does it eat?/what do you feed it?

Bless you for such care!!

 

[Rjramos]

Congratulations on such a wonderful specimen!! You definitely should be Very Proud as the growth over the many years is unrivaled!!

What par does it thrive at? What does it eat?/what do you feed it?


Bless you for such care!!

Thank you Tal! I am very proud of this specimen!
Right now it is under 2 reef radiance 120’s that need replacement, and a single 20k 250w radium MH that is located in the middle, in a 120 gal Display.The MH just turns on mid day for 3 hrs. As far as PAR, I have no idea, never checked with any lighting configurations.
Tissue expansion and growth has been better in the past. It has been under this light since November of 2013.
Before LED’s became popular, it was under 2 6500k 250w MH with 4 65w actinic power compacts. I would say that it grew the most under this lighting and the tissue expanded right up to the surface. So it didn’t shy away from this lighting configuration at all. It was under this lighting since 2006, and I probably should have kept it, but like many, I also jumped on the LED bandwagon, lol. It sounded great, less power consumption, no need to replace bulbs every year, and programmable intensity instead of on and off at the same intensity all day. Heat has never been a problem, as the set up has always had a chiller running.
From 1995 to 2006 it was in a 65 gal narrow aquarium (13”), in which the tissue would expand and touch front and back glass. One of the reasons for upgrading to 120 gal.
It was under Ice cap ballasted VHO’s. I started with a 430 ballast and 2 bulbs (220w), one actinic, and one white URI bulb. Then 3 bulbs (330w) one actinic, one 50/50, and 1 white. Then, I had to replace the ballast and went with Ice cap 660 and 4 URI bulbs (440w), 50/50 blue to white. I would say this configuration takes 2nd place for growth and tissue expansion. As mentioned, 13” front to back, 20” across, and all the way to the waters surface. It was time for a bigger tank!
As far as feeding, nothing direct. Whatever I fed the fish, brine, mysis, or pellets, fell into the tentacles and was quickly taken in.
Wow, we’ve come a long way in this great hobby and learned a lot! I still believe that some old practices and methodologies still apply.
A bless up to all.

 

[Jadgrider]

This is by far my favorite! I've added a few since and still can't stop staring at it. Lol

 

[Beth Villmow]

I have lot's of favorites, but my RRC Rainbow Splice is probably it right now:

That is absolutely beautiful!!!

 

[Epic Aquaculture]

That is absolutely beautiful!!!

Thank you!

 

[F i s h y]

Platygyra sp. , One of a few all time favs. The original nub frag at the top and took 2yrs 4 months to get to this point.

I love this looks like lava!

 

[RioPiedras59]

Right now it's a Hodag Monti, actually got a small flat frag from my brother, now it's a craggy monster growing out of control - love it, looks like a sculpture

 

[eidels]

This is by far my favorite! I've added a few since and still can't stop staring at it. Lol

What is that if you don’t mind?