Carnation, Ya i'm trying it...

OK so here's the deal. I bought a carnation coral, which i have herd are extremly difficult to care for, but I've been keeping an established reef for about 2 years now. I have read plenty of articles concerning this coral, and all of them stated that they needed very low light, and quite a bit of flow. The issue is, my nano cube has very high lighting, and very low flow. It also doesn't have any caves or crevices, except in the back where you can't see the thing.

So here's the real question. My FOWLR tank has high flow, and low lighting, with plenty of caves and crevices, and coral friendly fish.The light is a cheap fluorescent, more commonly found on FW tanks, and it stays on about 6-8 hours a day. Would the FOWLR be a better place to stick the carnation? even though it would be the only coral in that tank?

 

depend on the parameters of the two tanks id say.

you have to set up some kind of phyto dosing system if you want that coral to live i think

 

Normally i target feed the important corals, and if not, there is always phyto in my tank for the taking. The parameters are nearly identical, but the nano has a nitrate content of about 5ppm. The FOWLR has none. i'm just nervous of putting a coral in a tank with just a cheap fluorescent.

 

Hey TMV I added an orange carnation a couple of weeks ago and it is doing great--Wide open and very happy, I run it under t-5 lights and reletively high on the reef. I think they gare talking about metal halides being too much. You will probably be fine. My flow is what I would call moderate where this coral is. Just try it and see what happens, it will let you know if it is happy.

 

I have a Red/Strawberry Carnation I added about 3 weeks ago and it is doing great. It is in my RedSea 130D. I have it placed at the bottom, flow medium. Feeding started with phycopure everyday for a couple weeks, then DT's every other day, and 1 drop of iodine per week. I switch between phycopure and DT's on a 30 day cycle.

I have also read about the Carnation being tough to care for but they are cool.

 

I sound like a total idiot saying this, but what do i feed the thing? normally i just allow my corals to filter feed on things like baby brine, marine snow, or plankton, and that has worked fine thus far. but for a carnation? i'm clueless. What is phycopure btw?

 

I posted a link in this thread that might be helpful:

http://www.3reef.com/forums/coral/few-pics-new-frags-64188.html#post612341

 

Well, its my second day with the coral. Found a nice mildly shaded moderate flow area for it, and its doing pretty good. seems healthy. I gave the tank a heavy dosage of Kent Microvert, and i'm hoping that will be enough to keep the coral satisfied. Any tips though? as far as feeding goes?

 

I didn't even think you needed to feed them. Most soft corals are fine with just light.

 

A carnation is Non-photosynthetic. No light needed, just lots of filter food.