Eric Alvarado Posted January 2, 2011 Share Posted January 2, 2011 Working on my wish list for my tank as it matures. Ever since I first set eye on the Elegance Coral, I have to admit I have been extremely tempted by it. I have a lot of threads on them, and have found that they used to be considered pretty hardy, but now are considered pretty hard to maintain. Won’t get into all the various debates about the problems with the species, but would like to see if anyone has one and what kind of lighting/water movement they had with them. Health: What I found, is that they are typically harvested from either Australia or Indonesia. The Indonesian one has had a high death rate reported, as it seems they are undergoing some malady when placed in an aquarist tank. Others report more success with Australian varieties, but still also report they can be challenging. Compatibility: Also, have found that they will commit mass murder of snails in the tank – quickly grabbing and consuming any snail that gets within reach. Clowns: have had some people say they irritated the elegance coral other say they have no problems. My questions are: What success have people had with these corals. Do they know if they were the Indonesian variety or the aussie? Does anyone know if there would be any chemical incompatibilities with other corals. I have read much about some corals being incompatible with other corals in the same closed ecosystem. Any success/failures with clowns and elegance in their systems? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesL Posted January 2, 2011 Share Posted January 2, 2011 I have no experience with elegance corals, but I do with clowns. And I think it comes down to the type of clown. I have a maroon and a pink skunk in my 75g. The skunk does not try to host in anything. The maroon on the other hand, has tried to host in almost every single coral in the tank when it did not have an anemone. It has hosted frogspawn, duncans, zoas, candy canes, you name it. It bothered the duncans so much that they closed up for a month. Since the clown now has an anemone, the duncans have reopened, and are eating like pigs, but their tentacles are really short now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pbnj Posted January 2, 2011 Share Posted January 2, 2011 I bought an Elegance from someone on ARC. Looks like an Aussie. He had it for 6 months and I've had it for over a year. The guy who sold it to me did so because his Perculas were harassing it, but I have Clarkii clowns with no issue. The Elegance started to detach from its skeleton -- as many do -- a while back (I suspect it was the placement relative to the wavebox I was using) and I thought it was a gonner, so I used a siphon hose to split it. The half or so that remained attached has been thriving for months. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wizardx322 Posted January 2, 2011 Share Posted January 2, 2011 (edited) My friend got one from aquadome and i hosted it for him in my 90 gal and it did super well. i read that elagance likes low flow and also needs alot of space so i put it on the farthest left of my tank where there isnt as much flow and it did well for the months it was in my tank and i had to keep moving coral away from it cuz it just kept expanding. my clowns would play in it once in a while but like the rbta's more. If you get one be prepared to lose some of your sand bed real estate. lol Edited January 2, 2011 by wizardx322 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Alvarado Posted January 2, 2011 Author Share Posted January 2, 2011 My friend got one from aquadome and i hosted it for him in my 90 gal and it did super well. i read that elagance likes low flow and also needs alot of space so i put it on the farthest left of my tank where there isnt as much flow and it did well for the months it was in my tank and i had to keep moving coral away from it cuz it just kept expanding. my clowns would play in it once in a while but like the rbta's more. If you get one be prepared to lose some of your sand bed real estate. lol How do you think it would fair in a 55g? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wizardx322 Posted January 2, 2011 Share Posted January 2, 2011 (edited) My friend got one from aquadome and i hosted it for him in my 90 gal and it did super well. i read that elagance likes low flow and also needs alot of space so i put it on the farthest left of my tank where there isnt as much flow and it did well for the months it was in my tank and i had to keep moving coral away from it cuz it just kept expanding. my clowns would play in it once in a while but like the rbta's more. If you get one be prepared to lose some of your sand bed real estate. lol How do you think it would fair in a 55g? it might be ok in a 55 but I wouldn't put one in just because it does need/ take up alot of room. but if you do get one just think like if you would look at an anemone they look smaller in the store and when you get it home if its happy it way bigger. Edited January 2, 2011 by wizardx322 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whit Posted January 2, 2011 Share Posted January 2, 2011 Went to aquadome Friday and Hunter had a gorgeous one there. He sold it to a guy that was there while we were. He said they're definately NOT a beginner coral. They're finicky. If you have time run down and talk to him about them. He seemed to have some experience with them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caferacermike Posted January 2, 2011 Share Posted January 2, 2011 I've had several and won't be buying anymore. I can't get over how nice they look, argghhh. I would get them and most would last about 3 months. I'd get some recommendations from others and try again. I did have some success years ago with 1 specimen. After 8 months I decided to get another one with different colored tips. Well my maroon, that never once noticed to original elegance, immediately set to the task of eating the ends off the new elegance. It was gone by the morning. Next day it had killed the original elegance as well. Totally freak deal. If you have any other LPS established within your tank I would seriously consider not getting an elegance. When they die, and seriously it can be within hours of placing it in your tank, they tend to get what is known as "brown jelly disease". Basically they turn to mush. This mush can quickly foul your water parameters leading to algae outbreaks or worse. The melt down seems to move to other LPS as well. They in turn die off. All this death can irritate other corals in the tank starting a chain reaction that can be difficult to stop. So if you add one at the moment it looks bad, you should remove it before it has a chance to pollute the tank. This is the same advice for new anemones as well. Worst case is you place it in a bucket of salt water and see if it settles down or dies off. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toxiq Reef Posted January 2, 2011 Share Posted January 2, 2011 id have to say.. elegance corals are one of the hardest to keep.. period Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+cyrus Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 I have one indo under 400w 14k and one aussie under 250w 14k. Both have done well in my tank and I have had them for well over 6 months. The aussie came from aqua sd and the indo came from ocean in a box i believe. The indo one people have more trouble with and the only reason I got it was the low auction price. When I got it it was a huge surprise! Literally, the skeleton was no bigger thatn 2" and it plumed out to about 10". It has very long tentacles and resembles a bta or lta to the untrained eye. While it lacks stunning color I favor it over the one I paid over a buck for lol. I have had no trouble keeping them but that could well be due to the size of my system. As for the clowns I have 12 and the love to host the elegances. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wizardx322 Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 eric, my friend might sell his elagence if he does i will let you know. what kind of lights do you have i had it under 150w mh and t5's, i have a 90 gal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Alvarado Posted January 4, 2011 Author Share Posted January 4, 2011 eric, my friend might sell his elagence if he does i will let you know. what kind of lights do you have i had it under 150w mh and t5's, i have a 90 gal. I have 4x65k T5s. I would be interested if he wishes to part with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+cyrus Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 I do believe that mh are key with this coral Eric. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Alvarado Posted January 4, 2011 Author Share Posted January 4, 2011 I do believe that mh are key with this coral Eric. I read pretty extenisvely that these were medium light, and that too much lighting was definately a problem. Don't have any links at the moment, but that's why I posted this thread about water movement and lighting success with the elegance Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Alvarado Posted January 4, 2011 Author Share Posted January 4, 2011 I do believe that mh are key with this coral Eric. I read pretty extenisvely that these were medium light, and that too much lighting was definately a problem. Don't have any links at the moment, but that's why I posted this thread about water movement and lighting success with the elegance Although, I had almost forgotten that I don't think my tank is large enough for an elegance. So facinated in these guys that I am already keeping my eye out for a 90-120 G. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+cyrus Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 I'm just letting you know what works. You also read much about people losing them. I haven't and mine are under strait halides and medium flow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Alvarado Posted January 4, 2011 Author Share Posted January 4, 2011 I'm just letting you know what works. You also read much about people losing them. I haven't and mine are under strait halides and medium flow. Gotcha, looks like MH at some point on that second tank. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timfish Posted January 8, 2011 Share Posted January 8, 2011 Here's 2 jpegs of an Elegance I have in one of my tanks. One jpeg shows It's location on the bottom forefront just right of center. It gets heavy flow from a Tunze Turbelle 6060 that's about 5 feet away on the left side. The other jpeg shows the growth in about 28 months (starts at the thin line between the mustard colored sponge and new white skeleton). Interestingly it varies and is not consistent across the skeleton. It's getting about 8000 lux and is about 40" under a 250w Ushio 14K (these tests as 12K) HQI MH in a Lumenmax Elite fixture with a Phoenix 14K on one side and a Phoenix 20K on the other. The colors faded almost immediately on introduction and has stayed about the same for over two years. Based on the subdued colors I would expect one to do well under a lot less light than this one is under. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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