Favia Brain Help.

Just recently got a Favia Brain and added it to my tank. Needed a little help with placement with my T-5 lights and with feeding. Do I spot feed them and when should I do that?

Also, any help and tips for these corals that you guys could through my way would be awesome. Thank you.

Here are some pics.

 

I am here with all the answers to any questions you have...

for placement, they are pretty forgiving, however they like to be placed low like on the sand bed or just above it on a little rock. They like little or low flow.

To spot feed you will have to either turn all of your pumps or put some type of container around the coral to make it a no flow area... they usually take about 10 or 20 minutes to pull in food (mysis/brine/cyclops/anything meaty like that) with their feeder tentacles. Just allow the food to rest on the coral and it will pull it into its mouths.

Heres a picture of mine... it grows like a weed lol

 

I have to say I am speechless to how beautiful yours looks! Wow just wow, how big was it when you bought it and how long did it take to grow that large?

Here is where I moved it to, does this look alright there to you? When should I try feeding this bad boy since I just added it to my tank today?

 

well it was actually pretty decent sized... i just fragged it in HALF last month to give my dad a nice looking coral for his tank

but your new placement will probably be good... just watch how its skin reacts to your lights, here is how you know what its feeling like:
1. Under intense metal halides the green centers will be deeper and the brown skin will be raised up really high (mine is under halides)
2. Under t-5 it will be more flat looking and will be mostly smooth across the surface, no "valleys and mountains" like in my picture

for feeding, it may take a few times to adjust to eating when you feed it... but it will eventually get the hang of it and readily accept your food. Just watch that your fish dont steal the food while its sitting on top of the favia

 

if you need anything more im always happy to help!

 

Will it begin to attach itself to my rock or will it just lay on top? Should I be adding more than just Calcium supplements to my tank for it?

 

well try to maintain your calcium between 400-500 ppm and it will happily build skeleton.

for attaching, it will just keep growing out from there in all directions and the skeleton will keep attaching to the rock underneath it. make sure it is in the spot you want it in because in a few months once the skeleton attaches it will be too hard to remove

 

Alrighty sounds good thank you. Is purple up a good thing for calcium? That is what I have been doing.

Also, should I start trying to spot feed tomorrow? When I do this do I just take my turkey baster and squirt the mysis shrimp all around the heads? How do I know when they have enough?

Could you take a pic of what they look like under normal lights if you can?

 

yes just gently squirt the mysis on the heads so that it rests on top and doesnt go anywhere for a few minutes. You may have to make a blockade (i use a tubberware dish) if you still have the cleaner shrimp because they typically steal the food. tomorrow is fine to start feeding... i do it about once a week then.

and for the calcium, if you do water changes it should keep your calcium up. Purple up adds a little calcium but mostly iodine and magnesium (its not needed IMO). Calcium dosing is mainly for tanks that have LOTS of corals and mainly sps or other major calcifying corals

 

Yeah I do about 6 gallon water changes every week and it is a 29 gallon tank.

I'll start feeding tomorrow and let you know how it goes. Will I see the tiny tentacles come out when I put the food on it?