Elegance Coral lighting vs. Ca/Alk/Mg
 

Just wondering about other owner's experience wth Elegance coral? I have an elegance coral that went from Halides to LED and I started it at bottom and after a bit it seemed to be receeding, shedding its guts and losing its color to almost milk. I first moved it up for more light and after no change (in fact getting worse) I moved it to 'shade' and the bottom of the tank (24in) and it seems to be recovering. I thought it was a goner!

I thought that going from halide to LED would be no problem but I am starting to wonder if the spectrum change is giving them too much of a 'boost'. Water quality has been excellent except I have raised my Mg and Alk to be better in line with my Ca. That definitely promoted the purple/grey corraline algae as well! Look forward to any owner comments on this animal.

elegance corals need dirty water to survive like gonipora

+1 They should not be imported by LFS

You may find this an interesting read

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-01/eb/index.php

I've had an Australian Elegance for nearly 9 months now. It has put on considerable skeletal growth in that time under indirect 250W MH, low to moderate flow, frequent target feeding (bits of krill or silverside several times a week) and 'optimal' water chemistry levels. I target Ca 420, Alk 9, Mg 1400, NO3 0 and PO4 0 but usually my Ca, Alk and Mg are higher.

From what I've read of them they should simply not be collected out of Indonesia. In most cases the Australian turn out to be healthy and hearty like they all used to be many years ago. What I typically hear is if they're destined to die they do it almost right away shortly after being imported. Where as Gonipora tend to die after a year or so due to some nutritional deficiency... That seems to be the general consensus.

I actually went so far as to frag mine two weeks ago. So far the three sections are doing well but I want to wait until they've made a full recovery before I share my pictures and observations.

Cool link, very interesting.

I don't buy this. Mine has been in a LNS for 8 months and is very healthy. I think most elegance deaths are due to improper care ie low alk

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From what I've read of them they should simply not be collected out of Indonesia. In most cases the Australian turn out to be healthy and hearty like they all used to be many years ago. What I typically hear is if they're destined to die they do it almost right away shortly after being imported. Where as Gonipora tend to die after a year or so due to some nutritional deficiency... That seems to be the general consensus.

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How do I determine Aussie vs. Indo variety???

Could you define 'dirty' water specifically? What parameters are you referring to?

Visually you cant tell for sure. However a lot of the Indo elegance are collected as small free-living colonies and have a small cone shaped skeleton. While many of the Aussi elegance are cut from much larger colonies and have a wall shaped skeleton with flat broken or cut areas. The best way to know is to be told from a trustworthy retailer.

Elegance coral apparently live in turbid sea grass areas of a reef which is why many believe that they need nutrient enriched water. However I think most would agree that even the cleanest tanks are still much 'dirtier' than a healthy reef.