Flower pot coral placement

[Flyntex]

I just got this sweet purple flower pot coral yesterday. The previous owner had it for a while and said it did well with high light and medium flow - he was using MH. It looked great when I picked it up, lots of extension.

The skeleton's about the size of a tennis ball.

I've been following his advice, got it near the top with some good flow around it. The polyps are extending on and off, but not like they were yesterday. I'm running Hydra 52s at pretty low power. Water params are all good except magnesium's a bit low, so I'm fixing that now.

Any suggestions on how to get this coral thriving? It's really beautiful and I want to see it do well.

[flynix]

Try moving it down, I think the polyps are a bit too delicate for strong flow. You want to keep them from getting battered around, so low to medium flow should be more suitable. Ideally, you're aiming for just enough flow to gently sway the polyps, not blast them.

[Flyntex]

I've relocated it to the sandbed for the time being, with low flow as you suggested. I'm gonna give it some time, see how it adapts to its new spot.

[swift_man]

I've had mine on rock and they seem to do way better there, personally I think it's a better fit than sand.

[theFoss]

Looking forward to an update on your purple one. I've got a similar issue with a green variety - been trying different spots, lighting, and flow, but still only getting small extensions from the polyp. It's been a month now. I do give it some Reef Roids every now and then, but nothing's really changed yet.

[flame9x]

I've got my yellow one on the sandbed, and it's doing alright with low to medium flow and low light - it's actually in the shade. The top part of the pot didn't fare too well when it was directly under the LED, but now that it's in the shade, I'm starting to see some recovery. I've been feeding it a lot, and that seems to be helping.

[Flyntex]

I'm glad to see the flowerpot's doing alright in its current spot. Low flow and sandbed seem to be working out, no shade needed. About 20% of the polyps are fully extended, the rest are at half. I figure it's still trailblazing, being a new addition and all, so I'm giving it time. Been target feeding phyto a couple times too.

[talonix]

I also have a flower pot coral, and I've found that placing it on the sand bed works best. Mine's in a corner with some flow, but not direct - just enough to keep things moving. I've noticed they can accumulate algae on their polyps, so I make it a point to gently blast them with a baster every now and then.

I've had my original one for about 8 months now, and it's doing great - most people seem to struggle with keeping them this long. I recently got a red one with just three polyps, and it's already grown to 12 or so in a couple of weeks.

[rileyon]

I've found that a medium flow with a bit of turbulence works well for me. It's best when the flow is pulsing, or coming from multiple directions - this way, the polyps get to sway back and forth. What you want to avoid is direct, laminar flow where the polyps are always stretched out to one side.

[anne67]

I had a flowerpot in a similar setup, mid-tank, about a quarter up, and it was thriving in that spot. Anywhere else and it just wasn't the same.