Thanks Michael,
I dont' have any covers on my tank at all and have fans set up to blow
out the heat from the hallides. Why are chillers so darn expensive? I
could buy a new fridge for that much easily (mine is 25 years old).

I've found some chillers on ebay for $750 new but am very wary about
buying that way especially something worth as much as that. I've bought
stuff for my freshwater tanks there but I knew more about what i was
buying and the values were all under $25.

2 grand was supposed to get me setup with this tank but so far I've
already spent more than $3000 (Australian).

The first 6 days I had the coral it was opened up fine and the temp was
around 25/26°C. On day 7 it closed up for about 6 days and the temp was
the same. I think it's open more than it isn't but is it normal for it
to shut at night? I can see no discolouration so far or marks or spots.

Thanks for your help.


Michael Lawford wrote:
Hi - not sure why only the one coral is doing that but I have had a few of
my corals die of in patches and stay closed because the water was too hot.
I find corals like 25 degrees C - anything over 27 and they start to close
and discolour. I found that taking away the cover glass over a few of my
corals also helped - they got more direct light.

I would just try and move it around until it finds a place it likes.
Otherwise save up and buy a chiller - they really are worth it if you want
to keep good coral.

~m


"miskairal" mehiding@Oz wrote in message
u...

Hi all,

I bought a leather coral on the 6th December and it keeps opening and
closing a lot. Sometimes it is open for days and then closed for days and
at other times it is open during the day and closed at night. It has shed
a mucous type stuff a few times which sort of looks like when you peel
from sunburn. The corals that came on the live rock are all fine, in fact
they are spreading/growing well. Is this normal behaviour for a leather
coral?

I increased the water movement around it after it's 2nd week here which
made no difference and increased the metal hallide lighting by an hour a
day. It looks great when it opens.

My Calcium level is still at 600 and my tank is only a few months old. All
other tests are normal, Ammonia, Nitrites and nitrates 0, Phosphates 0, SG
1.023 and pH is 8.4. Temps here in Oz have been hotter than normal but
until a couple of days ago the tank never got over 29°c and then it just
touched on 30 for one day. The first few weeks I had it the temps were
around 26/27C. I really don't want to spend $1000 on a chiller.

I only have a young pair of ocellaris clowns, a pair of pyjama cardinals
and a coral beauty in a 700 litre tank along with a coral banded shrimp
and an unidentified crab.

Is there something I should be doing or is this normal behaviour (or
normal behaviour for a newly moved coral)?

Thanks for any advice.
miskairal