Cubeman
03-06-2012, 05:11 AM
Quite often on this and other forums I'll see people looking for recommendations on "low light" sps. Let me push Psammocora contigua to the top of that list. Not the most colourful coral, mine varies between chocolate brown and light grey depending on how much light it gets. Looks a bit like fuzzy sandpaper and encrusts and grows in small flattened upright nodules that look like malformed moose antlers covered in velvet.
I bought a frag that was originally placed in a stock 14 gallon biocube and it grew well at the bottom of the tank (it was chocolate brown). It was moved to another tank under metal halides about a year later and turned light brown with grey tips in colour. It didn't grow any faster under more light.
I recently moved and had a piece of live rock with some of this coral on that sat in a bucket for 3 months with no light other than the natural light in the room, no water changes, room temp, and just a powerhead to keep the water from stagnating. It remained alive the entire time retaining its brown colour. It's now been placed in its new tank and is showing no ill effects.
Now if only they were all that undemanding!
I bought a frag that was originally placed in a stock 14 gallon biocube and it grew well at the bottom of the tank (it was chocolate brown). It was moved to another tank under metal halides about a year later and turned light brown with grey tips in colour. It didn't grow any faster under more light.
I recently moved and had a piece of live rock with some of this coral on that sat in a bucket for 3 months with no light other than the natural light in the room, no water changes, room temp, and just a powerhead to keep the water from stagnating. It remained alive the entire time retaining its brown colour. It's now been placed in its new tank and is showing no ill effects.
Now if only they were all that undemanding!