Open Brain Coral Question

[CatchAndRelease]

Hi,

My first saltwater tank has finished cycling and I've just added my first coral frag, an orange-purpleish polyp. It's been in my tank two days and seems to be doing well.

My LFS has some small open brain coral (very bright green) that I was also going to get, but from what I understand they should be placed on sand instead of LR. The problem lies in the fact that I am using crushed aragonite, not sand. Would it be ok to place the open brain coral on the aragonite or should I just avoid this coral without sand?

I've seen pictures (even on this site) and youtube videos of open brain coral being placed on LR, so I'm not sure if it would be safe for me or not, any opinions would be appreciated, thanks.

 

[steelhealr]

Hi,

My first saltwater tank has finished cycling and I've just added my first coral frag, an orange-purpleish polyp. It's been in my tank two days and seems to be doing well.

My LFS has some small open brain coral (very bright green) that I was also going to get, but from what I understand they should be placed on sand instead of LR. The problem lies in the fact that I am using crushed aragonite, not sand. Would it be ok to place the open brain coral on the aragonite or should I just avoid this coral without sand?

I've seen pictures (even on this site) and youtube videos of open brain coral being placed on LR, so I'm not sure if it would be safe for me or not, any opinions would be appreciated, thanks.

Open brains have extremely delicate membranes/tissue. They can exist fine on LR HOWEVER, if they are knocked off or fall, they damage can be devastating. Since the skeleton of a coral is composed of calcium, I am not sure why you wouldn't/couldn't put it on the sand bed. I kept mine there. Keep in mind that they can have short tentacles so give them space and still supplement occasionally with mysid or brine. SH