Heliopora

[theJ]

I read the polyps don't come out often on these guys, so here are some pics for documentation purposes Click to zoom! Sorry for the bad pics heh!

 

[kevinpo]

Hi Jerrod,
Very nice! Please take a picture of the cut area to show the bright blue center if you can.

Heliopora coerulea Is a very unique coral in that it is one of the very few stony reef building Octocorals. In the reef keeping hobby Octocorals usually bring to mind Green Star Polyps, Xenia, Toadstool Leathers, Clove Polyps, and other corals with eight tentacles on the polyps.

H. coerulea loves high light and flow. It will grow inches from a 400W halide. It is very tolerant of a wide range of lighting and flow types. It can also withstand much higher water temperatures than most corals with a stony skeleton (as high as 89F). It is a ancient coral that is the only member of its Family (Helioporidae), and its Genus (Heliopora).

The bright blue skeleton used to be sold for aquarium decorations (maybe still is?). The coral extracts iron from the surrounding water then oxidizes it to a blue salt and deposits it in its skeleton. It will occasionally shed a waxy coating like other soft corals such as leathers. It is non toxic and not overly aggressive.
A good beginner coral that IMO is quite interesting and highly recommended for most reef tanks.

Regards,
Kevin

 

[packer]

Thanks for the info Kevin, I got one from my LFS a few months back. He had one in his display tank and it looked great. The one I purchased had no polyps showing, but was a great blue color. It never showed polyps and then was covered in brown algae in a few weeks (not cyno). After your description, I now know I bought a "skeleton" for my tank. Live and learn, I thought I had the better deal going as LFS one was white in color and mine was a great blue color!! Glad it was only a $20 piece.

 

[kevinpo]

In the 80's the coral skeletons sold for as much as live corals today. To keep the blue color we used to soak the skeleton in a bucket of water with a cup of bleach once a month I still have those pieces but now just let them become encrusted.

Regards,
Kevin