cyphastrea - encrusting/care/garden/growth

[buttonreefer]

hi everyone,
i have a large arch of live rock that is just empty, and since its an arch, its not the best for placing corals…so i was thinking about trying some cyphastrea. it caught my eye because of the encrusting aspect and vivid colors.
do you think i could make a “garden” of different cyphastrea to encrust over the empty live rock arch? should it just be one type of cyphastrea, not a garden? what’s the growth rate? cyphastrea type suggestions for best color variation? care tips? pictures?
thanks!

 

[tzabor10]

Give it a try. Can’t wait to see your results

 

[crazyfishmom]

hi everyone,
i have a large arch of live rock that is just empty, and since its an arch, its not the best for placing corals…so i was thinking about trying some cyphastrea. it caught my eye because of the encrusting aspect and vivid colors.
do you think i could make a “garden” of different cyphastrea to encrust over the empty live rock arch? should it just be one type of cyphastrea, not a garden? what’s the growth rate? cyphastrea type suggestions for best color variation? care tips? pictures?
thanks!

For the best random colors the skittles bomb is awesome. If you want contrasting colors I would consider a mix of bizarro, jingle bells, and starry night. Would be really beautiful either way. For them to grow from frags you’re probably looking at 9 months to a year for a 2-3 inch perimeter around each frag which is pretty fast growth for most corals.

 

[buttonreefer]

For the best random colors the skittles bomb is awesome. If you want contrasting colors I would consider a mix of bizarro, jingle bells, and starry night. Would be really beautiful either way. For them to grow from frags you’re probably looking at 9 months to a year for a 2-3 inch perimeter around each frag which is pretty fast growth for most corals.

thank you so much for the info! i’m going to check those out right now!

 

[buttonreefer]

i’ll probably make a build thread on this if anyone is interested in checking it out. from placing the order to almost covered. what a cool journey!

 

[crazyfishmom]

i’ll probably make a build thread on this if anyone is interested in checking it out. from placing the order to almost covered. what a cool journey!

Would definitely follow if you did!

 

[vcollins9850]

hi everyone,
i have a large arch of live rock that is just empty, and since its an arch, its not the best for placing corals…so i was thinking about trying some cyphastrea. it caught my eye because of the encrusting aspect and vivid colors.
do you think i could make a “garden” of different cyphastrea to encrust over the empty live rock arch? should it just be one type of cyphastrea, not a garden? what’s the growth rate? cyphastrea type suggestions for best color variation? care tips? pictures?
thanks!

I love the yellow polyps in the bizzaro. Adds a pop of yellow that’s hard to find in most corals. Grows pretty fast once established. No experience with the garden, but most likely like anything else, once they collide one with attempt to grow up and over the other and will have a defined battle line.

 

[Uncle99]

Good low light coral to do that.
Put frags on opposite sides so they have lots of room to encrust.

 

[buttonreefer]

I love the yellow polyps in the bizzaro. Adds a pop of yellow that’s hard to find in most corals. Grows pretty fast once established. No experience with the garden, but most likely like anything else, once they collide one with attempt to grow up and over the other and will have a defined battle line.

yeah, that is a nice yellow pop! definitely like that one! do you think that if I did do a “garden”-type thing, one cyphastrea would completely take over the others over time so that there is just that one left- if so, is it even worth trying the garden?

 

[buttonreefer]

Good low light coral to do that.
Put frags on opposite sides so they have lots of room to encrust.

awesome, thanks! yours looks great!

 

[vetteguy53081]

hi everyone,
i have a large arch of live rock that is just empty, and since its an arch, its not the best for placing corals…so i was thinking about trying some cyphastrea. it caught my eye because of the encrusting aspect and vivid colors.
do you think i could make a “garden” of different cyphastrea to encrust over the empty live rock arch? should it just be one type of cyphastrea, not a garden? what’s the growth rate? cyphastrea type suggestions for best color variation? care tips? pictures?
thanks!

I have a large cyphastrea which has covered its rock it came on and hasnt really spread to another, at least slowly. Should do well. Assure Phos is not elevated

 

[buttonreefer]

I have a large cyphastrea which has covered its rock it came on and hasnt really spread to another, at least slowly. Should do well. Assure Phos is not elevated

cool, thanks!

 

[vcollins9850]

yeah, that is a nice yellow pop! definitely like that one! do you think that if I did do a “garden”-type thing, one cyphastrea would completely take over the others over time so that there is just that one left- if so, is it even worth trying the garden?

Not sure, just my experience with encrusting montis is they tend to try and grow up and over when they meet. Always worth trying, they will still look good as they spread and if you got nothing else for the space why not. I would just have a plan long term for the one you like the most, maybe plant a moveable rock that you could pull once it fully encrusts just in case one gets overrun by another.

 

[buttonreefer]

@crazyfishmom and anyone else who was watching this thread-
starting my cyphastrea garden, arch, and figurines build thread in an hour or maybe the morning. just placed a nice order from TSA. see you soon?!

 

[crazyfishmom]

@crazyfishmom and anyone else who was watching this thread-
starting my cyphastrea garden, arch, and figurines build thread in an hour or maybe the morning. just placed a nice order from TSA. see you soon?!

Awesome! What did you decide to go with?

 

[buttonreefer]

Awesome! What did you decide to go with?

just placed my order

 

[crazyfishmom]

just placed my order

Awesome choices!!!!!

 

[buttonreefer]

super lucky they had a nice sale, i might even go back for some different frags…!!

 

[Lavey29]

Check styloconiella corals to

 

[OrchidMiss]

I have a large area of branching cyphastrea on my back glass, too. That's about 3 years of growth.
Cant wait to see your results.