T o mount or not to mount.

[EQCM2B]

I got a Candy cane frag about two weeks ago. It is doing better in my tank than at the LFS so I guess I am doing something right. My question is, do I need to glue it to some rock work or can I just lay it in the sand as long as all of the polyps are facing up? This would allow me to move it later when the 250 watt MH is installed.

[davejnz]

You can bury its skelton parrtially in the sand if you like.Another option would to be mount it to a small piece of LR rubble and set the LR rubble/base on the sand.Later you could then mount the LR base to a piece of LR in your aquascape.

[DragnflyGrl]

I would not lay the flesh itself in/on the sand bed. Like davejnz, you can mount in on rubble. or for something temporary, but stable, you can mount it on a good sized shell and place the shell just barely in the sand, acting as a stand. Later you can snap it off the shell and permanently attach it if you've found a suitable place.

Brianna

[EQCM2B]

If I leave it in the sand (all flesh turned upward and good location) will it grow and be alright or should it be attached to a more secure footing?

[DragnflyGrl]

Personally, I would attach it to a shell for a more secure footing, especially if you have crabs and whatnot that roam the tank, because they're bound to knock it over. A piece of rubble would be fine, then burry the rubble in the sand a little, but I prefer to use shells in situations like this. As long as the flesh itself is not in or touching the sand, it will be fine. What lighting do you have??

Brianna

[EQCM2B]

Lighting at this point sucks. I am working on getting a 250 watt MH and some type of actinic supplement to go into a DIY canopy. Corner tanks are a pain when it comes to lighting.

[davejnz]

yeah,corner tanks ca be a pain to light with flourescents because of the short bulb lengths u have to use.A single 250 would be perfect IMO for MH,the Iwasaki6.5k and the XM10k are very bright bulbs.The XM is white while the `saki has a yellowish tint but the `saki has a pretty balanced spectrum from 420nm all thw way too 600ish nanometers.The XM is peaky along the spectrum just like most of all the popular MH bulbs out there.