When I first started keeping a saltwater aquarium, I was looking everywhere for inexpensive live rock (college debt was all-consuming). Down in the rubble bin of a local fish store, I happened across a neat semi-spherical piece. The owner asked $5 for it, which looking back was quite expensive for a 0.5lb piece of rock, but oh well. Little did I know that I would have a beautiful piece originating from a previously dying moon coral.
When I got the piece of “live rock” home, I realized it had about the most pathetic coral remaining on it. I tried to not get my hopes up, and I definitely didn’t see any beauty potential in it. When I placed the rock in the aquarium, the crabs swarmed over it like bees on honey. There apparently was a fair bit of algae on it. And, since this was 2007, there was no quarantine, no dipping, or any other good practice.
Please don’t mind the poor quality photo. This was at some point in 2007 (likely around July/August). I lost the original version somewhere along the way to 2024 (all that remains is a tiny enlarged thumbnail), my camera wasn’t the best, and admittedly, my photography skills were never great from the start.
After a few weeks, it started to extended tentacles, so I fed it. I was new to feeding corals, so it was probably just eating some pellets.
In this embarrassing photo (likely taken around December 2007), please don’t mind the bleached Alveopora and the fake colored blue ridge coral. I learned my lessons.
The coral changed very little from ~July to December 2007 (~5 months), so the change from December 2007 to April 2008 (4 months) still amazes me. During that time I upgraded from power compacts to metal halides, and my system reached over 1 year maturity. (Just look at that coralline!)
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After one year (~July 2008), the coral was not only healthy, but it was also becoming quite beautiful! And, my reefkeeping skills were a lot less terrifyingly bad!
Note the incredible size difference between this photo (~October 2008) and the previous (~July 2008). The coral appeared to double in only about three months.
By late October 2008, there was almost no evidence the coral ever had any issues.
