Bob Moore coral question

[reefjock]

I attended the Bob Moore Frag Swap last month and was fortunate to get one of the Bob Moore frags in the raffle. I also picked up 7 other nice sps frags. All of the corals are doing great except the Bob Moore. I had it on a frag rack where it was getting intense MH light and it started to lose it's color so I have moved it to a spot with less light a few days ago. In addition I have yet to see any polyps! The other sps are extending their polyps and I can see some growth already. Any ideas on what might be happening?

Parameters are;

NO3 0
Ph 8.2
Alk 9
Ca 440
Mg >1500 (had a bryopsis outbreak, but now under control)

(2) 250 MH 14,000K

(2) Tunze 6100 w/ 7095 multicontroller, 1/2 seaswirl and Hydor Evo 1040

90 gal mixed reef

 

[user 26995]

When you say loosing color, was it turning white(bleaching) or brown?
How long is your lighting period?
Could be flow. Is it in direct heavy flow? Real low flow? I think it would like medium to heavy indirect flow.
Do you feed the coral? Sometimes feeding will enchourage polyp extension. Products like oyster feast, coral frenzy are good to feed.
Just some ideas!

 

[reefjock]

Not bleaching but turning a lighter blue. I moved it from heavy indirect flow to medium indirect. I feed mysis, brine, formula 1 and 2 and marine cuisine (ground up in blender per recommendations from Dang). My experience with oyster feast and coral frenzy has had mixed results at best. I have an established refugium with copepods that I believe are better than oyster feast or coral frenzy, but I could be wrong.
Photoperiod is 8 hrs Mh. 10 hrs actinic.

It would be nice if I knew who/where the frag came from so I might be able to replicate it's previous conditions. Do you know where the frags came from?

 

[1guydude]

I hears the bm coral was a brown acro that would turn blue in ppls tanks.

When u say it turned lighter blue...its cuz ur lights arent the same...ur coral imo was fine and needs time
Hths .d

 

[reefjock]

That's interesting cuz I got a big frag of brown acro recently from a guy that had an unusual light setup. He had HomeDepot MH fixtures with regular fluorescent grow lights. That was 3 months ago and the brown acro is now coloring up to a really nice baby blue color.

 

[user 26995]

Your feeding great. Dang is the man to listen to.
Anyway, I think 1guydude is right too. I believe the frags were kept under LED's which will give it a different color than halides. I am sure the color is going to be fine and it may just take some time for it to acclimate to its new set of parameters to polyp out. Sounds like you have been keeping sps for a while and everything else is doing well. You shouldnt have any problems with it.

 

[barrierreefcf]

Closed polyps isn't usually a lighting issue. You might watch really close for a nipping fish or coral pests (AEFW, Red Bugs, etc). Closed polyps isn't always a bad thing but its worth investigating. You can check and see if the polyps come out at night when the fish are resting. That would tell you if its a nipping fish.

 

[barrierreefcf]

At the same time I'm not discounting your light change fears, but like others just think it needs some time to adjust.

 

[reefjock]

At the same time I'm not discounting your light change fears, but like others just think it needs some time to adjust.

Thanks for the input. No polyps at night either and I don't see any sign of bugs. I don't have many fish (3 blue chromis, mated pair of clowns, 1 blue damsel, 1 flame hawkfish, 1 lawnmower blenny, 1 pseudochromis and 1 yellow tang). Not sure if any of the fish are prone to nip a corals but I could be wrong. I think that it's just chillin' for now and needs time to adjust.

BTW. I picked up a nice tabling acro from you at the Bob Moore swap that is doing great! It is a really light greenish blue with green polyps. Its already got new growth. I also got green slimer and it too has good new growth.

 

[barrierreefcf]

Thanks for the input. No polyps at night either and I don't see any sign of bugs. I don't have many fish (3 blue chromis, mated pair of clowns, 1 blue damsel, 1 flame hawkfish, 1 lawnmower blenny, 1 pseudochromis and 1 yellow tang). Not sure if any of the fish are prone to nip a corals but I could be wrong. I think that it's just chillin' for now and needs time to adjust.

BTW. I picked up a nice tabling acro from you at the Bob Moore swap that is doing great! It is a really light greenish blue with green polyps. Its already got new growth. I also got green slimer and it too has good new growth.

Every now and then you get a random Tang that nips, but its not likely. The coral probably just needs time to adjust. Glad to hear the other corals are doing well!