SPS help

[mattseattle]

I need help! I have this one challenging coral in my tank that I can not get to color up. I've tried different placement in my tank. Up high, down low and in between. I've tried different flow patterns and all. I have it under 2 x 250w XM 10k's and 2 x 110w Super Blue VHO's. I think I have enough light....maybe a tad much for it. Who knows....

I got the original frag at the Anthony Calfo meeting where we did the coral fragging. I remember it being a purple. The tips and all still are as well as the new growth. It has decent polyp extension and has good growth. I keep my alk and calc stable with my calcium reactor. Alk is 10.2 or so and calc is 430. I do weekly water changes....well sometimes 2 weeks. My nitrates are 0. I haven't seen any red bugs on it but I do have them on a green acro which is across the tank (not that that matters).

Any help would be appreciated.

here is a picture of it taken a few days ago. I don't know if this is an acro or what it is. I didn't write it down when I was at the meeting. Don't scold me for it!

 

[mattseattle]

Everything I've read said it's most likely either high nutrients in my water or low light. I've also read it could be because of low iodine or low magnesium. I know it's not low magnesium since I was using Oceanic. My last Mg reading 2 days ago was 1390. I'm working on bringing that down to 1250 - 1300 using IO.

So the only options left that I can see or high nutrients or lack of light. Thoughts?

 

[WaterDogs]

Hi mattseattle,

Could try bringing the CA from 430 to 450. I think you have enough light. Do a test for stontium I hear Oceanic is low on it?

I'm no expert on Red Bugs but can you treat the whole tank for them?

Dwaine

 

[nbd13]

leave the calcium! it fine heck i knwo people that run it at 400 with great results!

do you haev softies in your tank?

bring your mag down to 1300 and lets see what else could it be? what corals are close to it?

i need some more info on you system water parameters, test and then post them and all the equipment what skimmer are you using?

Nick

 

[DonW]

Matt,
You may or may not have a nutrient issue. The coral looks fine. If its growing good let it be. Your params are fine, changing ca is not going to change color. It going to show different pigments under different bulbs.

Don

 

[mattseattle]

Nope - no sofites. Only thing remotely close to a softie is xenia and a long tentacle anemone which are on the other end of the tank.

Closest coral is a candy cane which you can see in the picture. It's about 4" away.

I am running a Euro-Reef ES5-3 on my 60 gallon tank. I pull some pretty nasty stuff out but not a whole lot. My nitrates are 0 as of 2 days ago.

I try to keep my feedings of the fish relatively low...usually every other day. Sometimes I'll do once a day for a few days but that's rare.

I actually fragged a piece of it off and glued it to a piece of rubble rock. This way I can move a portion of it around without moving the whole thing. Hopefully I'll find a spot that it loves. Crazy corals!

leave the calcium! it fine heck i knwo people that run it at 400 with great results!

do you haev softies in your tank?

bring your mag down to 1300 and lets see what else could it be? what corals are close to it?

i need some more info on you system water parameters, test and then post them and all the equipment what skimmer are you using?

 

[mattseattle]

You are right! of course I just want it to color up nicely!

You may or may not have a nutrient issue. The coral looks fine. If its growing good let it be. Your params are fine, changing ca is not going to change color. It going to show different pigments under different bulbs.

 

[reedman]

It'll color up. I got a piece of it as well and it took quite a while to color up. Now the tips are a dark purple and the base is brown with a tinge of pruple. I am guessing my system has higher nutrients than yours and your lighting is the same as mine. I did notice mine liked being ou of the chaotic flow though. When I first put it in it was in a very high flow area and it didn't do to well. It is now in an are that gets continuous flow, but not high velocity. The polyps are really extending now.

 

[mattseattle]

thanks reed. yeah i think you were in front of me at the anthony calfo meeting getting a frag of it.

i did have it in a relatively high flow area before i redid my aquascaping. now it's in a more relaxed area. i'll just give it time and see what it does.

the tips on mine are a pretty good purple.....and parts of the stalk. the encrusting area is a brownish/tan though. weird....

 

[Macbeth417]

I too have a piece of this exact coral from the same mother colony and have nice head of it now, it is only purple/blue tipped not solid. I found that it becomes tan/brown with lighter purple/blue tips if it has too much light (growth of zooxanthelea being my assumption for the browning at that placement). If you move it down a bit it has nice green with rich blue/purple tips and seem to grow a little faster. I had it up really high for a while and it has done much much better since I moved it down a bit. I also found that it seemed to to better in medium and chaotic flow. Just my experience. Here is a picture of the coral about three days after being taken from the wild colony just to remin you what it came to use looking like

Here is a pitcture of my currect piece of that coral.

Matt was wondering how extensively you checked it for red bugs, because I have another Nanna that is now the color of the one you posted since coming in contact with the bugs.


-Erik

 

[mattseattle]

thanks Erik! so what is the name of the coral?

 

[Macbeth417]

I call him fred. Heh, actually I don't know. I have heard many call it an A. nanna, but I don't know that it is, nor can we can really be sure.

-Erik

 

[Katchupoy]

Have the same one... but my color problem is for the whole of my tank... I dont think it is the light... because I now have 400 watt but still no change... maybe its too early to tell... 4 weeks since update of light...

 

[mattseattle]

Matt was wondering how extensively you checked it for red bugs, because I have another Nanna that is now the color of the one you posted since coming in contact with the bugs.

woops - i didn't even see this part of your post. well i know i have red bugs because i've seen them on a green acro I have. i also plan to treat my tank next week once i get the interceptor. i haven't looked super close at the colony because i can't find my magnifying glass. it's also on a large piece of rock that i can't easily lift out. i took the green acro out of the tank to examine it.

anyway thanks for the pictures. hopefully my colony will color up and continue growing especially once i get rid of the red bugs.

 

[mattseattle]

Have the same one... but my color problem is for the whole of my tank... I dont think it is the light... because I now have 400 watt but still no change... maybe its too early to tell... 4 weeks since update of light...

nice colony - i wished mine was that nice in color. maybe once it gets a little larger it will be.

 

[Katchupoy]

to tell you the truth... Im not satisfied with 400 watt... I think im going back to 175... will give it time I guess....

 

[mattseattle]

to tell you the truth... Im not satisfied with 400 watt... I think im going back to 175... will give it time I guess....

explain..... didn't you just get your 20k bulb a week or so ago? what's wrong with a 400 watter?

 

[Katchupoy]

well, maybe I just cant wait. Nothing is happening... I came from 10k then switched to coralvue 20k...

The question is, is it really the lights? I even just found out that my water salinity is out of wack... thanks to Tamarindthai... He let me borrow his refractometer.... I already ordered one...How foolish of me of overlooking salinity.... Wherein that this might be the reason why my corals are not coloring up... because they are too stressed because of salinity problems. Too stressed to eat food/nutrients because they are too busy compensating for salinity.

Is it the light? or is it the water? we will see...

 

[mattseattle]

i've been reading tons of things on flow, light and water conditions in regards to corals. i think i am doing most things correctly. my alk and calc have been stable for months now, salinity never really swings that much, i do weekly or twice monthly water changes on a regular schedule, i don't overfeed, my flow is good, my lighting is adequate, spacing between corals is good. so......my last thing is red bugs for the 2 corals that are not coloring up. i did notice a red bug on the coral that is in question on this thread. i squinted really close and saw one so there must be more. guess after treatment if it doesn't color up then i'll try something else.

well, maybe I just cant wait. Nothing is happening... I came from 10k then switched to coralvue 20k...

The question is, is it really the lights? I even just found out that my water salinity is out of wack... thanks to Tamarindthai... He let me borrow his refractometer.... I already ordered one...How foolish of me of overlooking salinity.... Wherein that this might be the reason why my corals are not coloring up... because they are too stressed because of salinity problems. Too stressed to eat food/nutrients because they are too busy compensating for salinity.

Is it the light? or is it the water? we will see...

 

[Katchupoy]

well, i checked mine and im sure i dont have any....