Red Planet Acropora

[clancaster23]

I picked up a frag of red planet acropora along with four other frags. This one is the only one that doesn't seem to want to do anything. I had it at the bottom for three days and nothing. Moved it to the middle and after two more days, still looks the same, just bare stalk. Maybe a little peeking out of the polyps but nothing encouraging. Should it take this long for it to adapt? I have a power head pretty much pointing right onto it and it's in the middle of the tank. Any tips on how to help this thing out? I'll put up a pic in a bit to show what I'm talking about.

 

[noy]

They are slow grower in my experience. I don't know if a direct flow is the best for it. It just takes time. Take your time light acclimating it - a lot of frags come green and take time to color up. If your water chemistry is good (nitrates/phosphates/calcium/alk) you will start getting good polyp extension. That's a good sign. I find that they encrust substantially before showing any real growth. I posted 2 pics - the first one is from May 2013 - that's how I got my frag when I mounted it. The second is from today. That's about 4 months of growth - not exactly fast compared to other SPS.


IMG_1201

 

[Sakura2282]

Maybe it just need more time to fully acclimate to your tank. I will keep it in the middle of the tank for now with moderate water flow. But I'm not an expert.

 

[clancaster23]

Yeah, mine does have a green color to it. I don't want to take a pic of it with just actinics on and I'm not home while the halides are on so a pic may have to wait til the weekend. Maybe by then it'll wake up.

 

[fastrd400]

I'd acclimate it on the sand bed at first, just like anything else. It will do best between 1/2 to 3/4 of the way up the tank. They all can and will have a green base. Depending upon the placement they will turn more green (lower in the tank) or more of a deep red (higher in the tank).