SPS color

[fishbait]

how long does it normally take for sps to get their color back? I bought a really cool acropora a week ago. the lfs had it for three days before I purchased it. It was starting to color up in just the three days it was there. after the hour and a half car ride from the lfs to my house it was white as a ghost. it's barely got any color to it all after 1 week. just a hint of blue on the tips, and a hint of green on the polyps. Is this pretty much standard procedure on acro? how long before I should expect it to color before thinking somethings wrong?

 

[fatman]

Most SPS take around 4 weeks to settle in, if they like the lighting intensity and water flow velocity where you placed them. If you have strong lights it is best to shade them with at least three layers of fiberglass screen across the top of your tank and remove one layer every one week to ten days. The more movement and changes they go through the longer it takes for them to stabilize. Also a hard corals coloration is dependent on the intensity and spectrum of your lighting. You may not get the same coloration that the LFS got from the same piece of coral. A better indication of how well your coral is settling in is the amount of its polyp extension. Check this when the lights are out. Full extension is best.

 

[fishbait]

the lfs had it under a single halide. the light was moved to the back of the tank, and the frag was setting at the front of the tank and on the bottom. I have it setting under t-5's, about 2/3 up in the tank. it has a little polyp extension during the day. and I haven't noticed it being any better at night.

 

[fishbait]

I suck at photography. but, here's the best pic of it that I could get.

 

[Oscarsdad608]

So you don't have a camera. No picture here.

 

[fatman]

All you can really do is provide its needs as best you can and wait. T5's are not really intense lights, so other than good chemical parameters and adequate circulation there is nothing to do but wait. They do like typically more than moderate, nearly a high flow, meaning a heavy flow past them just not pointed directly at them if it is a strong velocity flow. Something like a return nozzle pointed at the front glass of the tank right in front of it would suit it best. I would just say two or three moves at least in a short period of time ( fragger to wholesaler, then to retailer, then to you) is more than to the corals liking. Being a fragged coral it is probably quite a few generations from wild so it should be very hardy and should come out of its funk soon. Just watch to make sure its under skeleton of calcium does not start showing at its tips.

 

[yote]

Acros will do great under T-5s.But like Fatman said,you'll have acclimate it to the light.I've bleached every single SPS coral I've added because I placed it up to high on the rock.
It may take it 3 or 4 weeks to color back up.
Great looking frag though.

 

[fishbait]

So you don't have a camera. No picture here.

what? can you not see the pic?

 

[fishbait]

I have him under some pretty good flow. the sump returns (with nozzles) are aimed at the center glass in front of him. I can see his polyps randomly swirl in the current. I'll just have to wait it out and see what happens. I guess i'm being a little paranoid because this is my first acro.

 

[Oscarsdad608]

I have the picture now sorry for the scare. I have heard that t5 will bleach corals because the par is different. I have bleached them coming from a tank with 800 watts of halide to my vho and pc combo. I am getting halides soon.

 

[fishbait]

I did flip the lights on for a second this morning. he seems to have awesome polyp extension when the lights are out. so, I guess he's pretty healthy. I'll just have to wait it out for him to color back up.

 

[fatman]

:bounce: Fiberglass screen is cheap and easy to handle, it is well worth the effort and can do no harm even if not needed. Just drape it over the top of the tank in layers and remove it one layer at a time. Corals deal with that method of light acclimation a lot better than being moved a round the tank. Eventually, if your really anal or serious about reef keeping with SPS you will get a LUX meter and will test the LUX reading at the location of purchased corals and place it in your tank in an area with the same LUX reading. :^:

 

[fishbait]

what do you mean "if" I get anal and serious about reefkeeping. my wife says I allready am. sadly, I'll have to agree! I'll put the lux meter on my list. along with the ph meter, the calcium meter, the par meter, the.........:)

 

[yote]

Dont forget the magnesium kits,phosphate photometer,phosphate reactor.

 

[fishbait]

doh, I totally forgot. A phoshreactor IS on my want list right now. soon as I get my wavemaker and mj mods.

 

[fatman]

I keep thinking about a Calcium reactor but the cost of the complete set up keeps me mixing Kalkwasser. Plus a Calcium reactor doesn't allow me to precipitate phosphate and heavy metals before their introduction into the tank like Kalkwasser does. I would rather control and eliminate phosphate introduction than become dependent on a phosphate reactor. I can usually get along without phosphate absorber unless adding live rock or live sand or cycling a new tank. Then I have to deal with the leaching of phosphate from rock and substrate, But thats OK because I can remove it when it is in solution with a phosphate absorbent such as ferric oxide (PhosBan or equivalent) not an aluminum based remover. I have at least a dozen never been used Maxi-Jets. I keep trying to tell myself I am going to put up a couple dedicated frag tanks and thereby use them. It makes their staring at me not quite so bad to think about frag tanks. I still have two new, in the box, wave makers. Oh, you would not even believe the number of boxes of plumbing parts and pieces and reef stuff and stuff and stuff that I have accumalated. You forgot (on your wish list) the refractometer, calcium monitor, pH monitor, dissolved oxygen meter, and CO2 meter. Good thing I do not have a wife, kids or girlfriend to spend my money on. Not that I have anything against any of them as I have had a lot of all of them, but it is nice to not have to account for my spending on reef stuff. Still having reagent problems with my Hanna phosphate photometer. The lab coordinator at school is soon getting new reagents though. Hanna has not been very good at stocking and supplying fresh reagents (Just in case your serious about buying a phosphate photometer). Hanna has the only photo meters with in my acceptable spending range as others are double the price or more.

 

[McCrary]

SPS will brown-out or bleach when they're stressed. Good water quality and stability are the key to SPS success. If your water quality is good and stable then the color will come back to the coral within the next couple weeks. Phosphates, nitrates or high nutrient levels are going to negatively affect your coral, especially SPS.