new porites addition

[Aquadam]

I just added a yellow porites to my system two days ago, and have not seen it open it's polyps yet. I have 2-65w actinic pc bulbs, and a 250w 10,000K MH over a custom (36"x24"x20") 75g tank. The lights are about 14" from top of tank and excellent flow. There are parts of the coral that seem extremely smooth and has almost a shiny appearance, is this normal? My actinic lights are on for about 10hrs a day and I have cut back my MH to about 5hrs. I am increasing the MH by an hour a day untill it's back to 8hrs a day. I would appreciate any helpful suggestions. Thanks.

[Dack77]

My understanding is this coral needs a ton of light. More so than just about anything else out there. Someone please correct me if I am wrong on that. Depending on where you put it, it could be just trying to acclimate itself, but it doesn't sound to me like its doing too good. The smooth description is what mine was doing.

I noticed when I moved mine down to the middle level of my 120, it started to slowly decline when I had my old lights. I had little to no polyp extension, growth, etc. I have now upgraded my reflectors and moved the coral back up about 6 inches, and its now got better polyp extension than I have ever had with it and its starting to slowly grow. I was using 2-250w halides previously but I had crappy reflectors. They just didnt focus the light deep for the real high light corals. I was losing a ton of light due to the poor reflectors.

This is what mine looks like now. Not sure how much this helps, but you can at least see what it should look like.


http://www.chondrodreams.com/images/FishTank/Yellow%20Porites.jpg

[Im SpSing]

Mine did the exact same thing when my water cleared up from being really cloudy. I think it is the coral's reaction to a sudden change of intensity.

What type of lighting was the coral under before? After three days the shiny "skin" began to come off as if it was shedding and now the coral is healthy and back to normal. Just give it a ton of flow and use a pwerhead if necessary to blow the skin off when it begins to shed.

[Emster]

I just fragged mine, it is not a very fast grower but one of the few true yellow sps's. It is a very nice coral. Mine does not get much light at all but is very happy, its actually kinda shaded.

[Gary Majchrzak]

welcome to RC!
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11584200#post11584200 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Aquadam
There are parts of the coral that seem extremely smooth and has almost a shiny appearance, is this normal?
it's normal.
Like others suggested, Porites "sheds" a "skin" and it sounds like yours is going to do so very soon.

[Aquadam]

Thank you for your suggestions, I'll be patient and see how things progress.

[SuperNerd]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11585689#post11585689 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Gary Majchrzak
it's normal.
Like others suggested, Porites "sheds" a "skin" and it sounds like yours is going to do so very soon.

How often are they supposed to shed their skin? I have what I think is a porites colony, but I have only seen it "shed and become glossy with polyps retracted" when it was in a tank with low flow. http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b198/pincushion80/12_17_07017PoritesPoritesMacro.jpg

[Gary Majchrzak]

IME shedding of Porites is irregular. Rapid growth and/or stress may act as a stimulus.