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View Full Version : Meteor Shower Cyphastrea troubles


moose12
03/22/2011, 11:29 PM
Hello,

I've got a meteor shower in my 20G tank. I've had it for about 5 months now. It started off great, strong green color, orange polyps extended. In the last month or so the color started to fade and polyps have receded. I moved it lower in my tank almost at the substrate in hope it would color up. It hasn't gotten any better but also hasn't gotten much worse either. The tank is a mixed reef with some SPS and LPS and softies. Have a stylophora that's doing great, leathers are growing strong, montis etc look really good. It's just this one coral. The only other problem piece is some pulsing xenia. I have a before and after photo for comparison.

Lighting is a 4x24W T-5 fixture. Koralia 425 and a 750. ph runs about 8.3, alk is a little high at 12, salinity is 1.024, temp around 75. Not sure what could be causing this, any input would be appreciated. Thanks!

Chris

Before
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_pqNFGsQ81z4/TYmEI5xi7xI/AAAAAAAAIZ0/TlqkHmWZAHw/cyphastrea_before.jpg

After
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/_pqNFGsQ81z4/TYmEI-dbemI/AAAAAAAAIZ4/CEPMy4FDVWI/cyphastrea_after.jpg

MammothReefer
03/22/2011, 11:57 PM
alk is to high for it, and they HATE alk swings.. mine did that to I dropped it back down to 8-9 and held it there colored bakc in up in a month.

Brian Chong
03/23/2011, 12:09 AM
They hate temp swings as well. Meteor shower is a picky coral for me. I had a temp swing during a heat wave in my area and it was the first to lose it's color and polyp extension. took me a couple of months to get the baby blue back entirely

cjcmcheek
03/23/2011, 03:00 PM
those corals are a little harder to keep growing. they really like things to be stable. you should try to get your alk around 11. your Ca and Mg should be balanced. i keep my Ca and Mg a little high, 480 and 1450 respectively. they like sps food and aminos also.

moose12
03/23/2011, 09:42 PM
Thanks for all the replies. After testing one of my sources for saltwater I've found the Alk was significantly higher at one of the LFS I visit. I should've done that sooner but didn't see any ill effects with the other inhabitants. I do feed phyto and sparingly reef snow as well as brine soaked in Selco. I'll try to get the alk lower and more stable. I'll see how this progresses.

Thanks!
Chris

Jon in SW Ohio
03/25/2011, 10:02 PM
Mine was skin colored for the few years I used Reef Crystals and had high alk. Now I keep it at 8 and it has gotten it's blue color back in the past couple weeks.

kingfisher62
03/25/2011, 10:16 PM
"When in doubt, do a water change! " has allways been my motto . Hope it turns around for you. It is a nice coral. I only had seen one once at LFS and kicked myself for not buying it right then but I wanted to do some research first. I was under the impression that they were difficult to keep and that they needed intense light like an SPS. I heard that is not the case recently.