What am I missing?

SDboatguy · 03/17/2018, 12:49 PM

So, of the 20 of so SPS frags I have acquired over the last 14 months most are growing and look good. However, I have a few that started to encrust then stopped. Of those I have 2-3 that have also gone brown OR green. The green one in particular, grew a base about the size of a quarter , stalled and turned dark green ,it has been in this state for 8 months. Does it need more light or is it something else? I am having fairly good color and growth in 90% of my corals,so I don't want to change anything to much. Just curious about the color change in a few of the frags. I assume that the stalled out frags that have kept color are just waiting for something to click and will have a growth spurt ....soon?! FWIW I run Hydra 26hds (fairly high) and 4 T5s.

jda · 03/17/2018, 09:10 PM

Everybody has one or two that will do nothing for them in their tank. Everybody. If this is what you think that it is, then let them be and enjoy the rest. You can always move them to a different spot and see if it helps.

I have not found high intensity LEDs to be good for some acropora... peaks are too high and too much bad radiation. If you want to mess with something, then I would turn the Hydras down and see if this does not help everything. The Hydras are just supplementing the T5s - the T5s have the better spectrum, so more of them and less LED can help with some stubborn corals.

Some will just stall out with water parameters too - some stall out when too high. Flow is not usually an issue with stalling, IME, just growth patterns being thick or thin.

Which ones are stalling? If they are hard Acropora like Echinata or Spath, then that could be a different solution than if they are montis.

SDboatguy · 03/17/2018, 09:48 PM

Thanks for the reply jda, one of the pieces is an efflo. It turned brown after 2 months and is dormant.The main one I'm curious about is a Battlecoral pearly cadaver, not really sure the actual species.. its the one that just stalled and turned green. I'm able to grow secale,austera,millies,bonsai,valida and others. I did hit Adam @battlecorals up ,he said be patient ,most of my stuff is from his collection. I guess I'm just wondering how long a piece can stay the same before it goes off or goes away? I probably need to step back and let things do what they do . it's just frustrating watching some go big while others don't.

03/17/2018, 12:49 PM	#1
SDboatguy Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2013 Location: So Cal Posts: 89	What am I missing? So, of the 20 of so SPS frags I have acquired over the last 14 months most are growing and look good. However, I have a few that started to encrust then stopped. Of those I have 2-3 that have also gone brown OR green. The green one in particular, grew a base about the size of a quarter , stalled and turned dark green ,it has been in this state for 8 months. Does it need more light or is it something else? I am having fairly good color and growth in 90% of my corals,so I don't want to change anything to much. Just curious about the color change in a few of the frags. I assume that the stalled out frags that have kept color are just waiting for something to click and will have a growth spurt ....soon?! FWIW I run Hydra 26hds (fairly high) and 4 T5s.

03/17/2018, 09:10 PM	#2
jda Dogmatic Dinosaur Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Boulder, CO Posts: 6,256	Everybody has one or two that will do nothing for them in their tank. Everybody. If this is what you think that it is, then let them be and enjoy the rest. You can always move them to a different spot and see if it helps. I have not found high intensity LEDs to be good for some acropora... peaks are too high and too much bad radiation. If you want to mess with something, then I would turn the Hydras down and see if this does not help everything. The Hydras are just supplementing the T5s - the T5s have the better spectrum, so more of them and less LED can help with some stubborn corals. Some will just stall out with water parameters too - some stall out when too high. Flow is not usually an issue with stalling, IME, just growth patterns being thick or thin. Which ones are stalling? If they are hard Acropora like Echinata or Spath, then that could be a different solution than if they are montis.

03/17/2018, 09:48 PM	#3
SDboatguy Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2013 Location: So Cal Posts: 89	Thanks for the reply jda, one of the pieces is an efflo. It turned brown after 2 months and is dormant.The main one I'm curious about is a Battlecoral pearly cadaver, not really sure the actual species.. its the one that just stalled and turned green. I'm able to grow secale,austera,millies,bonsai,valida and others. I did hit Adam @battlecorals up ,he said be patient ,most of my stuff is from his collection. I guess I'm just wondering how long a piece can stay the same before it goes off or goes away? I probably need to step back and let things do what they do . it's just frustrating watching some go big while others don't.