agro sps ?

[SouthernReefer]

i was able to score 2 agros, 1 white and the other purple, i have them placed at approx 6-8" depth under 165w of pc lights, and i am curious as to just maintianing them until i get my next tank up and running at the end of this month, or next, and was curious if there will be an adverse effects i need to be prepared for. i'm not looking to have the grow, just maintianed and healthy. any input greatly appreciated.

[Geoff]

how long until the new tank will be set up? i think the purple one will prolly go brown on you with that little light. if you could you might want to get them closer to the lights.

HTH,

G~

[SawCJack00]

I assume you mean Acros (as in Acropora Spp). If one is white, then most likely it is either bleached, or has lost it's tissue in which case it's dead. If bleached, it should be placed lower in the tank in order to reproduce it's zoexanthelae. Other wise to maintain health you'll want good water movement, high lighting, CA over 400 PPM, and CA around 12 Dkh. Hope that helps.

[Sue Truett]

I totally agree. White is not a coloration of acropora that is good. White usually means the coral has lost it zooxanthellae which give it color and it may be on the edge of dying if not already there. Purple is a sort of hard color to get so I would also think the color will brown out on you, without the coral getting more lighting than that. If you can maintain calcium levels and alk. levels like SawCJack said it sure will help with the purple acropora.

my 180 ecosystem sps/clam tank:
http://berlinmethod.com/suet/
my 120 ecosystem sps tank:
http://suetruett.homestead.com/home.html

[Pineapple House]

I disagree.

White can be a normal coloration for many species of Acropora staghorns.

Picture credit goes to Mark (golfish):
http://members.aol.com/sf49er1959/reefpics/newstag1.jpg

White surely can be a healthy sign.

Anyway,
I would like to know more about your tank setup first. What size tank, how old is it, What are all your tank inhabitants, etc.?

Graham

[Geoff]

Pineapple House-i was getting worried there, years ago i got a piece of white acro from a LFS in Charlotte. this was long before i knew what i was doing. i actually had it for about a year before it died, actually it was swallowed up by my menacing creeping gorgonia. i was starting to worry i was remembering wrong.

anyway, it actually did ok under 175w 10K MH and a 40W NO actinic. i would think your lights would be enough to keep that acro maintained, but definately on the low side though.

more info please.

G~

[Pineapple House]

Cromagnum,

I did a search on your post, to find out some extra information about your tank setup.

I have found that you have a 46 gallon bow, and that it's about 3 months old.

Honestly, your tank is way too young to be housing these kinds of corals. To start out with, your lighting is no where near the amount of lighting these corals will require. I can assure you these stunning colorations that the corals now have, will turn a dull brown coloration within 2-3 weeks. This brown coloration is due to increased zooxanthellae, which is used to catch as much lighting as possible. Under only 3x55wt PC's, most likely they will both soon die. Small Polyp Scleractinians (SPS) do not do well under florecent lighting. They should only be left to the more experienced aquarists, with the aquariums and knowledge to care for one of these corals.

As meantioned above, your tank is way too young to be housing these corals. They should require a mature tank, with stable water conditions. In a tank only 3 months in, water conditions can change rapidly.

I would also be concerned about the amount of lighting these corals are actually receiving. Only About 1/9th of the lighting actually travles down to the bottom of aquariums (Delbeek, 2002 [Aquarium Fish?]), therefor, I would recommend you place the corals to the very top of the aquarium, with strong currents.

Make sure you also regulary montitor the calcium levels in your aquarium. All stoney corals have a calcium carbonate based skeleton. Calcium is used to continue building the skeleton, for the coral to grow. A calcium of between 400-500ppm is recommended (450ppm would be the best, In my opinion).

I would really return the corals. I know you're planning on upgrading, but to be honest with you, I doubt the corals may live another month under your lighting, esspecially stonies in the Genre Acropora.

I would also try to get a positive ID for those corals of yours. You should always know the names of the corals, before you purchase them. It will save you both stress, and time. For all we know, that "Purple" coral could be anything. Example: Purple M. Digitata, Purple A. Humulis, Purple A. Millepora, etc.

Geoff,

Many stoney corals will live under such lighting as yours (175 10,000k & 4x 40wt Normal Output "03"), but they definitaly wouldn't do as good as if they were placed under a 400wt bulb. Under the 175wt halide, likely it would live, but wouldn't be at its best. It would probably also show slow growth. I'm sorry for your loss of the Acropora. It must have been a beauty.

Graham

[Piero]

Originally posted by Pineapple House
You should always know the names of the corals, before you purchase them. It will save you both stress, and time. For all we know, that "Purple" coral could be anything.

no kiddin. for cryin out loud man.....agro?!!!

i really gotta bite my tongue on threads like this one, so I'll just clam up. bottom line: don't go takin home animals you can't even pronounce, and then later try and figure out how to keep them alive.

[SouthernReefer]

pineapple house, hehe,what you found was a pic of my tank that is 3 months old. my tank has been running just fine for nearly a year! but, i do appreciate your concern. and i do have enough knohow to take care of these critters correctly. you made some good points, that i do agree with. thx! as far knowning what's in my tank, click here.,
geoff, sue, and SawCJack00, just the answers i was looking for. thx! hopefully the tank and stand i'll have in a week or 2. i'll have the 150whqi halide setup over the corals in 25gl until then. i am just abit more concerned about the evaporation rate and temp that could result. i just need to move my small tank, its just a pita. alot of extra work i was trying to avoid.
i believe i have i.d. my purple coral as a stylophora pistillata sp., and the other is the same as pineapple posted, a cream colored blue tipped acropora.
piero, wonderful attitude, just what i've come to expect from some of the elder members here at trt.

[Geoff]

Originally posted by Pineapple House
Geoff,

Many stoney corals will live under such lighting as yours (175 10,000k & 4x 40wt Normal Output "03"), but they definitaly wouldn't do as good as if they were placed under a 400wt bulb. Under the 175wt halide, likely it would live, but wouldn't be at its best. It would probably also show slow growth. I'm sorry for your loss of the Acropora. It must have been a beauty.

Graham

i totally agree, that is why i have dual 400w iwasaki's and 2 160w VHO's now. that coral i mentioned was almost ten years ago. back when i was totally clueless and broke all of the buy first then research rules. i had no idea the creeping gargonia would "kudzu" it.

G~

[Sue Truett]

I have to respectfully disagree about acropora needing to be kept under 400w MH's. I have used 250w iwasaki's for over the 5 years I have now be keeping sps and have kept them quite colorful and have enough growth for the system to pay for itself. In fact I have gone to the higher end sps corals and they are frankly awesome. My one big mistake I did make in this time was going to 400w iwasaki's and had a mess of brown, stunted acropora as the result. I did try to keep them under those 400w's for about 9 months til I couldn't stand it anymore and upon going back to the 250w was rewarded quite nicely with the intense coloration these same corals had before. I have seen some incredible sps tanks with 250w 10k's namely JB NY on RC. There's some abrevations. I just don't think to have a nice, colorful, healthy growth sps tank it has to be lit with 400w MH's.

my 180 ecosystem sps/clam tank:
http://berlinmethod.com/suet/
my 120 ecosystem sps tank:
http://suetruett.homestead.com/home.html

[Casey]

I agree with Sue her tank is awesome

[Pineapple House]

Originally posted by Sue Truett
I have to respectfully disagree about acropora needing to be kept under 400w MH's. I have used 250w iwasaki's for over the 5 years I have now be keeping sps and have kept them quite colorful and have enough growth for the system to pay for itself. In fact I have gone to the higher end sps corals and they are frankly awesome.

That what makes this hobby so enteresting The fact that no two systems are the same. What may work for one person, may not work for another. Some people have had bad results using the 250's, while others have had great experiences. Of coarse, there's really no "right" or "wrong" answer in this hobby (with a few exceptions).

Take Care,
Graham

[Doug1]

"piero, wonderful attitude, just what i've come to expect from some of the elder members here at trt."
Sorry I am not getting that one at all, Piero might have been harsh by TRT standards , but I don't know where the tude about elder members comes from.
May I tactfully suggest proofreading before hitting reply. The written medium is a lot more limiting than talking in person, esp considering that what one writes stays out in sight for a long time

[Pineapple House]

Also Sue,

I looked through some of your pictures. They're awesome.

From what it seems, I may be able to ID one of those corals you have in there. Please keep in mind that these are only guesses, which may/may not be false.

http://berlinmethod.com/suet/4.jpg
From the looks of it, it seems like either a A. Nana, or a Tri color of some sort. My guess would be a Tri color. The A. Nana would seem to have a more table shape appearence.

Graham