My First SPS!!! Need advice

weeftard · 04/23/2010, 01:20 PM

Im curious if i should move my sps closer to my lighting. I am afraid to move them up higher because of how amazing they are doing on the bottom. Right now they are all just small frags but are growing at an awesome rate. I have a 2 acro's, an oregon tort, green tort, purple pocillapora, and a montipora cap. I want to move them and hope to get more growth but I dont want to shock them. I have them under 2 250w 15k single end xm bulbs over my 75 gal tank. The tort i have has such awsome extention it makes the ones on display at my LFS look bad. They all have been in there for between 2 months and 2 weeks for the newer ones. My lfs told me to leave them be if they are happy. So im stuck for what to do !!! What risk do i face moving them up???

Ding2daDong · 04/23/2010, 01:26 PM

slowly move them up. If you see them start to brown/bleach out then move them back. Just do it slowly and you should be fine. Also keep an eye on your water parameters and lots of in direct flow.

Sounds like you know what your doing already so good luck.

-Matthew

Atomikk · 04/23/2010, 01:27 PM

How deep is their color? Is it deep or light? And how about polyp extension? Long or short?

weeftard · 04/23/2010, 01:37 PM

Polyps are huge!! always extented. Params are stable, nitrate never gets a foothold at all, Phos is kept at bay by my phos-ban. Now i have seen one of my acro's go from being bleached out almost completely (in the lfs) to coloring up to a deep brown with a green polyps. my torts have a nice color nice deep purpley blue green, but my monti cap is a little brown instead of orange like it was in the store, thats the only one i have moved up at all and its only maybe 3 inch's off the sand. thats what kinda makes me nervous

Atomikk · 04/23/2010, 03:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by weeftard

Polyps are huge!! always extented. Params are stable, nitrate never gets a foothold at all, Phos is kept at bay by my phos-ban. Now i have seen one of my acro's go from being bleached out almost completely (in the lfs) to coloring up to a deep brown with a green polyps. my torts have a nice color nice deep purpley blue green, but my monti cap is a little brown instead of orange like it was in the store, thats the only one i have moved up at all and its only maybe 3 inch's off the sand. thats what kinda makes me nervous

Flip the monti over to see if it has these guys:

Other than that, you are looking good. Brown is a good sign in an Acropora. But if you want to color it up a bit more, move it higher towards the top of the water surface.

maharsreef · 04/23/2010, 03:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Atomikk

Flip the monti over to see if it has these guys:

Other than that, you are looking good. Brown is a good sign in an Acropora. But if you want to color it up a bit more, move it higher towards the top of the water surface.

Brown is a good sign in Acros?? Well I guess it means its still alive, but to me it say too manyP04's, or pest.

Atomikk · 04/23/2010, 03:31 PM

Yes, in acro basics, brown is good. Its a healthy sign. Now if you want colors, you need to get it to expell the zooxanthellae. IN other words, get the acro more light

weeftard · 04/23/2010, 08:48 PM

Well the acro in question is doing awesome it looks 100 times better then when I first got it. Its health is not in question. My phos read 0 last I checked but I will test again soon. Is that an acro eating flat worm in the picture? I assume it is but I medi coral dip every new addition to the tank. Do they come out at night? I just assumed the monti was healing from fragging I picked it up for 14 bucks and it was the best looking out of all the frags.

04/23/2010, 01:20 PM	#1
weeftard Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Philadelphia Posts: 111	My First SPS!!! Need advice Im curious if i should move my sps closer to my lighting. I am afraid to move them up higher because of how amazing they are doing on the bottom. Right now they are all just small frags but are growing at an awesome rate. I have a 2 acro's, an oregon tort, green tort, purple pocillapora, and a montipora cap. I want to move them and hope to get more growth but I dont want to shock them. I have them under 2 250w 15k single end xm bulbs over my 75 gal tank. The tort i have has such awsome extention it makes the ones on display at my LFS look bad. They all have been in there for between 2 months and 2 weeks for the newer ones. My lfs told me to leave them be if they are happy. So im stuck for what to do !!! What risk do i face moving them up???

04/23/2010, 01:27 PM	#3
Atomikk SPS OG Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Toronto Posts: 1,282	How deep is their color? Is it deep or light? And how about polyp extension? Long or short? __________________ *Reef Tip: to gauge the toxicity of PO4s in your tank, keep an eye on the growth of Chaetomorpha macro algae. As more toxic levels of PO4s are present, the slower the macro algae grows (as it stuns th Current Tank Info: soon to be 400 gal

04/23/2010, 03:31 PM	#7
Atomikk SPS OG Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Toronto Posts: 1,282	Yes, in acro basics, brown is good. Its a healthy sign. Now if you want colors, you need to get it to expell the zooxanthellae. IN other words, get the acro more light __________________ *Reef Tip: to gauge the toxicity of PO4s in your tank, keep an eye on the growth of Chaetomorpha macro algae. As more toxic levels of PO4s are present, the slower the macro algae grows (as it stuns th Current Tank Info: soon to be 400 gal

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04/23/2010, 01:26 PM	#2
Ding2daDong Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: South Florida Posts: 2,723	slowly move them up. If you see them start to brown/bleach out then move them back. Just do it slowly and you should be fine. Also keep an eye on your water parameters and lots of in direct flow. Sounds like you know what your doing already so good luck. -Matthew

04/23/2010, 01:37 PM	#4
weeftard Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Philadelphia Posts: 111	Polyps are huge!! always extented. Params are stable, nitrate never gets a foothold at all, Phos is kept at bay by my phos-ban. Now i have seen one of my acro's go from being bleached out almost completely (in the lfs) to coloring up to a deep brown with a green polyps. my torts have a nice color nice deep purpley blue green, but my monti cap is a little brown instead of orange like it was in the store, thats the only one i have moved up at all and its only maybe 3 inch's off the sand. thats what kinda makes me nervous

04/23/2010, 08:48 PM	#8
weeftard Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Philadelphia Posts: 111	Well the acro in question is doing awesome it looks 100 times better then when I first got it. Its health is not in question. My phos read 0 last I checked but I will test again soon. Is that an acro eating flat worm in the picture? I assume it is but I medi coral dip every new addition to the tank. Do they come out at night? I just assumed the monti was healing from fragging I picked it up for 14 bucks and it was the best looking out of all the frags.