Normal colors for sps? Photos

[DyloHeath]

Hey guys,

 

I recently got a really good deal on some sps coral and want to make sure they look okay from your perspective.

 

The Levels in the tank are all on point, I'm wondering if my light is to low or I'm not directly feeding enough (1x a week)

 

My tank only recently cycled and I heard that these corals will struggle in a non established tank.

 

 

Everything else in the tank is thriving as I switch to natural sea water from a clean source.

 

Any opinions or advice would be appreciated.

 

Thanks 

[seabass]

5 hours ago, DyloHeath said:

want to make sure they look okay from your perspective

They look healthy at the moment.  It's hard to say what color they "should" be.  Sometimes it's the spectrum which makes certain colors pop or look washed out.

 

5 hours ago, DyloHeath said:

I'm wondering if my light is to low or I'm not directly feeding enough (1x a week)

Without PAR meter readings, you'll have to judge lighting for yourself.  If they are bleaching, the light is likely too bright; if they are turning brown, the light is likely too weak.

 

5 hours ago, DyloHeath said:

My tank only recently cycled and I heard that these corals will struggle in a non established tank.

Newer tanks often go through stages where nutrient levels might fluctuate, they may also have diatom, cyano, or even dino blooms.  Pod populations and coralline algae might be sparse, all which can affect SPS health.  SPS in a new tank isn't impossible, it just adds a degree of difficulty.

 

5 hours ago, DyloHeath said:

Any opinions or advice would be appreciated.

I'm not sure what others do; but if I received a frag with algae growing on the base, I'd be tempted to take a pair of bone cutters and frag that part of the base off (gets it off the frag plug too).  Did you dip these frags?

[DyloHeath]

7 hours ago, seabass said:

They look healthy at the moment.  It's hard to say what color they "should" be.  Sometimes it's the spectrum which makes certain colors pop or look washed out.

 

Without PAR meter readings, you'll have to judge lighting for yourself.  If they are bleaching, the light is likely too bright; if they are turning brown, the light is likely too weak.

 

Newer tanks often go through stages where nutrient levels might fluctuate, they may also have diatom, cyano, or even dino blooms.  Pod populations and coralline algae might be sparse, all which can affect SPS health.  SPS in a new tank isn't impossible, it just adds a degree of difficulty.

 

I'm not sure what others do; but if I received a frag with algae growing on the base, I'd be tempted to take a pair of bone cutters and frag that part of the base off (gets it off the frag plug too).  Did you dip these frags?

Thanks for the info.

 

I did not dip these frags. Now I'm worried. What does dipping do?

 

And by your comment I'm guessing you're talking about the green looking grass on the plug as the algae?

 

 

[seabass]

4 hours ago, DyloHeath said:

What does dipping do?

Most coral dips (and there are a variety available) help remove pests before they are introduced into your tank.  We tend to do this to frags even when buying from trusted, reputable vendors.  Some dips, like iodine, may be used to help heal or disinfect a recently fragged coral.

 

4 hours ago, DyloHeath said:

I'm guessing you're talking about the green looking grass on the plug as the algae?

Yeah, certain varieties of algae are more invasive than others.  I like to remove macroalgae from frags (or frag plugs) whenever possible.

[DyloHeath]

4 hours ago, seabass said:

Most coral dips (and there are a variety available) help remove pests before they are introduced into your tank.  We tend to do this to frags even when buying from trusted, reputable vendors.  Some dips, like iodine, may be used to help heal or disinfect a recently fragged coral.

 

Yeah, certain varieties of algae are more invasive than others.  I like to remove macroalgae from frags (or frag plugs) whenever possible.

I got home after work and all the algae was gone with my little hermit crab sitting next to the coral lol, he did his job.

 

I'm ordering the dip now for the future.

 

Thanks as usual

[mitten_reef]

The tank looks quite new, any full tank shot to share or tank journal you can link us to?  Just a cautionary note, sps frags don’t tend to fare very well in a young/new tank. 

 

The frags look nice and fluffy, the coloration could be better, but a lot has to do with photography techniques. 

 

 

[Asureef]

If your tank can only handle a single feeding a week, than it’s not going to work.  Not that sps requires a lot of feedings, but they do require an  established tank that can handle multiple feedings a day.  

[mcarroll]

Corals actually don't require feedings at all – that is one of the defining features of being a coral. 😉 

 

Generally, a low percentage of food is actually ingested by the coral so there is a high percentage of waste and very often an algae bloom follows.

 

The best strategy for feeding coral for a newbie is simply to have fish in the tank and do a good job feeding the fish.

 

Corals do very well living off of fish waste – pee and poo are excellent primary food sources for them.

 

So feed your fish well, and they will feed your corals well.

 

A better strategy for coral pests than simply worrying and dipping your corals in some random "fixit" juice (whether needed or not) is to buy a cheap jewelers loupe (high powered magnifying glass)...

...and actually inspect new frags as you unbag them.  Around $10 and up.  No big deal.

 

If you see anything funky, you can probably remove it manually with a scraper and squeeze bottle of seawater.  After that if it's necessary (doubtful), you could still dip the coral.

 

(Why is it that we don't put the onus for this on the coral sellers?    It's not like pests are only visible to us.)

[mitten_reef]

1 hour ago, mcarroll said:

Why is it that we don't put the onus for this on the coral sellers?    It's not like pests are only visible to us.

This would make a very good topic for a separate discussion. There are so many ways to go about a pest-free transaction. 

 

But.... most (all?) of it must begin with a pest-free propagation system.  I have not ordered from those big online vendors, so I don't know how their items arrived.  But I have received orders from two NR sponsors, one was great (and I became an annual customer), another left a lot to be desired (don't think I ordered there since).

 

    

[pokerdobe]

Just echoing what everyone else said. 

 

PE seems alright, the color of the acro looks a little on the bleached side, but it could be lighting settings and photography. 

 

Tank looks too new to support SPS. It can be done in new tanks, but requires really staying on top of your tank maintenance and stability. If you haven't already, I'd benchmark your parameters and start keeping track of it. 

 

As a best practice, you should probably just clip the acro at the base. Outside frag plugs do not make it into my tank. 

 

Feeding acros is overrated in my book. They eat whatever my fish eat. 

[DyloHeath]

On 8/26/2019 at 10:54 PM, mitten_reef said:

The tank looks quite new, any full tank shot to share or tank journal you can link us to?  Just a cautionary note, sps frags don’t tend to fare very well in a young/new tank. 

 

The frags look nice and fluffy, the coloration could be better, but a lot has to do with photography techniques. 

 

 

I'm going to put together a journal today/tomorrow on here so people can guide my progress. I'll add video for better color as photographs are crazy different from what i see.

 

On 8/26/2019 at 11:20 PM, Asureef said:

If your tank can only handle a single feeding a week, than it’s not going to work.  Not that sps requires a lot of feedings, but they do require an  established tank that can handle multiple feedings a day.  

I feed a lot more than once a week, my fish get fed daily, and I'll be feeding my corals reef roids 2x a week to see the progress.

 

10 hours ago, mcarroll said:

Corals actually don't require feedings at all – that is one of the defining features of being a coral. 😉 

 

Generally, a low percentage of food is actually ingested by the coral so there is a high percentage of waste and very often an algae bloom follows.

 

The best strategy for feeding coral for a newbie is simply to have fish in the tank and do a good job feeding the fish.

 

Corals do very well living off of fish waste – pee and poo are excellent primary food sources for them.

 

So feed your fish well, and they will feed your corals well.

 

A better strategy for coral pests than simply worrying and dipping your corals in some random "fixit" juice (whether needed or not) is to buy a cheap jewelers loupe (high powered magnifying glass)...

...and actually inspect new frags as you unbag them.  Around $10 and up.  No big deal.

 

If you see anything funky, you can probably remove it manually with a scraper and squeeze bottle of seawater.  After that if it's necessary (doubtful), you could still dip the coral.

 

(Why is it that we don't put the onus for this on the coral sellers?    It's not like pests are only visible to us.)

 

I'll grab one of the jewelers loupe for future reference. Great idea.

 

As for the fish helping feed the coral with poo and pee, I only have two small clownfish as of now. Not sure if that's enough.

7 hours ago, pokerdobe said:

Just echoing what everyone else said. 

 

PE seems alright, the color of the acro looks a little on the bleached side, but it could be lighting settings and photography. 

 

Tank looks too new to support SPS. It can be done in new tanks, but requires really staying on top of your tank maintenance and stability. If you haven't already, I'd benchmark your parameters and start keeping track of it. 

 

As a best practice, you should probably just clip the acro at the base. Outside frag plugs do not make it into my tank. 

 

Feeding acros is overrated in my book. They eat whatever my fish eat. 

Yea the photo's look much different to what i see with my eyes, tank is defiantly very new, i was uneducated.

 

I'm keeping track of all my parameters, I use NSW, and the magnesium is lower than average so I ordered some to add to the tank.

 

I'm a little nervous clipping the acro, what tools do you guys usually use to cut the actual coral?

[mcarroll]

2 hours ago, DyloHeath said:

Not sure if that's enough.

Plenty!! 😀

 

And if it's not… Offhand I can't think of any fish which can't be fed just a little bit more. or with just a little bit better foods.

 

Honestly, well-fed fish are giving off ammonia almost continuously which corals find delicious as a nitrogen source.

 

So as long as you aren't doing anything to artificially limit phosphate in the system such as running extra algae filters or phosphate scavenging media, etc. it will balance out and the corals will grow extremely well.

 

If you can manage to have very excellent flow in the tank so that detritus stays afloat to be coral-food rather than settling only to be siphoned out uselessly with the next water change, then none of that will go to waste either and that will be additional coral food that actually will bring even more benefit to the corals than the fishes ammonia.

 

This much flow is not easy to attain in all tanks though...and is nearly impossible with some pumps.