Acan Help

[BigJohnny]

Hey Reefers,

Just got a shipment of some frags from vividaquariums.com (awesome btw), 4 of which are acan frags. 2 are doing fantastic, one has yet to open but has good color, and the 4th was looking great but now is slightly deflating (has good color still). I have had them since Friday morning.

I have never had acans before so I don't know what is considered normal behavior and what requires intervention on my part.

Params:

SG: 1.025
Temp: 78
pH: 7.9-8.1
Alkalinity: 9 dkH
Calcium: 420ppm
Magnesium: 1200ppm (I didn't realize this was low and will be raising to 1350 over next few days)

Nitrate: 5 ppm
Phosphate: .02 ppm

50g tank (36x18x18) lit by ATI Sunpower 6x39w. 3 blue +, 1 coral +, 1 purple +, 1 actinic. Light is 9" above water line.

Currently on light acclimation schedule of 2 bulbs (11:30-6:30), 6 bulbs (1:30-4:30).

Frags are all on frag rack 1" above substrate.

Flow is moderate.

Here are the 2 doing well:

Inferno-

Ultra-

Both have full polyp extension at night and puff up nicely during the day, great coloration (cell phone pics don't do it justice at all).

Here are the other 2:

Blood Diamond-

Hulk-

Hulk at first-

The Hulk has had full polyp extension every night, but today is the first day that it has deflated and shrunk back a bit.

The blood diamond has yet to extend polyps significantly or inflate. It is a very small frag as well. Good coloration still.

Any thoughts? Could this be purely adjustment to the new system? Magnesium related? I have target fed everything once with mild success with everything except the Blood Diamond which had no reaction.

Thanks!

 

[BigJohnny]

Oh btw, these were wysiwyg and this is what they looked like before shipping:

Inferno:

Looks similar today.

Ultra:

Haven't seen it puffed up like that!

Hulk:

Looked similar initially.

Blood Diamond:

Similar coloration but not puffed out like this, at all.

 

[nebraskareef]

Lower flow and lighting. Acans are very susceptible with led lighting and if lacking spefic spectrums can cause major color shifts. With that said from what I can tell, I'd avoid any additional current. They could have shipped bad, etc.

I feel like the pics compared to real life are really off. It could just be me.

Sorry about your shipment if all.else fails, email them. They have a good reputation.

 

[BigJohnny]

Lower flow and lighting. Acans are very susceptible with led lighting and if lacking spefic spectrums can cause major color shifts. With that said from what I can tell, I'd avoid any additional current. They could have shipped bad, etc.

I feel like the pics compared to real life are really off. It could just be me.

Sorry about your shipment if all.else fails, email them. They have a good reputation.

While i do appreciate your response, its hard for me to take anything you said into consideration when you didnt comprehend everything I said, I have t5s, not leds. I also never said i was concerned with any color shifting. Deflating on 2 of the specimens, and lack of polyp extension on 1 of those.

Why do you think they need less flow?

I explained what's different than the wysiwyg pics, they are in no way "way off". What are you implying? That they aren't the same coral?

The pics were not taken the day before shipping, and their still acclimating and recovering. There are going to be differences.

The point of this thread is for nice experienced acan keepers to tell me if I should be concerned about the 2 frags I mentioned, whether or not I need to intervene, and in what way. I'd also like an explanation so I understand and don't just get random suggestions without logic/based on experience.

If you could please re read and elaborate, I would really appreciate it.

 

[Reef Frog]

I didn't see anything that looked to be in distress. The frag not fully inflated is consistent with acclimation. Give it time. Acans have "moods" where they'll inflate & deflate in cycles. When fully inflated with feeding tentacles showing often means they're ready to eat. If the polyps stay deflated for longer periods, flow or lighting may be too strong. If most of yours are already feeding, than things are looking good.

The coloration in the second post is outstanding. Very unique.

 

[BigJohnny]

I didn't see anything that looked to be in distress. The frag not fully inflated is consistent with acclimation. Give it time. Acans have "moods" where they'll inflate & deflate in cycles. When fully inflated with feeding tentacles showing often means they're ready to eat. If the polyps stay deflated for longer periods, flow or lighting may be too strong. If most of yours are already feeding, than things are looking good.

The coloration in the second post is outstanding. Very unique.

Great thanks. When do you think I should be concerned with/move the blood diamond since it has yet to inflate at all?

Regarding coloration, yea they are pretty sweet! I had to snag em up. They look pretty close coloration wise to the wysiwyg pics right now it's just hard to tell with my cell phone. The lighting really messes with it. Beautiful corals for sure, can't wait until they are all settled in!

 

[soulpatch]

I have an iron man acan that acts like this. He will inflate for a week eating well then go a week deflated and not eating. Most of my other acans inflate fairly normally but I have had to move a few around in my tank to different flow and light patterns. They are all very individual in what they like.

All that useless stuff said on mine though yours simply look stressed from shipping which is normal. I would give them a solid 4-5 days and see what happens. At that point if still deflated or limited extension try moving them around for different flow/light patterns.

And if that inferno keeps its color you have a stunner. Let me know when you ever get to the point of fragging it. That would be a show piece in some of my acan gardens and I have the likes of the following:

(shot underwater under a kessil a360)

 

[Wazzel]

I suspect you have a combination of shipping stress and acclimation going on. The frags look healthy. My acans inflate and deflate for various durations. Colors should coms back over time, tho I suspect the vendor had "favorable lighting" and "post processing" on the photos and you will not get the exact same colors in your tank. Still nice pieces.

 

[BigJohnny]

I have an iron man acan that acts like this. He will inflate for a week eating well then go a week deflated and not eating. Most of my other acans inflate fairly normally but I have had to move a few around in my tank to different flow and light patterns. They are all very individual in what they like.

All that useless stuff said on mine though yours simply look stressed from shipping which is normal. I would give them a solid 4-5 days and see what happens. At that point if still deflated or limited extension try moving them around for different flow/light patterns.

And if that inferno keeps its color you have a stunner. Let me know when you ever get to the point of fragging it. That would be a show piece in some of my acan gardens and I have the likes of the following:

(shot underwater under a kessil a360)

Ok cool, I'll wait a couple more days before moving any of them. All except the Blood Diamond had full polyp extension last night and enjoyed some pe calanus. The blood diamond is barely starting to come out! Here is what they looked like this morning:

Your acans are sick dude, what are the first two called, I want them! Yea the inferno has been the happiest this whole time, looks beautiful especially under actinics (these pics were all bulbs on my crappy cell phone cam). I'll def hook you up with a frag when that time comes, if you hook me up with some of yours [emoji106] .

Really appreciate the advice. Thanks man

 

[BigJohnny]

I suspect you have a combination of shipping stress and acclimation going on. The frags look healthy. My acans inflate and deflate for various durations. Colors should coms back over time, tho I suspect the vendor had "favorable lighting" and "post processing" on the photos and you will not get the exact same colors in your tank. Still nice pieces.

Cool thanks man, I appreciate the advice.

 

[soulpatch]

If you take a piece of mysis shrimp or such on the heads of the blood diamond how does he respond? The orange acan at the end of my post never really inflates. He doesnt send out feeders all the time either until I put a piece of mysis around him and then he will extend and gobble it up. I typically hand feed every head in my tank about once a week (takes a while too with so many hungry mouths to feed...)

As for names on mine I dont have any for those three. The orange was a wysiwyg. The top had a name but I forget so it is just my ultra rainbow now. Never asked for the middle one as I picked that one up at reefpalooza back earlier this summer.

 

[BigJohnny]

If you take a piece of mysis shrimp or such on the heads of the blood diamond how does he respond?

It didn't really respond at all last night but it was completely receded. Today it started to inflate slightly with the ever so slightest polyp extension. I will try again on Friday (I'm going out of town for work, I hate to do that with new frags in the tank!!) and let you know.

As for names on mine I dont have any for those three. The orange was a wysiwyg. The top had a name but I forget so it is just my ultra rainbow now. Never asked for the middle one as I picked that one up at reefpalooza back earlier this summer.

What type of acan is the orange? Echinata? Doesn't look like a lord but is awesome for sure.

The ultra rainbow is absolutely stunning, would love to add a frag of that to my tank.

The one you got at reefpalooza is sweeeet. Very cool combo, again, give me a frag when you can haha. Is reefpalooza like MACNA?

I'm going to MACNA this Friday and hope to score some EPIC frags, including some acans[emoji106] !

 

[soulpatch]

darn I will be at MACNA on Sunday. Going then to see if I can score some deals from vendors who dont want to go home with all their stock. HA HA.

And yes it is an enchinata but I do not know of its specific name for that coloration

 

[BigJohnny]

darn I will be at MACNA on Sunday. Going then to see if I can score some deals from vendors who dont want to go home with all their stock. HA HA.

And yes it is an enchinata but I do not know of its specific name for that coloration

Haha nice strategy I'm sure you'll get some deals, I'll try not to buy all the good ones before you get there [emoji6] . Have you ever been there before? Do I need to bring a cooler to keep all the frag bags in or do the vendors provide styrofoam boxes when you purchase haha? I'm planning to go hard.

The Echinata is cool man. I saw an acan maxima online the other day, was ugly but I'd never seen that before.

 

[soulpatch]

I took a cooler with me when I went to reefapalooza. The dealers there simply put the pieces in a small plastic bag. I imagine the same will occur at MACNA

 

[PhaneSoul]

Color shifts maybe but i dont think acans really care where or how strong the lighting is or comes from. Ive had mine blasted by light at the top and have had them down on the bottom, they enjoy life either way.

Also dont think flow has much to do with it unless they are getting no flow whatsoever. Again ive had acans blasted by flow and in low flow.

What i do think matters is food and inorganic phosphates. If their feeding tenticles are out obviously they are hungry, if not fed on a regular basis you will probably see some shrinking or stalled growth. with high phosphates then the color will be good but most likely the acans will deflate and kindve 'hibernate' until better conditions are met, ive had acans do this for 4 months before.

 

[BigJohnny]

I took a cooler with me when I went to reefapalooza. The dealers there simply put the pieces in a small plastic bag. I imagine the same will occur at MACNA

That's what I thought, I'll do the same.

 

[BigJohnny]

Color shifts maybe but i dont think acans really care where or how strong the lighting is or comes from. Ive had mine blasted by light at the top and have had them down on the bottom, they enjoy life either way.

Also dont think flow has much to do with it unless they are getting no flow whatsoever. Again ive had acans blasted by flow and in low flow.

What i do think matters is food and inorganic phosphates. If their feeding tenticles are out obviously they are hungry, if not fed on a regular basis you will probably see some shrinking or stalled growth. with high phosphates then the color will be good but most likely the acans will deflate and kindve 'hibernate' until better conditions are met, ive had acans do this for 4 months before.

interesting opinion but everyone I've spoken with disagrees, flow and light have an impact (can be significant) on all corals. Especially with a powerful light like an Ati sunpower. If I put my acans up top, they would suffer immediately. If I put them right in front of an mp40 on full blast, they would suffer immediately.

Feeding tentacles don't only come out when "hungry". There are acans who have them out nonstop. If you constantly feed those corals, they would die.

I have .02 ppm phosphate , (conversion from hanna ULR Phosphorus) so that is not an issue.

 

[soulpatch]

acans are a pain since they all have different wants and needs. I have some that want high light and flow and others who want to be on the sand bed. I must have gotten all females since they cant make up their mind HA HA.

 

[BigJohnny]

acans are a pain since they all have different wants and needs. I have some that want high light and flow and others who want to be on the sand bed. I must have gotten all females since they cant make up their mind HA HA.

Hahahaha yesssssss[emoji106]

All the acans are looking quite better today. I dosed the magnesium back up to 1350 over the last 2 days, so it's probably a combination of that and the acclimation. The hulk is back out and even the blood diamond is starting to peek out!

Ignore the closed up ricordea, it definitely needs less light and flow but I'm not home to move it (my wife took the picture for me today [emoji6] )