Advice on Blue Tenuis & Valida

[nystang]

These are my 1st true SPS's except the Neon Green birdsnest so I would like as much advice as I can get as well as placement, name etc. I got them 2 days ago and I still acclimate them. Valida is a little over 1" and the Tenuis is 0.5". They were $10 each. I placed them of the sandbed on the day of the purchase. I moved them today about 2" higher (just before I took the picture so they are a little disturbed). I plan to put them in the upper middle part of the tank. Thanks for any comments.

 

[Arkayology]

Knowing the specs of your tank would help us figure out where to place it and how quickly to place it there.

 

[nystang]

Small tank, 29g, 18" high, sumpless, Razor 160 W 16000k, RO BH-1000 skimmer.
My nitrate is 0, Phosphate somewhere in range of 0-0.08. I am with contact with Hanna Inst to exchange my reagents. They are very inaccurate but this is another subject. I have no problem with algae etc.

 

[sahin]

Nice shots. Tenius can be placed higher. Valida probably around mid level. I recently bought a nice cultured A. Valida and placed it low in the tank. Its kept the nice purple and is growing fast. The person I got the Valida from had it in a very low PAR location and the Valida had green colouration in it too which I liked. In my tank the green is gone, and its all purple. Once the frag grows more it will likely get the green back in the shaded areas.

 

[nystang]

Thanks Sahin. Will the polyp extension be a little better? As I mentioned, I took the photo right after moving them. I shot it at middday (NY, USA) so it more white light. It looks better with more bluish light though.

 

[sahin]

The PE on the Valida wont get any better as that is as good as it gets - at least IME. However, the Tenius should get much longer PE. I get about 5mm long PE on my Tenius. On some of my Mille's I get almost 1cm! Looks pretty cool.

 

[Alex T.]

The PE on the Valida wont get any better as that is as good as it gets - at least IME. However, the Tenius should get much longer PE. I get about 5mm long PE on my Tenius. On some of my Mille's I get almost 1cm! Looks pretty cool.

Sahin, I have the ORA tricolor valida and have much more polyp extension than the picture above. Here it is when I first got it about a month ago and it's even more pronounced in polyp extension today. I have it about 8 inches off the sandbed in a 24" deep tank directly under a 250 watt Radium and vho super actinic.

 

[sahin]

Sahin, I have the ORA tricolor valida and have much more polyp extension than the picture above. Here it is when I first got it about a month ago and it's even more pronounced in polyp extension today. I have it about 8 inches off the sandbed in a 24" deep tank directly under a 250 watt Radium and vho super actinic.

WOW! Thats very good PE. :thumbsup: Not sure whats up with my Valida, as other SPS have amazing PE in my tank. I just thought this is one acro where the PE isnt as pronounced.

Whats the flow like around your Valida?

 

[Alex T.]

WOW! Thats very good PE. :thumbsup: Not sure whats up with my Valida, as other SPS have amazing PE in my tank. I just thought this is one acro where the PE isnt as pronounced.

Whats the flow like around your Valida?

My valida is in between two MP40's on alternating reef crest mode. There is a swirling of water in the middle of my tank where a tunze 6105 and my return pump meet. As the MP40's ramp up, the polyps violently change direction and then the cycle repeats in the opposite direction. I currently have nitrates around 5 ppm and phosphate is at .1 (that's right...not .01)

 

[Dog boy Dave]

I have seen one of the ORA tenuis, i think they call it the "Chips" get so fuzzy you couldnt even see the blue on the coral. In some tanks that can be a very fuzzy coral.

 

[nystang]

What would be the proper name of those acros on the images above?

 

[Alex T.]

What would be the proper name of those acros on the images above?

Acropora valida?

 

[gmate]

My valida pieces barely shows any PE, but it grows slowly but surely. My tenuis has huge PE and grows like crazy. Probably the most PE out of any of my SPS (30g tall SPS only tank). Just my 2 cents.

 

[sahin]

My valida pieces barely shows any PE, but it grows slowly but surely. My tenuis has huge PE and grows like crazy. Probably the most PE out of any of my SPS (30g tall SPS only tank). Just my 2 cents.

Goes to show that SPS can behave differently in different tanks. :lmao: Thanks for letting us know.

 

[nystang]

Thank you guys for all responses and I have another question. I will soon move the frags to their permanent spots and I'm wondering what is the best way to attach them to the rocks. They will be placed on the main rocks so in the future when it's time to frag them (hopefully), I would like to be able to take them out of the tank and do it outside. Is it a good idea to attach them to a small rubble and then glue the rubble to the rock? I understand they will be encrusting so without the piece of rubble it would be impossible to remove them without breaking down the whole aquascape.
Another idea is to leave them on the plug and attach the plug to the rocks?

 

[nystang]

Update (with pics)

Update (with pics)

So after 6 days the polyps extension is much better in Valida but a little smaller in Tenuis. I still keep them in the same spot ( about 2" above the sandbed). I plan to move them 6-7" higher on Monday to their hopefully permanent spot. Because the light will be stronger there, I plan to dim the lights by about 25%. Is my plan OK?

 

[sahin]

They both look happy. The Valida looks super! Great start.

 

[Peter Eichler]

The tendency in this hobby now is to slap the tenuis species name on just about every no named Acropora with blue tips. That doesn't look like A. tenuis to me, the coralite structure doesn't look right, but it seems to be getting healthier.