Cant Get Milli's to Thrive

MHG

Active member
So some of you may have seen my other two threads with growth and color issues. Well I think I have a pretty good balance now and I am starting to see better results. Some have great colors, some are coloring up. The one type of coral that I still have issues with is my milli's.


I have a rose milli now for over a year in high light and high flow and it has done nothing... I have a palmers blue millie (med to high light, medium flow) that half of it died and what remains is white and flourecent green with red polyps... But otherwise has looked like this for most of a year.... I have some other brwoenish millie that I broke once so I have one piece in high light medium flor and another piece in med light with medium flor.


When I say medium flow it is less direct than the high flow areas. In have very random flow with two mp10's in anti-sync mode so I get good random movement...My high flow area are just closer to the pumps jet stream...

Anyway my parameters are:

NO3 .50
PO4 0
Calc 450
Mag 1440
Alk 8.1
PH 8-8.4

My nitrates have only recently become detectable and that has spured some better growth in my other sps... I also target feed every few days and dose amino acids.

Most of my other sps have been doing well lately and some are huge... Are Milli's typically difficult?
 
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Please don't get me wrong or think I am rude but you should read Dana Riddle's articles on Coral Coloration in Advanced Aquarist Magazines. Dana and DAngelo did some experiments with Acro milis. and explained in details which fluorescent pigment reflect which spectrum. As far as I remember Milis thrive best under 100 mili moles... PAR. Please double check it.
 
I'm having a similar issue with my millis in my tank. My millis are encrusting very very slow with very little growth, but all other sps are rapidly growing. I'm wondering if its got to do with led lighting? I've asked some locals with leds about this and have heard similarly. Anyone else?
 
Please don't get me wrong or think I am rude but you should read Dana Riddle's articles on Coral Coloration in Advanced Aquarist Magazines. Dana and DAngelo did some experiments with Acro milis. and explained in details which fluorescent pigment reflect which spectrum. As far as I remember Milis thrive best under 100 mili moles... PAR. Please double check it.

Thanks going to find and read this. Been having issues with my milli's too
 
So some of you may have seen my other two threads with growth and color issues. Well I think I have a pretty good balance now and I am starting to see better results. Some have great colors, some are coloring up. The one type of coral that I still have issues with is my milli's.


I have a rose milli now for over a year in high light and high flow and it has done nothing... I have a palmers blue millie (med to high light, medium flow) that half of it died and what remains is white and flourecent green with red polyps... But otherwise has looked like this for most of a year.... I have some other brwoenish millie that I broke once so I have one piece in high light medium flor and another piece in med light with medium flor.


When I say medium flow it is less direct than the high flow areas. In have very random flow with two mp10's in anti-sync mode so I get good random movement...My high flow area are just closer to the pumps jet stream...

Anyway my parameters are:

NO3 .50
PO4 0
Calc 450
Mag 1440
Alk 8.1
PH 8-8.4

My nitrates have only recently become detectable and that has spured some better growth in my other sps... I also target feed every few days and dose amino acids.



Most of my other sps have been doing well lately and some are huge... Are Milli's typically difficult?


Sorry to hear you troubles with your millis, since I too love them very much. I've always had issues with my rose frags when I was in a 15g setup but since I've moved up to a 40g things have been much better. Also keeping up with water changes and higher nutrients seems to help.

Questions:

What other corals and or algae do you have to give you a reference if you have enough or to much nutrients (pocillopora are great color indicators). I see you have a GFO reactor which makes me wonder if your stripping to much from the water.

Also how much water changes do you do and how often?

What do you feed and how often?

Can you share some photos of your setup and also the milli in questions.

I will do my best to help since i've been there before and mine are thriving for the last few months. Its a blessing to see them super fuzzy.
 
Sorry for the slow reply. I have a green birds nest and an Ora purple stylo that grow like weeds and are the size of soft balls. Both have great color. I have a grape juice and rainbows of Spain that grow well and have amazing color. I have some armor of gods and other button polyps that grow well. My frog spawn does not do much at all... My stags are crazy slow growers but they do grow...

Except for the purple stylo and the birds nest my growth was poor on all of them until I got my nitrates up to detectable. They are around .75 now. I also keep my phosphates undetectable and that has also helped with the growth...

I have one new milli I got about a month ago. It is growing very well. But my rose milli still does nothing and two other unknown millis do nothing.. I have fragged both and put a piece in different lighting and flow conditions...I did this months ago... The frags have done nothing....

I will try to get up some pics but I need to bring home my macro lense...
 
Honestly, I think that some acros just dont like certain tanks. I cant explain it. I have bubblegum millis and palmers blue milli going like weeds along with about 20+ other species of acros (including torts, enchinatas, turaki, etc) BUT then the bane of my existence is a red planet knockoff which has never really done much but sustain life and my Rommel Rainbow Milli which Ive attempted twice with the same results...thrive and encrust for 2 mths then fade out, lose PE, and eventually die after mths of looking like chit. I dont get it. You try to move it to better flow, higher or lower light but nothing good happens...its just frustrating to see healthy growing colony of a species and then frags of the same species different coloration doing poorly placed only a few inches apart.
 
Honestly, I think that some acros just dont like certain tanks. I cant explain it. I have bubblegum millis and palmers blue milli going like weeds along with about 20+ other species of acros (including torts, enchinatas, turaki, etc) BUT then the bane of my existence is a red planet knockoff which has never really done much but sustain life and my Rommel Rainbow Milli which Ive attempted twice with the same results...thrive and encrust for 2 mths then fade out, lose PE, and eventually die after mths of looking like chit. I dont get it. You try to move it to better flow, higher or lower light but nothing good happens...its just frustrating to see healthy growing colony of a species and then frags of the same species different coloration doing poorly placed only a few inches apart.

I agree with you too, some species do well and some dont, ive been there and its frustating, but its part of the hobby, hang in there and be patient who knows they might get better with time

Sana
 
Im getting supersitous and think Im going to get zeovit but even zeovit users lose corals using the system. Maybe I think Im just going to buy more fish and have higher nitrates and let that feed the corals. I have one millie and it has been pretty rock solid
 
Except for the purple stylo and the birds nest my growth was poor on all of them until I got my nitrates up to detectable. They are around .75 now. I also keep my phosphates undetectable and that has also helped with the growth...

Just an FYI very low or no po4 can cause issues in growth just as to much can. I was surprised when I read that.
 
i think zeovit is more complex than its worth keep it simple i too have millis that are great and a red planet that is a doofus.
 
Same here. Can't make any mille survive in my tank. All other sps are fine. Mille loses polyp extension then stn. Just keep tryin.
 
Its always great to see photos of your tank and also all corals in your tank. The colors and condition you can show can help us relate to any issues.
 
Light and flow is a given for any acro. Millis have always colored best for me in tanks with lots of feeding and lots of nutrient removal. Tanks that I ran low nutrient with a low bioload never had millis with vibrance or PE as my heavier stocked tanks....of course that means more work :)
 
Light and flow is a given for any acro. Millis have always colored best for me in tanks with lots of feeding and lots of nutrient removal. Tanks that I ran low nutrient with a low bioload never had millis with vibrance or PE as my heavier stocked tanks....of course that means more work :)

Yup, its funny to think that you need to feed but also be nutrient low. Complex battle. Only success I've found is keeping the right about of fish and doing water changes while removing detritus courteous of BB setup. So far .03 p04 seems to be my sweat spot for my pink and blue millis, also very little algae issues.
 
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