Care of Yellow Porites cylindrica

[cediss]

I haven't seen much of it around in stores lately. I used to have a colony that did pretty good for a while ,but I eventually lost it. Does anyone have any doing well now? Any pics? And what conditions are you keeping it under?

I have seen it in Fiji in 5-15 feet of water on the backreef. So it must like intense lighting. It was also in areas with pretty good wave wash.

Just wanting to here from those who are keeping it to see if it is worth trying to find a frag or colony. It is so pretty with its true yellow color.

 

[piercho]

I don't know if mine is true P. cylindrica, its a thick-branched Porites that was yellow when I bought it a couple of years ago when Waves was closing his store south of Portland. I keep it at the very bottom of my tank and its a drabber green color, except for the new growth at the tips. Hardy and suitable for lagoonal tanks, IME, I keep mine right on the sand.
Porites from side.
Porites from top
In the wild Mine is similar in appearence (color and branching) to the 2nd frame from the left.

The lighting in my 65G is only moderate, a single 250W 6500K + blue PC. I've never tried to move it up closer to the bulb to see if the yellow would come back - there is no free space to move it to. Then again, it may be an adaption to spectra, as I think my yellow frag may have been grown under Radium 20KK, which were the big thing then. It does like strong water flow, when I had a surger on the tank it was right in the output and loved it.

You are right, you don't see big heads of P. cylindrica in folks pics very often. It also rarely shows up at dealers. I'd guess its just not popular and there is no money in growing it or importing wild colonies. I think people looking for branching Porites are hunting the blue and lavender P. porites, which usually sell in a flash when I see them on Reefer Madness and similar sites.

 

[cediss]

Thanks a lot Percho. Nice pics and very informative. The ones I saw in the wild usually were yellow, but some were more green like yours. I suspect if you could get it to adapt to higher lighting it would turn more yellow. Very nice piece!

 

[drtango]

Mine is bright yellow high up under a 400w XM, lots of flow seems to create a wierd "palm tree" growth pattern. I have another frag lower down that grows more upright, not as intense yellow.

I think mine is porites cylindrica, feel free to correct......

John

 

[cediss]

drtango, I would say you arerrect. How long have you had it? What temperature is your XM bulb?

Looks great!

 

[cediss]

Sorry for spelling errors. I should have checked before posting.

 

[drtango]

I'm a 10k/VHO actinic guy. I've never been able to get nice yellows with higher K bulbs. Tank is high flow, well skimmed, with no substrate and ozone for good measure.

I've had this coral for probably 3 years--seems like it falls down allot, it's fragged itself several times.

John

 

[cediss]

LOL! Yeah, I know what you mean, I've always had 10K's myself, but I it seems to be a trade off. Higher K doesn't show reds and yellows well, but 10K seems to produce paler blues, greens, and purples. I'm going to experiment with mixing 10K and 14K bulbs to see if it allows a better color compromise!

 

[gasman059]

I've been looking for one for a while and finally got me one-very happy.