LPS coral question

[pcannone]

A few weeks ago I bought a green trumpet coral (two heads), and hammer coral (two heads) from a local guy. All of my other LPS, SPS, zoes, etc are thriving in my 55 gallon.

Green trumpet coral - After a few weeks in different spots of the tank (various bottom to middle sections) it is not as open/puffy as I though it would be, i.e. his tank and various pictures on liveaquaria.com. It stays moderately closed.

Hammer coral - One head is open, but the other is somewhat open. (positioned at the bottom of my tank).

A few weeks ago, I changed my T-5 lighting from 5 inches off the water to 10 inches off the water and today I changed the "photo period" from 9 hours to 8 hours to see if that has an impact. Basically, 8 hrs of blue and 6 hours of daylight. The blue goes on one hour before and after the daylight.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

I have two trumpets, one neon green and the other one a pale green. The pale green one grows at double the rate that the neon one grows, and the pale one puffs up much more than the neon one. Just a thought....it may be the way yours is.

The hammer...they can easily get brown jelly infections from stress. It might not be a bad idea to give it a prophalactic dip in some Lugol's or coral disinfectant.

 

[pcannone]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15243785#post15243785 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Sugar Magnolia
I have two trumpets, one neon green and the other one a pale green. The pale green one grows at double the rate that the neon one grows, and the pale one puffs up much more than the neon one. Just a thought....it may be the way yours is.

The hammer...they can easily get brown jelly infections from stress. It might not be a bad idea to give it a prophalactic dip in some Lugol's or coral disinfectant.

When I recieved them I dipped them into ReVive Coral cleaner.

The trumpet is a nean color...maybe that is why. It is not as puff as when I picked it out.

The Hammer isn't a brown jelly yet. I'll keep an eye our for it. When I picked them out the two heads were about the same size.

Thanks

 

[smoothdog]

Just leave it alone and give it time. LPS do not take well to being moved and every time you move it again you are just stressing it more. If one head is opening well then you likely have placed it in a good spot, just give the other head more time to adjust to the new settings and it will likely come around.

 

[MrRyanT]

+1 ^

 

[pcannone]

Thanks.

Do you think the photo period has something to do with it?

 

[smoothdog]

No, photo intensity has more effect than photo period. A coral can get burnt in just a short amount of time under lighting that's too intense without properly acclimating it, but if it is already acclimated to the light a slightly longer photo period will have no harmful effect. Honestly, 6hrs of daylight seems a little short to me. The blue lights don't add a lot of benefit other than aesthetics for us.

 

[Ohiomom]

I think your lighting and time it is on is good..would not even necessarily keep it that high off of the tank, it really isn't overkill on a 55. But as stated, I would for sure stop moving it and let it get used to one spot or another..different flow, lighting can make it not open..would say give it 3-4 days minimum to open..hth