Meteor shower cyphastrea

[Drewbaby]

I just got a really nice frag of a meteor shower cyphastrea. It's the onewith the bight blue background and red polyps.

It was under halides and is now under T5's in my tank. It seems to be doing well, but it's polyp extension doesn't seem to be as good as it was in the original owners frag tank.

What are the ideal conditions for this coral given it's under T5's?

Do they do better on the sand or higher up?

Lot of flow or little flow?

I need some advice, I would really hate to lose this coral since I've always wanted one and it's my girlfriends favorite. So that wouldn't be good.

Thanks in advance,
Drew

 

[epleeds]

i have mine in the lower portion of my tank on the rocks. medium flow.. doing great..takes some time for the polyps to fully extend.

 

[Timanator]

Low light, low flow and I dont feed. Shade might be it's best friend?

 

[Drewbaby]

Cool and I thought it wasn't getting enough light. I'll try moving it down and see how it goes.

Thanks for the help,
Drew

 

[GoingPostal]

Definately shade it, I had mine right in the middle of my tank under halides and it did nothing for months, moved it to the side and it took off. It's in low flow as well.

 

[SDguy]

Yup, low light. I'd keep it on it's own rock. I can become a invasive, IME.

 

[footballdude2k3]

low light for sure, will start to lose its color in light that is too high, just went to a guys house that has a 1500 gallon frag system, he keeps his in the corners away from the light.

 

[96gts]

Yup, low light. I'd keep it on it's own rock. I can become a invasive, IME.

Talking about invasive. This pic was taken about 8 months ago, and it has since took over the whole frag rack.

 

[getzvillereefer]

I agree. Low light and low flow. and Def not in the sand. IME they hate sand and it can ravage the tissue rather quickly..

 

[LPS_Blasto]

Glad I found this thread. I've had a cyphastrea for months and it's not doing very well. Some color loss on the top and not very good polyp extension. Very washed out color overall.

I was under the impression there was some debate on if these are LPS or SPS. It looked like SPS to me with the large solid mass of bone in the middle and tiny polyps. I have the coral in a 29g tank with 175w 14k halide and dual PC 65w actinics. I turn the PC lights on for 2hrs in the morning and 2hrs in the evening. The 175w 14k halide runs about 8hrs during the day when the PC lights are off.

I thought this coral needed high light so I've had it in the middle of the sand bed, directly under the halide. It is mounted on a small rock about the size of a lemon. The coral is 1/2 that size.

I'm going to move it under shade and off to the side where it is not directly under the halide.

:beer:

 

[stevejrnc]

Talking about invasive. This pic was taken about 8 months ago, and it has since took over the whole frag rack.

very cool pic

 

[anathema]

I have a frag of this growing in my tank as well, and had planned to let it take over a large portion of the tank eventually. However, can someone fill me in on how this coral ranks in the stinging heirarchy? Will it usually lose out vs acans and similar LPS or does it smother them and win?

 

[isdaboy]

Is this one meteor shower? It's growing fast

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[Reef Frog]

I have a frag of this growing in my tank as well, and had planned to let it take over a large portion of the tank eventually. However, can someone fill me in on how this coral ranks in the stinging heirarchy? Will it usually lose out vs acans and similar LPS or does it smother them and win?

I have had an expanding colony for about 2 years. I've never seen a stinging tentacle even once, and it is close proximity to a few other corals. So input it in the "benign"' category. I imagine it would be on the losing end of territorial disputes with different corals like Favites, bubble corals etc. But it grows fast enough that I don't consider that to be a problem if it happens.

 

[Bpb]

Cyphastrea are one of those corals that look great in low light and will bleach and become unhappy very easily. In my experience they're especially susceptible to light shock. Be that as it may, they can easily be acclimated to receive very high light and produce deep vivid colors and lightening fast growth. Just takes time to get there.

 

[dartier]

Cyphastrea are one of those corals that look great in low light and will bleach and become unhappy very easily. In my experience they're especially susceptible to light shock. Be that as it may, they can easily be acclimated to receive very high light and produce deep vivid colors and lightening fast growth. Just takes time to get there.

I agree with everything said here. I have 3 colour morphs growing on ceramic tiles right at the top of my tank that grow like wildfire, and have deep colours. I also lost a new frag of a different morph that had encrusted on to the frag rack, that bleached and RTN'd from what I am pretty sure was light shock.

I also have some red on deep blue that I had put onto a rock in the center top of my tank thinking it would make a nice backdrop to SPS frags. What a mistake that was. The cyphastrea grows like the wind and any SPS frag it approaches has tissue necrosis in a fixed distance from the cyphastrea. Beware were you put this.

Dennis

 

[OllieDog]

Is this one meteor shower? It's growing fast

That looks like a montipora to me.

 

[Miguelh1302]

Just lost mine, I don't think I moved it on time, under leds it turn complete white on me, everything else is doing great in my tank except for that one, will leave it here a little longer to see, as we know u never know when this guys might come back lol

 

[Tweaked]

That looks like a montipora to me.

Exactly