Ora Nathan's Green Millie for trade

[david8956]

This is the smaller of my 2 pieces, don't have room for two of the same thing. This one is about 5" tall, has 12 or 13 branches started. Grown from an Ora frag from FAOIS. (No idea why it is so light in color, almost all my Acro's are lighter than they should be)

If interested, will trade for some other comparable Acro.

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[plc001]

PM sent.

 

[college429]

I'm interested.

 

[robthorn]

dave I think you are lacking 1 or more nutrients or elements. could be phosphates or iron or iodine. I would look into a high quality trace supplement designed for coral needs. you will be amazed I think at the difference. the longer your corals stay like that possibly the worse off they may be. the tissue when lacking certain needed elements starts to get thinner and thinner until it is too thin and just dies off.
nightsun is pretty new but I am watching a couple peoples tanks that are using it with positive effects in nutrient poor systems. if you are running phosban or something like that try to cut it in half or 3/4 or something. maybe even lighten up a little on carbon use if you are doing it. it's a fine balance between calcium,nitrogen,and phosphourus but they all need to be available in the proper ratio in order for corals to grow and be colorful. you could try iodine if you don't use it a little at a time or even very small amounts of iron. both are very important for greens in hard corals. too much iron will feed algea though so be very careful. do you dose strontium? not sure about colors I just hear it is very important.
about the frag I would love to trade for something I am just very limited on anything large enough to frag. unless you wanted a couple very small frags for it. I hate giving out small frags but all I have to offer at the moment.

 

[david8956]

Rob, thanks for the advice. Wish I could figure out for sure what is causing most of my Acros to lighten up. I have a ssb and a few small fish, so I doubt the tank is "nutrient poor" like some bb tanks without fish could possibly be.

In fact, rather than hijack my own thread, I'll start another about the problems I am having with the color of my Acros, upload a couple more photo's, etc and see if anyone has any other suggestions. Or maybe with different photo's you can narrow down what you think the problem may be.

Thanks, David.

 

[reefrubble]

David,I would like a frag of the green millie. Ted

PS I also had the same problem your having ,with my Acros looking washed out. I started feeding heavy,and BOOM the colors brighten up. what a difference.

 

[Emster]

Hi David, I am thinking about buying the same lights you have(AC 250 14K). Do you have any reason to believe that these lights could be the problem? Also what color is that frag you got from me? Mine has just turned light lavender and is changing daily.

 

[reefrubble]

I don't think it's the lights . I'm running 1x400 watt 14K AC,and 2X 400 watt 10 K XMs Ted

 

[tangwang]

I agree with Ted. I'm running 14kk AC's as well, but I feed my sps tank heavily. I think I have great vibrant colors



Matt

 

[DaddyJax]

I have seen David's tank and it is immaculately clean!! I think that he might be a little to meticulous in his water changes and filter socks and sand stirring. I admit to being a little jealous of how clean it looked but thought that the corals looked light. Just wondering if maybe not enough nutrients?

Btw you have some great corals.
Oh and also interested in a trade.

 

[david8956]

David,I would like a frag of the green millie. Ted

I would rather trade the whole piece to someone than frag it because, even though it's pretty tall, it's not very wide yet. Anyone have something (Acro only please) for the whole piece?

Emster - I really don't think it's the lights. IMO they are the best lights available. (But I am going to take a close look at the 10K CoralVue ReefLux bulbs next time. Just a little more par, a little whiter, but the same spike around 450 on IceCaps) Your frag is lavender? Mine has lavender tips, and is growing, but the rest of it is pretty much the same color as when I got it from you. How about the Tri Color you got from me, are the tips real purple? Body still light colored? What 10k bulbs/ballasts are you running?

Daddyjax - I admit....I'm a little anal about keeping my tank clean That green Digi I got from you is still a very nice green, it didn't lighten up. Seems something that is only affecting Acros (No....no redbugs. Had them about a year ago, know what to look for)

I do feed pretty light. My own mix (fresh seafood from the grocery store - mix in some cyclopeze, etc in a food processor and freeze) I'm really starting to think there is something to feeding a little heavier than I do. What are you guys feeding? Fresh food, flake, pellets?

I also change my filter sock daily, 20 gal water changes at least every other week, sometimes every week, etc.

This shot also shows some of the other colors.There is a larger Nathan's Green Millie at the bottom of the pic, an Ora Rose (yes, Rose - I know it's not supposed to be red) Millie above it, a little bit of a green slimer & a green cap is visible between the Rose Millie and the Orange (yes, orange - I know it's kind of pink) cap.
And yes, you can tell the water is clear from the snail, cleaning magnet, and the Seio 4' away, even with a cheap $100 camera.

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[PelagicMagic]

try stepping down to 10k's. I know some of you said itââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s not the lights but a lower Kelvin bulb helps with color in coral tissue. Reefrubble is running some 10ks. I use the reeflux 10k's
(3-250watt SE on my 180). I got into reeflux bulbs because there was a sale on them at my LFS. I am very happy with these bulbs and probably will not use another brand for a long time. Its a joy to bring home a brown acro from the LFS and watch it color up to a deep purple. From your pics though I wouldnââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t change anything your tank looks great and it is very very clean. its so clean and clear that it looks like you are running ozone.

TangWang are you running 400's?

 

[PelagicMagic]

I also feed homemade food. I use fresh fish that I catch (reds, trout, cobia, etc) and mix it w/ some sushi grade nori from publix. some spinach leaves and sometimes a small piece of garlic. I use a food processor and freeze the mix in ziplocks or old food trays. I also feed life line but at 30 bucks a bag its not cost effective to feed my large load of fish.

 

[robthorn]

dave I know you have to be getting tired of people telling you to change your lights I know you have done this already. I don't think that is it at all. flake food is pretty high in iron and protiens. amino acids are needed if they are not there . you could try a couple different things seperaetely for like a month. amino acids may do the trick maybe you are starving your corals of something. well not maybe it's a yes I am almost sure it's just finding out what they are lacking. corals need nitrogen as much as we try to rid the system of it they need it just the same if you are not directly feeding them. phyto might help or pohls coral vital or alot of foods meant for corals.
changing your socks every day is probably not a good thing . I know that sounds stupid but it's probably bad. I would go to every other day for a month and then maybe every third day. the corals actually need the byproducts of the stuff you are pulling out.
just don't change your lights again especially to coralvue

 

[PelagicMagic]

Whats wrong with coralvue?

 

[robthorn]

everything when I tried them and 2 other close friends. they are cheaply made and not pyrex outer glass. unless they changed them for the better but without a significant price increase I doubt it.

 

[robthorn]

they killed every coral underneath them and bleached a black clownfish.

 

[PelagicMagic]

how far from the waters surface have you placed them? what is the Wattage of your lights also? Do you have strong surface currents? I have mine 6-7" off the surface and have had no issue. When I first got them I had the lights 14" off the waters surface and lowered them down over a months time. Sorry to hear about your loss but I have only had good results

 

[david8956]

try stepping down to 10k's

I actually tried XM 10k's. 1) Too yellow for me, 2) too bright, almost needed sunglasses to look at the tank (my sand is pretty white), and 3) all of my corals lightened up even more than they are now. I acclimated everything by using 5 layers of window screen & removed 1 each week. The corals were starting to lighten up a week after removing the last piece of screen.

I know some of you said itââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s not the lights but a lower Kelvin bulb helps with color in coral tissue. Reefrubble is running some 10ks. I use the reeflux 10k's

Using Icecap ballasts (250 watt) the AquaConnect 14K's have a par of 83, while the ReefLux 10K have a par of 86.

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I wouldn't think that little extra par would make much difference in the way corals color up. Maybe the spectrum would.

Its a joy to bring home a brown acro from the LFS and watch it color up to a deep purple.

I agree, but I can change brown corals too. Mine just change to a light lavender instead of a deep purple
I think I'm just going to increase my feedings, and the # of fish, and see what difference that makes in the colors.

 

[robthorn]

my light deal with them was about 2 years ago and they were poor to deal with so I just say forget it. my lights were 7 inches tony's were 12 or so and shauns were about 13-14 off the water. current I would say the surface stayed in motion. they were just plain bad bulbs and they admitted to us on the phone they were bad and were making new ones and sent us replacements that were also the old ones so I say no more business from me. why do you think they are changing to reeflux instead of using the coralvue name? they made alot of bad bulb deals. hopefully they are better I just can't support them and I can't recommend them to anyone either considering my past experiences with them.
I now run giesemann t5's only and have been having good luck with them so far.
dave I agree with you trying to feed more at least for a month or so to see what happens. the salifert amino acids are supposed to be good but I never saw a difference from using it but I also didn't have a nutrient poor system. I have always feed alot . I have the skimmer to do it now for sure
selco or selcon mixed in with your food will do a good job of supplying some amino acids to your corals. it's pretty oily so don't freak out.
brine shrimp direct has selco which I think is a concentrate for selcon