Purple digi

[bobbyblank]

I was given a few frags of purp digi which had broken off a piece in a persons tank. The frags layed in the shade in his tank for a while and lost some color. The frags are still growing good, just lost a lot of color. These are my first attempt at "starter" SPS so im curious to see how it goes. I was wondering if the frags will gain some color back under my PC lights. I know you can grow some digi under PC, just not super great results. Im just wondering if they will stay dulled out or will the gain some color back.

thanks
bobby

 

[drock59]

For me, purple digi's are my nemesis. I cant get them to color up no matter what I try. IME, they will stay dulled out.

 

[graveyardworm]

I havent quite figured out the purple digi's yet. Sometimes the color is good and others its dark.

 

[bobbyblank]

lol, great! looks like im in for a looooong road lol. Its a light brown/violet color. I aclimated it and all polyps are opened so that has to be a good sign

 

[ros_sco]

I have had a couple of brownies color up nicely in bright light, but I have another that stayed brown with purple tips.

 

[bobbyblank]

colored under MH or PC?

 

[bureau13]

I have a large "purple digi" that is and has always been (at least in my tank) a very light purple with dark brown polyps. Naturally, this is one of the few corals that really has good, constant polyp extension!

I've been eyeballing a frag that is a really nice, bright purple with purple polyps. Looks nothing like mine. If that's what you have, maybe it will look better.

jds

 

[Horace]

The purple digi is perhaps one of the highest light demanding corals out there. IMO you will not get this coral to color up under PCs unless your water is pristine. I will tell you that they CAN color back up given the right conditions.

Here is my purple digi when I got it:

Here it is now

 

[Oldude]

Purple Digi's can be fickle. This one below used to be completely brown then colored up then brown but is now like this. The need a lot of light with a good med flow.

 

[Toddrtrex]

Under PC lights I don't expect yours to ever color up.

I have a bunch of purple digi in my 58. The ones that are in the center of the tank and closest to the lights ( 2*175 Iwasaki ) are the only ones that are purple. The ones that are off to the sides have a nice brownish purple color to them. ( and I say "nice" to make me feel better about them )

I should also note that this tank has been a bit neglected as of late, and I haven't been doing as many water changes as normal. I do believe that this has also been a factor in some of the color shift.

 

[Horace]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10751034#post10751034 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Toddrtrex
Under PC lights I don't expect yours to ever color up.

This is probably true...

 

[Toddrtrex]

Heck I even moved a frag of mine to my 75 ( when it had 65*6 PC ) and it turned really brown. Sure there was still some growth -- very slow, and good PE, the color left a lot to be desired. I have since upgraded the lights ( 2*250 phoenix + 2*54 T5 ) and I am starting to see an improvement in the color, though it is taking longer than I thought it would.

Note, when it was under the PC lights it was about 4" from the lights, so it was about as close as it could be in my tank.

Edit and Note #2. But, I have found this to be one of the hardiest corals ( SPS ) that I have kept. During the neglecting time for my 58g, I lost several colonies, and besides some color shift, the purple digi wasn't effected. --- lack of water changes, alk and cal getting all out of whack, etc.

 

[Horace]

Digis are VERY resiliant, definitely much more hardy than most other SPS.

If you notice the location of mine... it was directly under T5s (w/out individual reflectors) for a number of months with no color. I upgraded to individual reflectors and within weeks it colored up... Seriously, this coral needs to be blasted.

This was what the coral looked like under 6x optomized T5

 

[bobbyblank]

Thanks for all the responces. Well at least i know it will stay alive until i move it to a bigger tank with MH. I plan on a 120g but am waiting until i buy my house .

 

[bureau13]

Holy crap, that browned-out picture looks exactly like mine. I gotta move it up if its going to turn into your second picture...

jds

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10750113#post10750113 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Horace
The purple digi is perhaps one of the highest light demanding corals out there. IMO you will not get this coral to color up under PCs unless your water is pristine. I will tell you that they CAN color back up given the right conditions.

Here is my purple digi when I got it:

Here it is now

 

[Oldude]

These were always brown when I had pc lighting. They smartened up once I went to 250W MH. This is under 10K
My green & purple have fuzed together in many spots.

 

[chessmanmark]

Bureau, your picture is inspiring. My purple digi has always been brown. It's under 250W, but never colored up. It's presently growing on my back glass. I gave up on it ever turning purple. I'm waiting for a new magnessium test kit and hope that may influence the color if the mag is low. You can see the dissapointing coral on the back glass.

Oldude, that's just awsome. I have some caps that grow around each other but the mix of colors with the digi looks cool.

 

[bureau13]

Chessmark, those pictures ARE inspiring, but unfortunately they're not my digi! I was quoting Horace's post, and it included his pictures. Mine looks a lot like yours in that picture Its very tall, so I've been mounting it in the lower middle of the tank...I think it might look funny too high, maybe I should frag it into a "field" of several shorter pieces....hmmm....

jds

 

[chessmanmark]

Speedreading = mixed up reefer. Nice job Horace.

 

[dukes707]

funny i have never had trouble with any of my digis. when i got my purple it was just a thin brown stick. after a couple weeks it started to color up really well, and now its so purple the growth tips look blue under reeflux 12k's. i read a lot about peeps having trouble with this coral, guess i just got lucky. got the frag from a buddy in whose tank it was always a brown stick, he didnt even know what color it was supposed to be anymore cause it was so long since he'd seen the real color of it. fast grower, mod light, mod flow keeps him happy as can be. i dont think it will color up really well under just PC's. one of my other buddies i gave a frag to has it under some HO t5's and having trouble keeping its color even though his water quality is awesome. not that they are needed but MH help to keep this ones color a lot. HTH

-dukes