Red dragon placement under T5s

[RobertK]

Hi,

I bought a frag of this coral last week:

It is in my 70 gallon tank about 12" under 4 54 watt T5s in a lower flow area, and looks like this:

Should I leave it be or move it higher up into a higher light and flow area? Of course I want it to color up AMAP. Where do you keep your red dragon?

Thanks,
Robert

 

[javisaman]

Keep it in lower light to start off. Pretty much the same protocol with all SPS. The DFS red dragon isn't exactly the same as the Tyree CITR red dragon, but likely very very similar. They tend to be deeper red lower and more pinkish higher.

 

[RobertK]

Thanks for that. How long should I give it to color up before I consider moving it?

 

[javisaman]

If it turns brown, move it up. Give it a few weeks. It might take months for you to get the sweet spot.

 

[RobertK]

It was brown when it arrived and is still brown one week later. Guess I'll move it up in a couple weeks if it hasn't colored up at all.

Thanks,
RK

 

[Big E]

I have a 4 bulb T5 setup also & I usually expect any brown acro to take 2 months or more to color up. The new growth will give an earlier clue as to how it may color up.

 

[RobertK]

Thanks, Ed!

Robert

 

[acanlover]

thats a sweet frag!!!

 

[slojmn]

I've had the same coral from DD for about a month now, it came in very brown...it has gotten a bit redder but not a ton. I think it has quite a bit of room to color up. I am keeping it lower in the tank. I have the Tyree CITR red dragon on its way...I am curious to see how the two compare over time.
It's interesting how purple your coral was in the photo from DD and then how brown it looks after shipping. But since the sand bed is purple as well I guess the color saturation was a little lover the top. Hehehehehe.

 

[RobertK]

Yeah, I wonder if they Photoshop their pics or take them under some kind of insane lighting.

I moved my frag up for a few days and actually got some tissue recession on one of the branches. Had to clip the branch off and moved it back down low.

slojmn, what kind of lighting do you have it under?

 

[RobertK]

Interesting that the frags of the same coral posted on DD today are not as colorful as the one I bought:

 

[javisaman]

I think it depends more on where the frag was cut from. When I got my RD it was cut from the top of a colony and looked completely white. It took 4 weeks for it to finally color back. But had I taken the frag from a lower branch I bet I wouldn't have had to wait.