Wild and Maricultured SPS Reefers Thread
- Thread starter biggles
- Start date
Aussie
Got these last week.
Last one Having trouble getting to color up.
Pic from Vendor
http://www.liveaquaria.com/diversden/ItemDisplay.cfm?c=2733+2&ddid=198172
Got these last week.
Last one Having trouble getting to color up.
Pic from Vendor
http://www.liveaquaria.com/diversden/ItemDisplay.cfm?c=2733+2&ddid=198172
Grandlotus
Member
Wow, amazing colors on these corals!
Keep up the good work.
Keep up the good work.
biggles
Premium Member
Damn Volcano those are some nice SPS you have there, obviously i think all the green ones should go back but i have a 'thing' about green acros lol. I love the two below in particular. :thumbsup:
I don't really have a list as such but after years of seeing thousands of acros in the LFS and what colors they actually are once happy again i can tell you that most of the pale beautiful pastels you see are nothing more than a coral well on the way to bleaching - that last acro you're having trouble getting to color up is a classic example as is the vendor pic. That's nothing like the colors you'll see once it recovers - feed the you know what out of it and that sickly pale color will become a great deal more saturated imo.
You can't really go wrong with Aus milli's and prostrata's from the colors i see in all the LFS's here and the best are exported to the US. The colors that develop on them are simply stunning so def go with those guys. I go for anything with colorful polyps that are a diff color to the pigments on the branches as the contrast is always beautiful.
I don't really have a list as such but after years of seeing thousands of acros in the LFS and what colors they actually are once happy again i can tell you that most of the pale beautiful pastels you see are nothing more than a coral well on the way to bleaching - that last acro you're having trouble getting to color up is a classic example as is the vendor pic. That's nothing like the colors you'll see once it recovers - feed the you know what out of it and that sickly pale color will become a great deal more saturated imo.
You can't really go wrong with Aus milli's and prostrata's from the colors i see in all the LFS's here and the best are exported to the US. The colors that develop on them are simply stunning so def go with those guys. I go for anything with colorful polyps that are a diff color to the pigments on the branches as the contrast is always beautiful.
trueblackpercula
New member
Well after doing lots of research and reading everything I possible could on LEDs I purchased the radion. The reason for this was two fold, first it gave me a lot of options to co from what colors and intensity would best fit my needs. Not to mention it did t need a full time controller to add to the expense. Second it was less expensive the the mitras fixture that I really wanted. But in the end my results with the fixture has proven to be satisfactory.
As for the colors of the SPS the look great and it is very hard for me to capture there true colors with an IPhone 5 and really need a camera. As for the greens this has been a challenge to achieve as for me they look more yellow then green. Blues look great and really pop under my fixture and as for my SSC she's still very small but growing very fast and has that strawberry color and light greenish color to it.
From my observation. With this fixture it really makes the zoanthela illuminate very well and if you put just the blue led on the Sps look like neon signs. One of the biggest draw backs to this led madness is getting the correct balance of LEDs and there intensity correct.
I really underestimated its power and my Sps were getting pale in color. After lowering the intensity from 100% to 85% my Sps are getting nice and juicy in color. I may even lower it some more in about a month to 75% if the Sps don't really darken up.
My tank is deep so I need to find that sweat spot as most of the Sps in my tank are 16 to 20 inches below the water line. Here is a picture of my blue Aussie at about 600 pm at night when the lights are on the decending and mostly blue spectrum.
I purchased this wild collect in January 4th and it has doubled in thickness and has turned deeper blue then when I fist picked it up. It had that brownsh blue pale color you talked about and is really thriving. Also to the left is a green slimmer and let me tell you when I got it, it was really green and is more yellow now but growing very fast and always has full PE.
Well here is the picture and talk to you soon my friend.
rogerwilco357
Active member
yes
yes
I totally agree and makes it worth the time and trouble to such beauties unfold over time..good job
As far as placement with leds like mentioned above imo I think A par meter goes hand in hand when using leds ,only because they have more defined light placement some very narrow almost like a laser beam.Unlike the MH wide displacement or T5's . I cannot wait to get my LEDs ..
Roger
yes
I totally agree and makes it worth the time and trouble to such beauties unfold over time..good job
As far as placement with leds like mentioned above imo I think A par meter goes hand in hand when using leds ,only because they have more defined light placement some very narrow almost like a laser beam.Unlike the MH wide displacement or T5's . I cannot wait to get my LEDs ..
Roger
That's the best thing about browned out wilds rogerwilco, they can only get better
I was hoping you'd join in Rodney, i must say the SPS being collected and sold in our LFS's compared to 10 years ago is a million times better both in colors and diff species regularly on offer - i see the coral bombardment has begun in your reef lol.
Most stuff has been placed 2-3" from each other neuro. Something to remember also is many of the branches i buy i break up into 2-3 bits and stick here and there to see how they go in diff conditions. I remove one if i buy something new and think it will do better there etc. That's why i have a never bloody ending frag count racking up as i can't bring myself to kill acros. I have 6-7 small colonies in the tank and another 30-35 SPS 'bits' which are basically branches broken off branches i bought.
On another note, check out the awesome color the acro i dumped from the display has turned under the LED light in the sump dump lol. You can see the little acro crab who's one of two living in the acro right down the bottom of the colony. That yellowy looking stag tip is actually from the green monster in the display - looks totally different after being under LED's for about 4 months. Everything else looks drab and sickly as you can see lol, blue white LED units are not something i'd recommend for SPS keeping after testing lots of stuff against the radium and T5's but i'm yet to try a full spectrum unit.
Last edited:
trueblackpercula
New member
Your 100% correct. I have thought about purchasing one and just haven't gotten around to it.
trueblackpercula
New member
sorry forgot to include the pictures. Also if you look close you can see the leds how they have hot spots on some of my sps.
wild collected blue aussie on the right
wild collected blue aussie on the right
biggles
Premium Member
Thanks for explaining how you get the best from your LED lighting Perc, appreciate the intensity point as i've been running the 120W unit over the sump with both channels at 100% - going to drop it drastically to see what happens. :thumbsup:
That blue stag looks almost identical to the one i stabbed the green monster with, i bet it's from the same collector in Aus who has a 'crop' he harvests from, there aren't too many collectors exporting so chances are we may have the same acro lol. Yours is looking great, mine still has pretty ordinary PE and it's taking a long time to settle - prob due to the high light spot i shoved it straight into
I have to agree about the blue lights on anything green, it's awesome to see. The hot spots are very obvious mate, that's one thing that i think causes big issues for those who aren't aware of it and wonder why just one or two corals suddenly starts going downhill. I find taking photos lets you see the true brightness of areas in your tank as the camera shows a lot more light contrast than your eyes will. Your last pic is a good example i think.
I fully agree that a PAR meter is very important to anyone taking the LED plunge Roger, if i ever do i will definitely be purchasing one as LED's are deceptively intense. It still blows me away a bit that 50-60 of these tiny little lights can do what my halide does, they'll just get better and better over the next couple of years. What LED lighting are you going with mate.
Okay well they should know shouldn't they, i mean they keep these corals for years at a time in colorful and healthy condition..........
This is what i do most times with all new acros large enough to take one or two frags off. I leave the coral in the bottom half and place a frag up high and another in between the two pieces. It lets me see what's what within a couple of weeks without stressing an already unhappy coral. It also gives me time to work out where i really want it and whether i can do it considering flow and light intensity.
A few people contacted me and asked for more detail on how much i feed at each coral feeding so i made a quick video of one feed of cyclopseeze. I must say that i rushed the time i normally take, if you look close you can see i hit my thumbnail with a hammer today and it's sore as hell so it was hurting when i rubbed my finger against it lol. It's the smoky mist that you want, not all those bits that i released because i didn't dissolve it slow enough. I hope it still shows you that when i say a pinch i mean a BIG pinch lol.
Excuse the dopy clown who got in the way at the start - he likes cyclopseeze a lot and gets all excited swimming in food.
That blue stag looks almost identical to the one i stabbed the green monster with, i bet it's from the same collector in Aus who has a 'crop' he harvests from, there aren't too many collectors exporting so chances are we may have the same acro lol. Yours is looking great, mine still has pretty ordinary PE and it's taking a long time to settle - prob due to the high light spot i shoved it straight into
I have to agree about the blue lights on anything green, it's awesome to see. The hot spots are very obvious mate, that's one thing that i think causes big issues for those who aren't aware of it and wonder why just one or two corals suddenly starts going downhill. I find taking photos lets you see the true brightness of areas in your tank as the camera shows a lot more light contrast than your eyes will. Your last pic is a good example i think. I fully agree that a PAR meter is very important to anyone taking the LED plunge Roger, if i ever do i will definitely be purchasing one as LED's are deceptively intense. It still blows me away a bit that 50-60 of these tiny little lights can do what my halide does, they'll just get better and better over the next couple of years. What LED lighting are you going with mate.
Okay well they should know shouldn't they, i mean they keep these corals for years at a time in colorful and healthy condition..........
This is what i do most times with all new acros large enough to take one or two frags off. I leave the coral in the bottom half and place a frag up high and another in between the two pieces. It lets me see what's what within a couple of weeks without stressing an already unhappy coral. It also gives me time to work out where i really want it and whether i can do it considering flow and light intensity.
A few people contacted me and asked for more detail on how much i feed at each coral feeding so i made a quick video of one feed of cyclopseeze. I must say that i rushed the time i normally take, if you look close you can see i hit my thumbnail with a hammer today and it's sore as hell so it was hurting when i rubbed my finger against it lol. It's the smoky mist that you want, not all those bits that i released because i didn't dissolve it slow enough. I hope it still shows you that when i say a pinch i mean a BIG pinch lol.
Excuse the dopy clown who got in the way at the start - he likes cyclopseeze a lot and gets all excited swimming in food.
trueblackpercula
New member
Freaking amazing Sps you have there. I am so happy for you as it's simply a work of art. I agree about the stag as I have not seen another since I picked mine up in January of this year. I would have to say its not common over here at all and people always asking me for a frag.
I don't know if you talked about this but how so you maintain your Alk and calcium?
I don't know if you talked about this but how so you maintain your Alk and calcium?
biggles
Premium Member
You're very kind Perc, thanks mate I was trying to show the water loaded with food not the corals lol. I plan to keep about three small clams in that hidden grotto in between the raft on the left and the 'U' shaped main structure. If you look from the right side you can see that hidden area through the main arch as well so it should look cool as you can't see a lot of stuff from a straight front shot, actually there's no spot you can stand and see more than about 70% of the corals so it's a bit of a treasure hunt when i want to check everything out.
The tank will be 8 months old next week so it's still very young but it should grow in well over time and i haven't finished my SPS collection yet, there's a few acros like a nice ice fire colored echinata that will be going in there - it's just a matter of time until i score one
I just use 2 part dosing done manually with bulk supplied chemicals from an Aus online vender like you BRS vendor does. I've used baking soda from the grocers for years as well, never used a commercial product intended for the reef actually. My first tank with the DSB was maintained primarily with builders lime from the hardware shop as my kalk and everything was happy so i think as long as you give the corals what they want it doesn't really matter to a large extent how you get it to them.
I just want to point out that i started this thread for all of us who keep wild sourced (mari are wild) SPS to share info and hopefully learn from each other so we can all have success. Everyone should feel free to have mini conversations on here as it's not my thread it's just a good place where we can gather a large amount of info by discussing out methods, including our stuff ups :facepalm:
In Aus blue stags are a dime a dozen and i ignore most, especially the thick branched ones. I've seen them 1 1/4" dia at the snapped off branch end - we're talking 'man' stags lol. Almost all are a beautiful baby blue which fools a lot of reefers starting out - they're not baby blue they're all stressed and part bleached and that's why they look so beautiful pastel blue. In many cases they will darken drastically and quite often look drabber than you hoped so look for one with blue polyps as well and the acro will still look quite cool. I'm sure Rodney has seen lots of the same baby blue stags over the years in Sydney. I'm sure if i bought a hundred different blue stag branches over the next year i would find one that was stunning blue all over like one of those famous aquacultured acros - that's how they do it when they 'name' a coral. I wish i could order some of your cool US aquacultured acros Perc....... i'd be broke lol.
Many light blue acros are actually badly bleached purples, that's another thing you discover over time. Just sharing some info i've learned the hard way :thumbsup:
I was trying to show the water loaded with food not the corals lol. I plan to keep about three small clams in that hidden grotto in between the raft on the left and the 'U' shaped main structure. If you look from the right side you can see that hidden area through the main arch as well so it should look cool as you can't see a lot of stuff from a straight front shot, actually there's no spot you can stand and see more than about 70% of the corals so it's a bit of a treasure hunt when i want to check everything out.The tank will be 8 months old next week so it's still very young but it should grow in well over time and i haven't finished my SPS collection yet, there's a few acros like a nice ice fire colored echinata that will be going in there - it's just a matter of time until i score one
I just use 2 part dosing done manually with bulk supplied chemicals from an Aus online vender like you BRS vendor does. I've used baking soda from the grocers for years as well, never used a commercial product intended for the reef actually. My first tank with the DSB was maintained primarily with builders lime from the hardware shop as my kalk and everything was happy so i think as long as you give the corals what they want it doesn't really matter to a large extent how you get it to them.
I just want to point out that i started this thread for all of us who keep wild sourced (mari are wild) SPS to share info and hopefully learn from each other so we can all have success. Everyone should feel free to have mini conversations on here as it's not my thread it's just a good place where we can gather a large amount of info by discussing out methods, including our stuff ups :facepalm:
In Aus blue stags are a dime a dozen and i ignore most, especially the thick branched ones. I've seen them 1 1/4" dia at the snapped off branch end - we're talking 'man' stags lol. Almost all are a beautiful baby blue which fools a lot of reefers starting out - they're not baby blue they're all stressed and part bleached and that's why they look so beautiful pastel blue. In many cases they will darken drastically and quite often look drabber than you hoped so look for one with blue polyps as well and the acro will still look quite cool. I'm sure Rodney has seen lots of the same baby blue stags over the years in Sydney. I'm sure if i bought a hundred different blue stag branches over the next year i would find one that was stunning blue all over like one of those famous aquacultured acros - that's how they do it when they 'name' a coral. I wish i could order some of your cool US aquacultured acros Perc....... i'd be broke lol.
Many light blue acros are actually badly bleached purples, that's another thing you discover over time. Just sharing some info i've learned the hard way :thumbsup:
echopiece
Member
Great video, thanks! That helps me understand exactly how much you are feeding! You do that 5 times a day huh? Yeah, my fish go nuts when I feed the reef chili. I constantly tell them to save some for the corals lol
Your tank still makes me drool, and I am very jealous. You should be really proud!
Your tank still makes me drool, and I am very jealous. You should be really proud!
neuro
the cat did it
Online usually supplies a name LFS hit or miss , had one batch trans shipped, list of species sent, you figure it out.
No offense, but.... what?
