Questions/Update on 30g Pics included

[Frogspawn]

i have a few questions on this. if you take notice of my acro sps and my pulsing exzina.

1. i am concernd about my acro sps. the color is not making me feel well and i think there might be somthing wrong. i first want to say it contains a crab that came with it. i guess it was a bonus second the polyps still come out and wave in the current. so that makes me feel a little better. i guess if they were not. then i would be a litttle more concerned.

2. my pulsing exzina. its getting huge and i think the plug its on its stuning its growth. i need to move it to place where it has plenty of room to grow. i need to know how to do this and what kinda light lvls do they require? i was thinking of placing it in the middle of the tank on the arch looking peice of tonga i have on the right side. if i cut this off the plug how can i attach it to the tonga. please include steps how to do this. its my first frag attempt. 8O

3. also i have a HOB refuge. that was great for my 55g. but i decided to use it on my 30g. its a little big for the tank and i had to do some modifiying to get it to work. the return on the refuge just dumps into the tank and causes ALOT of micro bubbles. i was wondering if there was a way to fix this. i though i heard of people making boxes to help out but i was not shure what i should use here. if u need a pic i will be more then happy to post one.

here are my new pics. they would have came sooner but i had problems posting

 

[roka64]

I'm not a reefer, but color can depend on your lighting. From your other post about them not looking the same, find out what lighting they used to get those colors....Just a guess...

 

[macman7010]

frogspawn,

Roka is right, the color and growth rate of Acro spp. is often linked to light. Although most SPS corals require near perfect water quality. This means little to no nitrate, perfect calcium and alk levels and so on. What type of lighting are you using, what is the spectrum and how many watts is the light? That is the first question.

It looks to me like the back sides of your Acro are bleaching pretty bad. Bleaching is total absence of flesh and in time a bleaching SPS coral will totally expire.

 

[Frogspawn]

wow not cool.
well for lighting i use 150 MH and color i belive is on the 15,000k side.
water quality is near perfect. i am cutting back feeding to every other day and i dont have alot of alage growing so that tells me i dont have alot of nutrents in the tank so i am not over feeding.
the only thing i can think of is its right beside of my return for my refuge and its getting pounded with micro bubbles. the Ph's are pointed some what in the direction of the acro and they are on a wave maker.
as for a alk test kit. i am not able to get out and buy on till thursday or friday. i just did a 5g water change on it this morning like i do every monday morning. can you tell me more about bleaching? i will do a quick search on the web also but when i do that i always get stuff i dont understand.
how can i get this coral to come out of this?

wow. i just did a search and i got to say i am sad. the out come for this guy is not good and they dont tend to overcome bleaching. i seen that acro 's are very senitve to these things. i just moved my sps to a different spot and i turned it around to see the whole back side of this sps complety white. i guess its going to die . its my first lost with this tank. i am so so sad what should i do with it? i dont want it to spread anything to my other corals. also what can i do about the crab inside of it, will he live out side of the coral?

 

[MarineFlake]

1. i am concernd about my acro sps. the color is not making me feel well and i think there might be somthing wrong. i first want to say it contains a crab that came with it. i guess it was a bonus second the polyps still come out and wave in the current. so that makes me feel a little better. i guess if they were not. then i would be a litttle more concerned. Maybe Im missing something but I don't see a problem with the coral. The close up pic you posted is kinda of fuzzy. You did not mention how long it had been in the tank or post any water parms so its difficult to advise on its condition. I can say from experience that they will brown under less intense light. I have SPS frags about half way down a 75G under 440W of VHO and they grow great but are not as colorful as they were under MH. Stay on top of your Ca (380 - 400), MG and ALK.

2. my pulsing exzina. its getting huge and i think the plug its on its stuning its growth. i need to move it to place where it has plenty of room to grow. i need to know how to do this and what kinda light lvls do they require? i was thinking of placing it in the middle of the tank on the arch looking peice of tonga i have on the right side. if i cut this off the plug how can i attach it to the tonga. please include steps how to do this. its my first frag attempt. If its growing well, xenia may be the bane of your tank. If you are experiencing good growth with it you could place it virtually anywhere in the tank and it will be quick to spread. I would recommend placing somewhere ez to reach for pruning. As for exactly how to do it, just place it on the plug in the location you want. Again if its growing well it will multiply rapidly and you can remove the plug once you no longer need it. Not an exact science, more of an art..

3. also i have a HOB refuge. that was great for my 55g. but i decided to use it on my 30g. its a little big for the tank and i had to do some modifiying to get it to work. the return on the refuge just dumps into the tank and causes ALOT of micro bubbles. i was wondering if there was a way to fix this. i though i heard of people making boxes to help out but i was not shure what i should use here. if u need a pic i will be more then happy to post one.

 

[ellisz]

Agree with PC. The acro could be brown but as long as the polyps are extended it is happy. Color temps of the bulbs can be a huge factor on color.

The xenia will grow off that plug and on on to anything near it. Do not worry about that.