Help with An ID?

[REEFER]

What is the name for this?

[Pineapple House]

I can only tell from the picture that it is a Small Polyp Scleractinian (A.K.A.
'SPS'), which looks similiar to a species of Acropora. That would be the best I could do when it comes to Identification of SPS.

It doesn't look very healthy though, I can see some rapid bleaching down by the base. When did you buy it? Did you know how to take care of it when you bought it, without knowing what it was? It will recover, but will take some time.

What halides do you have, and how many watts each?

Graham

[REEFER]

I just got it.

The white stuff at the base could be glue.
2 MH 10000k 175w. 6 1/2 hrs day

4 65w PC atinic 10hrs day.

Whay should I feed? Target feed?

[Pineapple House]

No, i'm not talking about the very bottom of the base (I can slightly see the glue). It looks quite damaged, as much of the coral is bleached (look around the corals 'base' area. Start by seeing the coloration up top. As you come down, you see the bleached areas).

Your lighting will suit its needs, but you would see much better results using a higher wattage of halide.

SPS should not be target fed. The only thing that feeds them is the zooxanthellae inside its tissues. They will not need any direct feedings of any sort.

Graham

[REEFER]

I can't just swap out my 175 for 250 w/o getting a new fixture correct?

[Pineapple House]

When I said "you would see much better results using a higher wattage of halide," I was going more along the line of 2x 400wt Bulbs. Switching from 175wt to 250wt halides won't make a large difference on your corals, although it will slightly help. You would be much better off with 2x 400wt halides than 2x 250wt halides.

Anyway, what ballast are you using? Could you give us some information about your Halide setup? I think this is on a 90 gallon, correct? How deep is the tank? How far down is the coral you have?

Graham

[REEFER]

The lighting sytem is fronm hamilton technolgies, the ballast is for 175w lights, upgrading to a 400w ballast is not a big deal. Don't you think 2 400w MH is too much light on my tank?

My 90 is 48lx18wx24h
The coral is placed in the lower tier.

Wow! this reef stuff is deep.

[Pineapple House]

If you don't mind spending $500.00 on a new halide system, then you should look into upgrading to 2x 400wt halides. There's many ways you could go here:

2x 400wt 20,000k Radiums with PFO HQI ballast

2x 400wt 10,000k Ushios with PFO ballast and 2, 110wt 48" URI VHO's "03"

2x 400wt 6,500k Iwasaki's with 4x 110wt 48" URI VHO's "03" actinic

The list goes on and on.

Right now, I would place your coral higher up in your aquarium. Your halides will keep the coral alive, but, you might not see the best coloration and/or growth on this coral. If you placed it up in the higher portion of your tank (maybe in the top 7" of the waterline), you might see much better results than putting it at the bottom. If you aren't going to really venture into SPS and T. Clams, I personally wouldn't spend the money on the halides. If you are planning on buying much more SPS corals and/or clams, you would greatly benifit to upgrade to 2x 400wt Halides on that tank. Although, that's up to you. I personally find 2x 175wt halides low-lighting for that size tank. Again, the Acropora will live under that lighting if you placed it up higher in the tank, but it would do much better with 400wt halides. It's all you to you. This is going to be costly.

www.hellolights.com, and www.reeffanatic.com are awesome places to buy lighting! I have ordered from both, and both are great places with great prices! Awesome service, too!

Graham

[BigFish]

sorry but PH since you seem to be adding alot on this topic I have a question.

1) do you have a pic of your tant with the 20k halides? I really want to see them with no actinic suplement (my lfs has 20k in a display tank but they have actinics with them)

2) On hellolights.com it says 20k's are to simulate deeper water, but you say they are good for sps corals (dont get me wrong I trust you) so can you elaborate on why they are good for sps and I what wattage would you recomend for my 29g I was thinking either 175 or 250 what is better for a 29g tank?

3) where is a good place to get a hood for mh lights? Do I need to build one? I cants seem to find a hood tall enough for the halides for my size of tank.. My tank is 31& 1/4in x 13& 1/4in. (also I dont want a pendant hanging from my ceiling)

My lfs tells me it would be dumb to put mh on a 29g and they dont even want to talk to me about it. The only thing they will say is buy it if you want but I cant tell you what will happen.

[Zack]

that looks like colt as well...

[Pineapple House]

that looks like colt as well...
I can clearly see that the coral is not a colt, as in soft coral. It is in fact an SPS coral. You can clearly see the branching apperence, purple colored tips, the stoney calcium carbonate based skeleton at the bottom of the coral which is bleched, the 'polyp holders,' and many other physical apperences.

BigFish:

1. Yes, I do have a picture of my tank with the radiums. I'll post them later on.

2. Yes, they do stimulate the 'deeper-waters' by giving out a Crisp white color, which may have a very slight tint of blue. Many SPS will show the best growth under the 6,500k Iwasaki bulbs. But, many people who have had experience with SPS under different spectrums of lighting, have found you get about the same amount of growth from the corals under both radiums and the 6,500k Saki's. Many SPS will live not from the spectrum of the lighting, but the Intensity from it. Many SPS are found in waters as deep as 40 feet, and possibly more.

I wouldn't go with the 250wt 20,000k radiums. They usually have much less P.A.R. than the standard bulb. On such a size tank. I would go with the 250wt halide. Do some reaserch on exactly what you're looking for.

3. One word- DIY :wink:

4. Stop listening to your LFS. They likely don't want to sell you halides, because they aren't sponsered by a halide company :wink:

Graham

[BigFish]

They do have halides but they told me they dont think I need them on a 29g. All they sell is Iwisaki. so......... mabe they are sponsored

[BigFish]

oh and thx ph :mrgreen:

[spikereef]

Let me know if this is a hard or soft coral then I can help identify.