Ok I'm New To The SPS Game...

[Canadian]

I received my first SPSs last night!

I have one softball sized "Blue Acropora" which currently appears white with baby blue tips (blue color covers about half of each branch) and a similarily sized "Green Staghorn." When I put them in the tank last night the polyps of the Blue Acropora began expanding within a few hours but those of the Staghorn were just barely peaking out.

I also had to epoxy the Blue Acropora into place because everything in my tank was checking it out at the same time and kept knocking it over. So now I'm forced to acclimate this thing at the top of the tank. I figure my only option for acclimation now is to just run my lights on a shortened photoperiod and increase the photoperiod slowly over a period of a few weeks.

Also, when I woke up this morning (lights were on) neither of the corals were showing polyps expansion. I know that some don't expand their polyps during the day but actually do so at night. Is this the case with these two "species"? ("species" is in quotes because "Blue Acropora" isn't exactly an accurate species indentification and that's all I have to go with :))

So all of you experienced SPSers...can you lend a "newbie" a hand? Please inform me about acclimation, quirks/behaviors of the the two that I currently have, and any other words of wisdom.

[SueT]

Canadian, I can only add my experience with my own sps corals. IME, my acropora all extend polyps within a few minutes of being placed into my system. They also mostly have their polyps extended 24/7. I know there are those certain spp. that only extend at night, I just have not, either experienced those spp. or they may extend even more at night. What kind of lighting environment did these acropora come from?? What is your lighting system compared to the previous?? Could there be some light shock going on?? If not, then the knocking over of the blue may have caused it to not feel safe enough to extend it's polyps. Plus with the handling of the colony to epoxy it down may also have contributed to it's closing up. As far as the spp. and whether knowing if it's one of those spp. that does not extend during the day, can't tell you without knowing the spp. My staghorns and I have several species, formosa, micropthalma, yongei, nobilis, aspera, and a few others again they all extend during the day, or when I turn the actinics on they're already polyped out and stay that way all day long. What you may do is watch them as it takes awhile for acropora to acclimate to differing systems. Make sure they have good current and maybe make sure to let them be for the time it takes to get accustomed to your reef. If you notice anything different, like polyps still not extending, or color fading{which they may do anyway, again acclimating to your system}, looking like they generally not doing good, then you maybe better post again and see if someone can give you advise on that. Sorry to be so longwinded, but these corals take that kind of care. Or atleast in my experience they do. HTH....

check out my 120sps tank:
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Just wanted to add that getting acropora colonies that size{softball} that it will take them that much longer to acclimate as opposed to frags or smaller sized colonies. It's gonna take some time. I also agree with Nemo, it will take some time for acclimation. The bigger the longer it takes.

[Edited by SueT on 02-25-2001 at 01:45 PM]

[Nemo]

Canadian,
Without a species ID it is next to impossible to give you a definate answer. I have some SPS that only extend polyps at night while others have them constantly out. It all depends on the specific coral. I wouldn't worry about it as long as you are getting extention a some time.

My blue tip stag has such small polyps that they don't appear to extend unless you look VERY closely at night. I have found the blue tip corals to require high lighting intensities and the green staghorns will do well under moderate lighting intensities.

For new acclimations I have found that you should frequently blow them off with a turkey baster to remove mucus ( every couple of hours for a few days). This helps to avoid bacterial infections on them. Slowly acclimate them to your lighting to avoid bleaching.

Nemo

[Canadian]

Thanks guys (well, guy and gal:)).

Unfortunately the corals are wild colonies. That's all I have available to me over here right now. I figured I'd get them anyway and hope for the best so that if they do well I can frag them and start to distribute them around the city to increase the non-existant number of captive fragged SPS.

The corals came from a MO place but a friend of a friend picked them up (about a 3 hour trip) on his way over so they didn't go through any extended shipping or anything.

The corals arrived at the MO place on Friday from Fiji and I received them on Saturday night. So maybe they're a little stressed out with the multiple system changes that they've had to endure during the course of a couple of days.

My lighting consists of a 250W 6500K Iwasaki and 2 95W Actinics on an IceCap 430 for my 33g tank. Because the corals came from Fiji just a day or two ago I can't be sure what kind of lighting they were under previously. With that said, what do you think about my proposed acclimation procedure?

[MtnDewMan]

Canadian,

Just to reassure you. I too have some Acros that only extend their polyps at night. And some that extend 24 hours a day. Some acros I have only have very small polyps, very tough to see unless you look real close, others are hairy looking or even fuzzy looking. All depends on the species.

Check all of them around 2 hours after lights out with a flashlight. All of them should have their polyps extended in my experience.

[Nemo]

Canadian,
I would put them mid way up the tank for a week or so. You don't want to set it under 250's right away. Like Sue said some wild colonies will turn brown before the get acclimated to your system. After a few weeks at that level then move it up a few inches.

Look at how the colony is shaped, which tips are the most colored and what shape it is growing in. These give clues as to what position the coral was growing in the wild. Tips of the coral that have the most color are usually on the top of the coral. Short stubby branches are usually found in high flow areas. Orient the colony so that it is in the same position that it was collected in.

Make sure the colony is stable, any movement will cause the polyps to stay retracted and will stress the coral. When you do move the colony to a higher location, try and keep it oriented in the same position if possible. Place both corals in an area of moderate to high current (don't blow a powerhead directly into the colony).

Green stags are pretty hardy and you probably won't have problems with it. The blue tip IMO are a little finicky

[SueT]

Andrew, If these acropora had that much handling I'm not surprised at all by their behavior. I would also agree that they should be placed at the bottom of your reef and let them acclimate and slowly raise them. If you have the Iwasaki's, like me, they can really put out the light and you don't want to lighting shock the acropora's. I think several other places got Figi stuff in on Friday and they seem to have arrived fine. Give your's a chance and I'll bet they do good for ya. Good luck in your endeavor's to raise these for those that can't get acropora. Geez, I don't know what I would do with no place to get these beautiful corals. Good Luck!!

check out my 120 sps tank:
http://suetruett.homestead.com/home.html
http://www.marshreef.org/members

[toptank]

Canadian,
I got my first acro 2 weeks ago and a few more a week today.
All of them I started on the substrate and then moved up. I couldn't see any polyps for a few days, but now most of them are showing polyps extention.

Good luck with your SPS and keep us posted on what they are doing. :)

Barry

My Site

http://barryreef.homestead.com/index.html

[Canadian]

Well it doesn't look so good for the Blue Acropora. The polyps still haven't expanded and now some of the tissue appears to be sloughing off on the bottom of the coral and the skeleton is visible. DAMN IT!

Should I frag some of the pieces off that don't appear to be losing tissue yet in hopes of keeping part of the coral alive? This really $%&*!^ me off!!!

[SueT]

Andrew, I am so sorry to hear that. It wouldn't hurt to frag it and see if you can save some of it. Hopefully, like nemo said the green staghorn should be a hardier acropora and make it. Sorry...

check out my 120 sps tank:
http://suetruett.homestead.com/home.html
http://www.marshreef.org/members

[sculpin]

Frag away! From your description, white with blue tips, it sounds like it is bleached anyway. Recovery with bleached SPS tends to be a 50/50 process at best. Technobuyer and I have split several bleached heads between our tanks to see how they'd do. We've had mixed success depending on what SPS we're dealing with. I've had better luck starting bleached pieces in areas of lower light until they brown up (regenerate zooxanthellae). Some never end up doing so, unfortunately.

[Canadian]

Well,

The Blue Acropora kicked the bucket in less than 24 hrs. It sucks that I had to learn all about RTN on my first attempt at keeping SPS!:( The Green Staghorn is fine though.

So here's my question for when I have another go at this in a couple of days: Should I dip my wild SPS colonies in an iodine solution prior to introducing them to the tank? And if so, what are the ratio/proportions needed to make the iodine solution? Can I just use Seachem Reef Iodine diluted in some buffered RO/DI water?

Reefkeeping is a cruel mistress...

[Nemo]

Canadian,
I like to shy away from using iodine dips on my SPS. Most of the corals we receive are highly stressed to begin with and I believe this just adds to the stress.

Think about it; this coral has been ripped from a reef, packed in a bag, shipped to a wholesaler, flown halfway around the globe, stored in another wholsalers tank, shipped to a retailer and then placed in your tank. Most of this transport occurs in less then ideal water, temperature and lighting conditions. It is amazing that any survive at all.

Some believe RTN is brought about by stress. Once it sets in there isn't much you can do. That is the crap shoot of wild collected corals I'm afraid.

Best of luck with the green staghorn. You will probably have much better luck with that piece, they are very hardy. They are very easy to frag as well.


Nemo

[SueT]

Andrew, sorry that happened to you on your first go with acropora. I totally agree with Nemo, once RTN starts in, dipping, fragging and anything else you want to do sometimes will not stop it. The entire colony can perish or even worse the entire tank can go.

My concern is you mentioned you were going to have a go at it in a couple of days. I think IMO, I would wait for some longer period of time for the tank to settle down. RTN, when started can send off a chain reaction to every sps coral. Whether or not the coral is effected is also a crap shoot. I would be concerned about the coral you have left and putting any other acropora in right now and getting the RTN started and this time it taking all the corals.
JMO...

check out my 120 sps tank:
http://suetruett.homestead.com/home.html
http://www.marshreef.org/members