Acanthophyllia - too much light?

[BradB]

Acanthophyllia has literally been on my wish list over 20 years. Just never had an opportunity to buy one at a good price. I bought a beautiful huge red one yesterday, but now I am paranoid. I did try a Cynarina years ago that I fried it under too bright light.

I know Sanjay has (or maybe had) a huge green one in his tank, thriving under more light and flow than I have.

The seller said it was under 200 PAR if their system. I have it under around 100 PAR right now.

Are the red ones lower light than the green ones?
Can these tolerate more light than a Cynarina in general?
What should I look for if it has too much light? Will it not expand? Bleach? So far, it looks great, but it hasn't even been 24 hours.

 

[danieyella]

My cynaria tolerate higher light than my acanthos. When they're unhappy they don't expand.

 

[BradB]

If they are all contracted when the lights first come on, does that mean they are unhappy? Or do they do that?

 

[danieyella]

If they expand fully throughout the day you're probably fine. When they're truly upset they'll contract and stay that way for days, you'll see the skeleton poking through as well.

 

[BradB]

Mine was like this yesterday morning and didn't get better until night. Any advice?

 

[danieyella]

Have any photos? How's the flow in that area as well?

 

[BradB]

Tanks is a 4'x4' cube set up for Acropora - lots of light and flow. Acanthophyllia is in the front left corner, which is as low flow/light as I have - almost no flow.

 

[BradB]

 

[BradB]

I know this isn't going to win me photographer of the year. Moving/removing the coral to get a better picture seems to go against the point.

I can move it to my frag tank where I have the option of lower light (anything from 400 PAR to almost complete darkness) but more flow.

 

[danieyella]

Set up for acros makes me nervous. If you run low nutrients like many acro people do please make sure you're supplementally feeding the acantho.

Mine don't want high flow (flesh peeling up from the skeleton on the edges would indicate that) but they're probably in a mid/low area of my tank. They definitely want a little movement.

My acantho are probably 100-150par, cynarina 200ish both get movement, definitely don't want it in a stagnant area in my experience

 

[Mr Cypher]

mine lives under an overhang and has his own cave lol had a bad bacterial infection from shipping lost some flesh but now recovering but it loves low light

 

[Kellie in CA]

My acantho is the easiest coral in the tank. I can pick it up and move it around and it barely reacts. Mine is center of the tank right under a kessil, my tank is only 12" deep so it gets a good amount of light. Flow is tricky... if they are getting blasted, they aren't going to be happy. Is the flow bouncing off the glass and hitting it?

I direct feed mysis 3-4 times a week and it's colored up quite a bit since I brought it home.

I also found that getting it up off the sand made it extremely happy. I took some soft rock rubble and basically grinded it down to a smooth pedestal for it. Now it opens huge and looks twice as big.

 

[BradB]

Just found my Phosphate is high, changed my GFO, it should drop over the next few days. Given Acropora aren't showing any obvious signs of stress, I doubt this is my issue. I haven't tested Nitrate but am certain it is undetectable with Phosphate that high (otherwise I'd have a lot more algae).

I can move this to under an overhang, which will give him more flow but less light. Without knowing why he's unhappy I am hesitant to move him.