Cyphastrea - Direct / Indirect Lighting

[Haggisman14]

Hello everyone. Quick question, I"ve got a small frag of cyphastrea (non-branching), and I currently have it in a "shadowed" area. I know it doesn't need crazy direct lighting, but does it still need to be in direct light to grow well?

Where it is, it seems like it's slowing extending a mat, but nothing super crazy. Should I relocate it so that it does have direct lighting? Below is a picture for reference. I'm thinking if I relocate it just to the left of where it is, it'll start getting direct lighting, but still protected from pounding light

Thanks as always

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

My meteor shower likes direct light about 75 par. Down there bottom right.

 

[Haggisman14]

Thank you! Going to move that sucker now!

 

[Berickson24]

I have a red and yellow polyp one that is sitting on my backwall, at the very bottom, and the shaded part is what is beginning to grow off the magnet lol... I would definitely say low light is ok for them

 

[Haggisman14]

Moved it, and can already see that pretty green!

Thanks everyone!

 

[Haggisman14]

I swear since moving the cyphastrea, and having it in direct light at the bottom of the tank, it went from the 3 main polyps, to now showing signs of 8 NEW polyps starting. Absolute insanity! I love this hobby!

So happy with my new Radion!

 

[Kasrift]

Hello everyone. Quick question, I"ve got a small frag of cyphastrea (non-branching), and I currently have it in a "shadowed" area. I know it doesn't need crazy direct lighting, but does it still need to be in direct light to grow well?

Where it is, it seems like it's slowing extending a mat, but nothing super crazy. Should I relocate it so that it does have direct lighting? Below is a picture for reference. I'm thinking if I relocate it just to the left of where it is, it'll start getting direct lighting, but still protected from pounding light

Thanks as always

From all the research I've done, it really depends on the variety. I think some cyphastrea have very flowy polyps, some shorter, some branch etc and some might be misclassified by the hobby. I had one I acclimated to and it sits in 250 par. Looked like it wanted to bleach FOREVER, but got it there and it looks great, another color variation I have in pretty low light.

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

I swear since moving the cyphastrea, and having it in direct light at the bottom of the tank, it went from the 3 main polyps, to now showing signs of 8 NEW polyps starting. Absolute insanity! I love this hobby!

So happy with my new Radion!

Can't wait to see some updates.

 

[Haggisman14]

So I can't get a really great picture as I don't have one of those orange lenses yet (the power of the radion definitely makes all pictures look completely washed out when I get close up) but I was able to zoom in and get this from a distance.

You can't see completely, but there are 7 new polyps forming! Really excited to see what happens when I come to the office after the weekend!

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

So I can't get a really great picture as I don't have one of those orange lenses yet (the power of the radion definitely makes all pictures look completely washed out when I get close up) but I was able to zoom in and get this from a distance.

You can't see completely, but there are 7 new polyps forming! Really excited to see what happens when I come to the office after the weekend!

Keep your cal alk and mag stable and that dude will take off.

 

[Haggisman14]

Keep your cal alk and mag stable and that dude will take off.

I'm keeping consistent with my weekly 2-2.5 gallon water changes on my little Deskmate, and everything to be very happy. Not dosing of any sort, just minimal daily top off (about 1/8th cup of RO), and weekly water changes.

Water from the LFS is red sea blue bucket...so I think everything will stay good! It's definitely happy in the light...that itself made a huge difference!

 

[Ann Enomy]

So I can't get a really great picture as I don't have one of those orange lenses yet (the power of the radion definitely makes all pictures look completely washed out when I get close up) but I was able to zoom in and get this from a distance.

Go on the radion's app and adjust to daylight for a picture then just revert to schedule when done. Maybe a bit less fluorescent but it works

 

[doubleshot00]

My meteor shower likes direct light about 75 par. Down there bottom right.

My meteor is in like 150 par and spreading like crazy but i have another orange one that hasn't done a thing in any light condition. I put him in direct light 150 for 2 months looks the same. it been in shaded area 125 par for the last 4 months and still looks the same.

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

My meteor is in like 150 par and spreading like crazy but i have another orange one that hasn't done a thing in any light condition. I put him in direct light 150 for 2 months looks the same. it been in shaded area 125 par for the last 4 months and still looks the same.

I'm sure I could walk mine up there. I bet.OP could too. Mine.was just happy so I left it be. Why in a 14g nano space is limited. I wasn't giving prime real estate to cyphestra.

 

[Haggisman14]

Thanks for all the input guys!

In the future I definitely want to get my hands on one of the bizzaro cyphestrea's too!

Now that I have a radion, I might also piviot to getting some SPS in the future to fill out some of the higher up spots in my tank!

As always, I appreciate all the help!

 

[Haggisman14]

Came into the office and my cyphastrea clearly has 7 new polyps that are forming (pretty cool how this coral works...it has put out a SUPER THIN layer of skin, and you see these BRIGHT polyps that are faintly on the surface...and then the skin thickens up around it),

The red line shows where some of the dark green skin receded a bit over the weekend, but the new polyps are still forming. Intresting to watch this one grow.

I really need one of those orange filters to help show the colors better when taking pictures!

 

[Haggisman14]

We've got a GROWER!! We went from 7 new polyps last week to 11 polyps! I can't wait to update my build thread next week at the end of the month to showcase the growth everything has had over the last month...but this guy is REALLY taking off!

It's interesting as the "green" skin does not seem to be spreading fast at all, but the new polyp growth is really taking off!

I think it's safe to say that this guy likes his new placement in the tank! Might see if I can get my hands in a bizzaro or skittles in the future!

 

[Haggisman14]

Main body flesh is still bleached out...but as you can see it's growing new heads like a champ! This picture was color corrected as the blue lights in the AM were washing it out!

 

[PeterC99]

Have mine near the top of my aquarium with strong lighting

 

[Haggisman14]

Have mine near the top of my aquarium with strong lighting

Beautiful piece there! Did it ever bleach out, or loose color at all? As soon as I moved it to full light, the main body lost color...but it kept growing and adding polyps.