Cyphastrea looking agitated!

[R6REEFER]

Hey guys,

I've had these 7 cyphs for about a month now and they seem to be OKAY, not great and "fluffy" like when I got them. The color change on the jingle bells is due to a rapid increase in calcium when I initially started dosing. With that being said, I still have pretty much full color, the thing that bothers me is I don't have quite as much polyp extension and the mouths of 2 are always wide open. Is the open mouth thing bad? To me the flesh seems a tad receded. I have the PPE slightly shaded but the green is fading to brown. My guess would be it's either a lighting situation or trace elements (I do weekly waterchanges so idk?).

I have them on the sand bed about 21 inches under a hydra. I've attached a copy of my lighting schedule but basically the need to know is the whites are at 40%. I have a sunset monti, ORA monti stellata, and a purple bonsai about half way up the tank that are doing phenomenal. Should I move the cyphs up higher or shade them up? The other option is I can put them on the sand bed under my middle fixture wich is a hydra 52.

I've heard they like to chill in the shade and I'd rather have them start browning rather than bleach because my combined lighting is powerful and is notorious for roasting LPS overnight. Any advice is greatly appreciated!

 

[Joeganja]

More flow

 

[jdpeters]

don't give up

 

[Clownman727]

Have you tried feeding them?

 

[R6REEFER]

I fed them last night as a matter of fact. They don't respond well though.

 

[R6REEFER]

More flow

I just changed up my Vortech schedule to get more movement. Increased the flow greatly.

 

[R6REEFER]

Bump

 

[MermaidTail]

I just changed up my Vortech schedule to get more movement. Increased the flow greatly.

Let us know how that works because mine seems sorta temperamental too.

 

[Hawain_Rob]

What kind of lighting do they require ?

 

[DaveRaz]

Mine get blasted with flow and are very fast growing. Running bare bottom and peaking at 110x flow

 

[R6REEFER]

What kind of lighting do they require ?

Rule of thumb is they actually prefer lower lighting. The PPE likes shade and the blood red likes higher lighting supposedly. I have them under 2 AI Hydra's and 1 Hydra 52 but it's a 6 foot tank.

 

[MermaidTail]

What kind of lighting do they require ?

Yes- I was advised very low-life, even shaded areas.

 

[R6REEFER]

Mine get blasted with flow and are very fast growing. Running bare bottom and peaking at 110x flow

That's very comforting. This new schedule I made makes the tank pretty volatile during the day. I moved the cyphs up around half way up the tank on the arch to see if polyp behavior changes.

 

[R6REEFER]

DaveRaz where about in the tank do you keep yours? Inches from light fixture? What type of lights?

 

[R6REEFER]

I just took a good look and it seems as if all my corals are liking this new Vortech schedule. For the past week I haven't seen any polyp extension at night. Already my echinata, leptastria, and chalices are extended

Here is my old schedule FWIW.

 

[nervousmonkey]

Cyphastreas are for the most part deep water, so they prefer less light. That being said, they'll take higher light but coloration changes. I had a meteor shower turn green under higher light and parts that were shaded stayed light blue. It was on a rock that I broke to frag and the remaining frags are high on my rockwork and its becoming dark green. I think yours should probably stay under lower light until you see them growing then move them into a higher light area.

 

[R6REEFER]

Cyphastreas are for the most part deep water, so they prefer less light. That being said, they'll take higher light but coloration changes. I had a meteor shower turn green under higher light and parts that were shaded stayed light blue. It was on a rock that I broke to frag and the remaining frags are high on my rockwork and its becoming dark green. I think yours should probably stay under lower light until you see them growing then move them into a higher light area.

That's the thing, I wasn't seeing growth or any kind of inclination. Everything seemed to be getting slowly worse. Especially the PPE which was browning out, I moved it up onto my quarentine rack to see if it'll turn things around. I call it the comeback rack haha. I've taken corals that I thought were dead, placed em there, and now they flourish

 

[DaveRaz]

DaveRaz where about in the tank do you keep yours? Inches from light fixture? What type of lights?

On the bottom. T5HO with RB for supplement

 

[kireek]

Do you have your parameters handy? These are slow growing for me.I would suggest keeping them off the sand,the new placement looks great. I would not expect to see as much polyp extension from a Cyphastrea in comparison to Acros.

 

[MermaidTail]

I fed them last night as a matter of fact. They don't respond well though.

Yeah- mine doesn't respond either!! When the blues are on, it looks great with a nice dark purple and green/ But with the whites on, the sort of purple and green looks like a muddy reddish/brown. Glad you're asking!