Cyphastrea Question

Trenton Henderson · Jul 23, 2023

I placed a meteor shower cyphastrea at the bottom of my tank (90-110 PAR). The polyps that are in the 90-100 PAR region stay fairly extended (not nearly as much as they used to be), but there is a 1-inch area on top where the light is about 110 PAR, I have lost a few polyps and the others remain tightly closed. I also recently extended my photoperiod by an hour.

I also bought a red monti-cap frag that will eventually help shade it, but that will take time. Do you think the polyp loss is light related? There is no tissue loss, just polyps in the one location.

Here are before and after pictures:

blaxsun · Jul 23, 2023

Hard to say. I have the same coral and I've placed in both higher and lower lighting areas and it didn't seem to make any difference. I've got a few small spots where it died off a bit which I think was due to shadowing.

Trenton Henderson · Jul 23, 2023

blaxsun said:
Hard to say. I have the same coral and I've placed in both higher and lower lighting areas and it didn't seem to make any difference. I've got a few small spots where it died off a bit which I think was due to shadowing.

I’ve seen that they like it around 80 PAR, but they just adjust slowly to higher light. Also, the spot it is in my tank will allow for encrusting without taking over my main aquascape, so I kinda want to keep it there. That being said, I also feel like moving it would just make it take longer to adjust, and if I don’t see tissue loss, it should be fine. Would you agree?

blaxsun · Jul 23, 2023

Trenton Henderson said:
I’ve seen that they like it around 80 PAR, but they just adjust slowly to higher light. Also, the spot it is in my tank will allow for encrusting without taking over my main aquascape, so I kinda want to keep it there. That being said, I also feel like moving it would just make it take longer to adjust, and if I don’t see tissue loss, it should be fine. Would you agree?

In general, yes. You may see a bit of polyp loss on the underside where PAR is very low.

X-37B · Jul 23, 2023

I have never seen one that looks like pic one. Second pic looks normal, anyone?
I noticed yesterday at lfs the same coral was under a 15 head frogspawn. Polyps we much more extended than on mine at 150 par. Probably reaching for light.
Here is mine in my 20.
First under blue.
Second is under full setting.

Trenton Henderson · Jul 23, 2023

90's reefer said:
I have never seen one that looks like pic one. Second pic looks normal, anyone?
I noticed yesterday at lfs the same coral was under a 15 head frogspawn. Polyps we much more extended than on mine at 150 par. Probably reaching for light.
Here is mine in my 20.
First under blue.
Second is under full setting.

That’s kind of what I was thinking…I think mine was in very low blue lighting before, but I’ve heard that Tidal Gardens recommends under 100 PAR.

Double monti 61 · Jul 23, 2023

I think in a higher par they will survive and do well but they will not have the same polyp extension as they do in a lower par level.

Trenton Henderson · Jul 23, 2023

Double monti 61 said:
I think in a higher par they will survive and do well but they will not have the same polyp extension as they do in a lower par level.

I’ve also noticed that as the lights fade in and out for the day, the polyps come out more. Does yours grow fairly quickly? What light intensity is yours under?

Double monti 61 · Jul 24, 2023

No not to quickly and I have no idea what light intensity they grow under but my coral grow well

bluemon · Jul 24, 2023

Just a heads up on the placement.

If it is happy, it can absolutely TAKE OVER your rockwork and kill any other encrusting coral (SPS included) like a weed.

That's why a lot of people put it in its own rock

Trenton Henderson · Jul 25, 2023

bluemon said:
Just a heads up on the placement.

If it is happy, it can absolutely TAKE OVER your rockwork and kill any other encrusting coral (SPS included) like a weed.

That's why a lot of people put it in its own rock

Yeah…I put it in a place where I could manage it if it started getting out of hand!