Light Quality for Walt Disney Acropora

[Dana Riddle]

I got a Walt Disney Acropora this morning (thanks Brandon!) and measured PAR around it - about 350. I'm leaning towards increasing PAR, mostly in the violet/blue range in an attempt to get it to color up more. Appreciate your thoughts. Also, I was told that the WD Acro is sensitive to alkalinity swings (probably not going to happen since I'm dosing alk and calcium with a Neptune Apex controller/Trident analyzer). Don't want to screw this up - thanks!

 

[Billldg]

I have mine around 270 and it is growing like crazy. I also run a hybrid, so I am getting the color shift to blue from the T5's. As far as the sensitivity to swings, it was one of a few acros that didn't care about my nitrite spike due to the Sulfur Denitrator issue I had. I keep my Alk around 8.3, Cal around 410, and Mag is a little high at 1480.

 

[Dana Riddle]

I have mine around 270 and it is growing like crazy. I also run a hybrid, so I am getting the color shift to blue from the T5's.

Wonderful! Thank you!

 

[Bpb]

Having acquired 3 pieces of it now, I’ve found it to just take time to develop its ideal color. I kept it under t5, metal halide, and as of a week now, led. I have witnessed it be More green dominant under lower par. Higher par and warmer kelvin will pull the more gold/purple colors. That has been my experience with it to date over the past few years.

this is mine grown primarily under 20,000k metal halides at about 400-500 par, BUT presently images under reef breeders photon v2 units, 60% blue/violet, 30% white, 5% red and green at about 250 par. Granted it’s been only a week. But this is what it looks like for me now given those conditions. Instant ocean salt. Regular water changes, 6-8 dkh , heavy heavy heavy flow. 0.03-0.1 ppm po4. Hope thst helps

 

[Billldg]

@Dana Riddle , when I say 270, I should say around 260 to 320 as the ripples in the water causes the par to change as you know already. I just have seen that the Walt Disney seems to be more forgiving in lower par than other acros.

 

[Dana Riddle]

Having acquired 3 pieces of it now, I’ve found it to just take time to develop its ideal color. I kept it under t5, metal halide, and as of a week now, led. I have witnessed it be More green dominant under lower par. Higher par and warmer kelvin will pull the more gold/purple colors. That has been my experience with it to date over the past few years.

Thanks! I have plenty of green fluorescence in the tank, prefer gold/purple/blues. Unfortunately, my spectrometer failed when I got this frag, so I don't have a baseline spectrum. I'll try to get all the instruments running in the morning and maybe have something of interest to report later.

 

[Dana Riddle]

@Dana Riddle , when I say 270, I should say around 260 to 320 as the ripples in the water causes the par to change as you know already. I just have seen that the Walt Disney seems to be more forgiving in lower par than other acros.

Thanks Bill. I've got a Strawberry Shortcake Acro that's growing like a weed at PAR of 200. Time to drag out the chlorophyll meter and collect data.

 

[Dana Riddle]

Having acquired 3 pieces of it now, I’ve found it to just take time to develop its ideal color. I kept it under t5, metal halide, and as of a week now, led. I have witnessed it be More green dominant under lower par. Higher par and warmer kelvin will pull the more gold/purple colors. That has been my experience with it to date over the past few years.

this is mine grown primarily under 20,000k metal halides at about 400-500 par, BUT presently images under reef breeders photon v2 units, 60% blue/violet, 30% white, 5% red and green at about 250 par. Granted it’s been only a week. But this is what it looks like for me now given those conditions. Instant ocean salt. Regular water changes, 6-8 dkh , heavy heavy heavy flow. 0.03-0.1 ppm po4. Hope thst helps

What a wonderful resource R2R is. Thank you so much.

 

[Waynerock]

Mine is right at 200 and nitrate is at 3-4 and po4 is .03. Not super impressive yet but growing and getting more yellow and purple every day

 

[Dana Riddle]

Mine is right at 200 and nitrate is at 3-4 and po4 is .03. Not super impressive yet but growing and getting more yellow and purple every day

That is the color morph I would prefer, I'm impressed FWIW. The NO3-N in this tank is 1.2 mg/L and P at 0.03. The jury seems split - intensity or spectrum?

 

[X-37B]

Mine is starting to get the purple tips.
Just cant see with my poor cell pics.
That said mine was a pencil eraser nub 4 months ago and has grown well.
About the size of a silver dollar.
8 T5's 4" off the surface,
4b+ 4c+ at 9hrs.
WD is 17" from the light.
Dont know par as I have never measured.
Po4-.02
No3-2-3
Alk 7, and running carx.
Lots of flow in my 120.

 

[jda]

This is a pretty easy coral... do not sweat it too much. It can do well with a wide range of parameters in a competent range as long as they are mostly stable. It should grow fast and be very hairy when happy.

You will need heavy, heavy blues to get the color that you see online. It does not really care what you use to grow it. I find it to grow a lot better if you do not always use the heavy, heavy blues all of the time. ...so more daylight most of the time and then blue-it-up to look at it. I know that you are smart enough to know that the blues cannot illuminate color that is not there... and that blues alone cannot render all of the colors that you might we wanting.

 

[Dana Riddle]

Mine is starting to get the purple tips.
Just cant see with my poor cell pics.
That said mine was a pencil eraser nub 4 months ago and has grown well.
About the size of a silver dollar.
8 T5's 4" off the surface,
4b+ 4c+ at 9hrs.
WD is 17" from the light.
Dont know par as I have never measured.
Po4-.02
No3-2-3
Lots of flow in my 120.

Thanks!

This is a pretty easy coral... do not sweat it too much. It can do well with a wide range of parameters in a competent range as long as they are mostly stable. It should grow fast and be very hairy when happy.

You will need heavy, heavy blues to get the color that you see online. It does not really care what you use to grow it. I find it to grow a lot better if you do not always use the heavy, heavy blues all of the time. ...so more daylight most of the time and then blue-it-up to look at it. I know that you are smart enough to know that the blues cannot illuminate color that is not there... and that blues alone cannot render all of the colors that you might we wanting.

Thanks jda!

 

[Big E]

If you're looking to get more blue get an all blue tenuis.

 

[Dana Riddle]

If you're looking to get more blue get an all blue tenuis.

Got a blue Oregon tort, looking for something a little different.

 

[Dana Riddle]

Having acquired 3 pieces of it now, I’ve found it to just take time to develop its ideal color. I kept it under t5, metal halide, and as of a week now, led. I have witnessed it be More green dominant under lower par. Higher par and warmer kelvin will pull the more gold/purple colors. That has been my experience with it to date over the past few years.

this is mine grown primarily under 20,000k metal halides at about 400-500 par, BUT presently images under reef breeders photon v2 units, 60% blue/violet, 30% white, 5% red and green at about 250 par. Granted it’s been only a week. But this is what it looks like for me now given those conditions. Instant ocean salt. Regular water changes, 6-8 dkh , heavy heavy heavy flow. 0.03-0.1 ppm po4. Hope thst helps

Wow! Thank you!

 

[Joedubyk]

I got a Walt Disney Acropora this morning (thanks Brandon!) and measured PAR around it - about 350. I'm leaning towards increasing PAR, mostly in the violet/blue range in an attempt to get it to color up more. Appreciate your thoughts. Also, I was told that the WD Acro is sensitive to alkalinity swings (probably not going to happen since I'm dosing alk and calcium with a Neptune Apex controller/Trident analyzer). Don't want to screw this up - thanks!

Yes. Tenuis seem to like higher par in my experience, ESP. With radion gen 4s they seem to like the 350-500 range. As always some like the higher par better than others.

 

[Waynerock]

Mine is under 3 primes and tank is 36 inches and prob old Walt is getting less than 250 par and it took a year but it’s finally getting a little pink! Only really comes out right before lights out when it’s just Royal blue and just a hair of violet. I bet it would go crazy if I turned the lights up more but with a mixed reef it’s hard. Got some super sensitive Scolys and Goni/Alve on the bottom. It’s a balancing act for sure

 

[User1]

That coral, while pretty, is out of my budget. The only frags of Walt Disney I own are 1 share / certificate and whatever souvenirs I get while visiting . Love the place.

 

[DaneGer21]

That coral, while pretty, is out of my budget. The only frags of Walt Disney I own are 1 share / certificate and whatever souvenirs I get while visiting . Love the place.

LOL

I picked up a frag from a local for $40. You’d be surprised on pricing!