ORA Pearlberry care/experience/placement

[Dowtish]

This thread is being posted out of pure frustration. I have what seems to be a Pearlberry curse. It is one of my favorite acros, and yet I cant make mine happy. I acquired a piece early on that wasnt quite colored up, and it seemed to go dormant for about a year. It encrusted the plug, but had that drab grey color. I then acquired a nice colored up piece from a local friend and it got knocked off into the back of my tank never to be reached again. I then got another piece that was smaller but colored up nicely and in about 4 months now it has also lost its color and has the same drab coloration as the first frag. Then the original piece seemed to suddenly wake up and have great PE and started to color up. But then went right back to its ugliness. They are pest free. Both are placed up fairly high in the tank and in moderate to strong flow. ALL my other acros have great color and growth. I am seriously beginning to believe this is that one coral that I just cant have.:frusty:

Please all Pearlberry owners: Tell me your experience and thoughts and comments on this beautiful coral. Anything at this point will help. And yes, feel free to post pics as it necessary to keep me jealous and inspired at the same time...

 

[3Twinklets]

How deep is your tank and what kind of lighting do you have?

 

[FishLipz]

Mine is in a moderate flow area about 10 inches under the waterline. It sits directly under a 120 watt EVO 20k, 1st generation LED fixture. I'm getting moderate growth rate but great color. It's grown to a small 2 inch mini colony from a tiny frag in a year. Good luck with it. It's still one of my favorite acros of all.

 

[Dowtish]

How deep is your tank and what kind of lighting do you have?

my tank is 27" tall and I have a 6 bulb T5 with all ATI bulbs and blue LED supplement. It's not my parameters or equipment as the rest of my tank is doing great.

here is a FTS as of a few months ago.

 

[zemuss]

Maybe too much light? I usually start my corals on a frag rack lower in the tank to see how they do.

Good luck but I would start with light.

 

[3Twinklets]

Try moving it down a little deeper in the tank. I have found that some of the blue varieties prefer a little deeper with LED lighting. My Pearberry is down about midway and my tank is lit by AI Vegas and it is 34" deep.

You have a beautiful tank BTW!!

 

[Dowtish]

I was just told on another forum to put it in high light and strong flow. LOL

Thanks for the comment.

 

[Dave3112]

My pearlberry looked the best when I had it under my 14k halides. It was blah under 20k halides. Could be the spectrum. I hope you figure it out. It is an impressive coral when it's at it's best!

 

[Mr. Microscope]

I think this piece colors up best under ULN conditions with high lighting and high flow. At least that was the condition that I've seen it thrive and show best colors. That particular tank was running zeovit.

 

[naldopr]

I had mine under 20k radium with mid/hi flow and was the best acro I had in my tank!

 

[Reefltx]

You're not the only one. My pearlberry looks like crap, it's high up getting good flow too. I also run 6x t5s. I got mine from a friend who has a big colony 12" or so under 250w MH and it has amazing color. He also feeds heavy, but has a great export system going (big fuge, skimmer, gfo , carbon).

I will to move mines lower and see how it does


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[cee]

1st piece was about 16" directly under a 250 W Radium driven by a HQI ballast and about 12-15" from the output of a Tunze 6100, slightly off to the side. It was spectacular. Current frag is under LEDs about 6" down and lower flow and, while nice, it hasn't developed the lighter pigments (yet, too small?). I'd say high light and high flow but nutrients play a role as well.

 

[Dowtish]

So I just dipped both frags in Bayer and replaced them in higher light and flow. There may or may not have been 3-4 red bugs on one of them...:frusty:

I got more responses from various folks in various places saying that there's did best in very high light and strong flow.

 

[Rob.D]

So I just dipped both frags in Bayer and replaced them in higher light and flow. There may or may not have been 3-4 red bugs on one of them...:frusty:

I got more responses from various folks in various places saying that there's did best in very high light and strong flow.

I hope you were just imagining the red bugs

 

[Dowtish]

I dont really look at RB's as a real threat until I see them everywhere, and even then, with Bayer its not that big of a deal. I wish I could try interceptor sometime, but I honestly dont think it was them. I couldnt see anything on the coral today with my magnifying glass, where in the past when I had them I could see them with the naked eye. After I strained the dip water into a sieve, I had to use a 30x magnifying glass to see whatever I saw, and like I said it was just 3-4 little specks.

 

[veloboy]

High light - high flow. My mini colony was grey until I moved it to the top of my tank just right of center below 400W halide-20k radium. Also now very near modded 6055 (6-8") After I moved it growth and color took off. I also run ULNS.