Bump, interested too. Have had limited success with sps as well.
A couple months ago I bought a milka stylo at a fragswap and noticed after acclimating over a couple weeks I placed it in higher light. In a couple days I noticed it bleaching at 250-280 par so moved it down to 150 ish and it stabilized. Skeleton still has no color but has good polyp extension and gets a little aminos every few days to help it along. I think it’s maintaining at this point and am hopeful it’s saved.
Hey guys.. I can't really answer the question regarding how to tell the difference, but do have some feedback on the Stylos, birdsnest and Digis you might find valuable.
It's not uncommon for them to brown out/lose color like other SPS while they acclimate. I had a green birdsnest that stayed brown for months. Once I found it's spot and glued it down it colored up and took off.
PAR does matter, but not as much as you think. In my experience PAR has more affect on color and growth rate, not so much survival. Flow is pretty important too, maybe even more important.
The coral you had in 250-280 PAR was probably not too high, rather moved up too quickly so it didn't have time to adjust and it got stressed out. Digis, birdsnest and Stylos do tend to like lower light, but given time I'm sure it would have done just fine where you had.
As a general rule with any coral it's best to start it lower in the tank and move it up slowly. Yes, even acros. I do however, usually go straight to the spot and keep an eye on the piece. If I see it start to go pale/bleach I'll move it down, but almost all acros like high light so I just go straight to the spot.
Alk, Cal and Mag are the most critical for success with SPS, but you can get away with some fluctuations with these easy to care for SPS. Iodine and trace elements are important too, but most of those can be replenished through water changes.
Corals adapt very well for the most part, so don't get too hung up on a lack in color. There will always be those finicky corals that no matter what you do you just won't have success. For me it's the Strawberry Shortcake Acro.. just can't seem to keep it, while everything around it flourishes.
Anyways, I hope this helps. Like most things in the hobby, go with the flow and take it slow. Yes, this is challenging as fuuuuuuu. ! Cheers!
