10 YEARS of Lobophyllia Growth!

[gws3]

I wanted to share with the community a coral that is very sentimental to me. I’ve had this Lobophyllia for over 10 years now. It has been with me through ups and downs, and I almost lost it once or twice.

Sure, I have SPS strains that I’ve had for over 10 years, but not an unadulterated slow growing colony that has never been fragged like this one. It has shed one or two heads over the years on its own, but I have never cut it.

It’s interesting to see how its color has changed over the years with lighting. When I purchased it the tank was lit entirely by 14k Phoenix metal halides which were considered blue at the time. It’s even developed pink streaks on a few heads which are really bright.

Here it is around when I purchase it in February 2009:

Here it is today:

 

[Zachary Roy]

Very cool.

 

[User1]

Looks great. Also great job on husbandry. The color as you said has changed and I wouldn't have thought or expected it to have such a drastic change. Although we know water conditions, lighting, etc can change.

Looks really great though!

 

[RandyC]

Cool!

Curious, what lighting are you using now and do you remember what kind of lighting/spectrum caused the drastic change in color?

 

[Auto-pilot]

Wow super cool! Do you have any in between pictures

 

[abraha]

Nice colors. That is a slow growing coral!

 

[Pbh-reef]

Wow!

 

[GabeM]

Beautiful! +1 to what you are using for lighting /micronutrients

 

[gws3]

So back in 2009 I believe I only had my 90 gallon display and a 40 gallon breeder plumbed in as a frag tank. The lobo would have been on the bottom of my 90 gallon, under two 250W phoenix 14k metal halides on HQI ballasts. So it was probably getting way more light than it needed.

My parameters were as follows in 2009:
Alk 9.0
Ca 430
PO4 0.01 PPM
NO3 0 PPM

Currently it is under a 250W radium 20k metal halide with reefbrites. But it is in a lower light corner of the tank.

My parameters in that system now are:
Alk 8.0
Ca 430
PO4 0.80 PPM
NO3 25 PPM

So much higher nutrients and lower light seemed to make this lobo much happier.

Also, the original pic was with a low end point and shoot camera under 14k halides. The new pic is with a DSLR under blue plus T5s and reefbrites. This lobo absolutely glows under the blue lights.

 

[hart24601]

Wow, that is just amazing. Thank you for sharing!

 

[ReefguyEric]

That thing is bad.

 

[KrisReef]

So back in 2009 I believe I only had my 90 gallon display and a 40 gallon breeder plumbed in as a frag tank. The lobo would have been on the bottom of my 90 gallon, under two 250W phoenix 14k metal halides on HQI ballasts. So it was probably getting way more light than it needed.

My parameters were as follows in 2009:
Alk 9.0
Ca 430
PO4 0.01 PPM
NO3 0 PPM

Currently it is under a 250W radium 20k metal halide with reefbrites. But it is in a lower light corner of the tank.

My parameters in that system now are:
Alk 8.0
Ca 430
PO4 0.80 PPM
NO3 25 PPM

So much higher nutrients and lower light seemed to make this lobo much happier

Also, the original pic was with a low end point and shoot camera under 14k halides. The new pic is with a DSLR under blue plus T5s and reefbrites. This lobo absolutely glows under the blue lights.

Thanks for posting the before and after statistics for 09-19 variables. Very cool change in color. Do you think the coral may have exchanged zooxanthellae along the way to achieve some of the color changes?
Nice work.

 

[Camaro Show Corals]

very nice lobo!

 

[Ling_Thing]

Wow this thread reminds me of my lobo that’s a year old. When I bought it from aqua sd it was very similar looking to your first picture mostly blue and purple on the outer flesh and now it’s green and orange like yours. I wish I took a picture when I first got it...

 

[gws3]

Wow this thread reminds me of my lobo that’s a year old. When I bought it from aqua sd it was very similar looking to your first picture mostly blue and purple on the outer flesh and now it’s green and orange like yours. I wish I took a picture when I first got it...

That's interesting. Maybe the color change has more to do with wild vs captivity than it does with my tank parameters over the years. The original pic was when it still had it's maricultured plug on it.

I don't recall the change being fast at all, I'll have to try to find some other pics of it to find out.

 

[Bos]

That's amazing. It looks like the frag was only an inch big? So over the years it just developed heads and then the supporting skeleton over it??

 

[drawman]

@gws3 I hope you keep this one updated over the next 10 years

 

[X-37B]

WOW! Very impressive.
Wish we could see more long term growth on all corals.
The color change is quite dramatic too.
I have always wondered if corals change color in the ocean too.

 

[DaneGer21]

That looks just like mine! Except I only have two heads. I’ll take a pic when the lights come on

 

[DaneGer21]

That looks just like mine! Except I only have two heads. I’ll take a pic when the lights come on

Crappy Pic