Acropora spathulata

[b4tn]

I recently picked up a pretty cool looking frag of what I think is spathulata. when I got it it was a light blueish color. Very cool coral but it has turned brown and I dont get any polyp extension. I did see some polyps peaking out the other night under a flash light but they went away when I hit them with the flash light. I cant find very much info on care for it. I found one place that said they like extremely high light. Not knowing the original light source I started it in at the bottom of my tank under LED's in a spot thats aprox 150 par. After a week I moved it up half way, and then after another week to my top rock in a high flow area where its at about 300 par. Its been there about a week and a half, No bleaching, just brown and no encrusting at the base. I dont see any improvement but it looks like "maybe" some of the tips are turning white. Any ideas on placement

Salinity 1.025
temp 78.5
Alk 8.4
calc 420
NO3 and P04 unreadable probably because of the running algae scrubber

It looked like this but less vibrant

 

[Bpb]

Those are among the most challenging photosynthetic species to keep in the hobby. Period. Even if your tank is perfect the chance of success is low. They’re not IMPOSSIBLE, but close to it

 

[b4tn]

Just my luck lol. I got it at a frag meet. We got to look at pictures, pick a number, and wait to be drawn. All I know is it’s Australian. There was no names on the frags so hard to research before buying. Any tips? My reef is 4 years old, decent lights, and my levels stay pretty consistent. This is mine day of placement.

 

[Bpb]

Just my luck lol. I got it at a frag meet. We got to look at pictures, pick a number, and wait to be drawn. All I know is it’s Australian. There was no names on the frags so hard to research before buying. Any tips? My reef is 4 years old, decent lights, and my levels stay pretty consistent. This is mine day of placement.

I’ve not succeeded with one. But those that have generally say to acclimate carefully to higher light, but ultimately they tend to thrive best under brutal light and flow levels. They’re a very shallow water acro from extremely turbulent areas that get a lot of unobstructed sunshine. Cross your fingers and keep it stable. And don’t be depressed if it perishes.

 

[pdxmonkeyboy]

they are great corals!!! (if you enjoy corals turning brown)

 

[b4tn]

Bummer!

 

[pdxmonkeyboy]

you could always email a picture to cornbread, he will make it look amazing!!

 

[Graffiti Spot]

I don’t think they turn brown for any reason other than reefer error, they are generally stunning corals. But acclimating them to led especially after being shipped over seas and tanked a few times possibly and then dragged and sold is going to be a long process. Generally it’s best to get them right when they are shipped over or after they have sat in a tank for a while and you can tell they are healthy. Then the best way to keep them is under really good bright halides and no need to acclimate. T5 will do too if you have a lot. I think most people have trouble because they are getting already stressed corals.

 

[b4tn]

I pulled some rock from my sump and made a higher point about 5” below the surface. I will cross my fingers

 

[jda]

Don't take this personally. If you can get them spectrum very near to daylight and like a whole ton of it, it will do OK. Most of the get brown and then green and then some go on to get some better colors. It can take a year for them to color back up, but some do not at all.

Let me see if I can get a photo of mine... it was rainbow colored when it came in from Australia.

 

[Abhishek]

To add to whatever @jda said - spaths need a lot of flow . Am not sure about how much flow you have in the tank , but certainly you can’t have enough of flow for spaths .

 

[jda]

I got this one about 8-9 month ago. It was a skinny frag about to where the arrow was pointed. It has grown OK, but it went from orange/blue/green/purple colored to just green. It is just now starting to get some orange/red corallites under the polyps and the new growth is starting to get blue.

All-in-all, I consider this a HUGE success with a A. Spath and about as good as I have ever done.

I took this just now... sorry for the horribleness of it:


Slightly easier are A. Prostata. They have kinda fallen out of favor since they do not do well under LED, but they are somewhere between a A. Millepora and A. Spath in terms of color and easiness. There are some stunning A. Prostata.

 

[b4tn]

All good info. Thanks everyone. Flow wise I have two gyre XF150’s on each side of my tank (4 ft) and a jeabo RW8 to supliment dead spots. I won’t get upset but will certainly try. That’s half the fun of the hobby

 

[Abhishek]

All good info. Thanks everyone. Flow wise I have two gyre XF150’s on each side of my tank (4 ft) and a jeabo RW8 to supliment dead spots. I won’t get upset but will certainly try. That’s half the fun of the hobby

That’s the spirit ! Do not worry about it loosing color for a few months . It will come back with time .

Regards,
Abhishek

 

[Graffiti Spot]

I will have to post mine, it was a nice pink and green but changed to mostly green when I broke down most of my tanks. It shows nice gold/yellow and pink when it’s sitting for a while. I have had luck with a few spares but none as much as this one. They seem to encrust a lot for me when they are frags. I like it when people have colonies with nice tight thick branches but that’s hard to do with this coral.

 

[b4tn]

Since moving it up really high it has really started getting its color back. However.... it also started RTN’ing at the base and along the sides. I remember reading an article sometime back that a guy rebuilding reefs discovered that super small clippings grew extra fast. In hopes of beating the RTN I clipped off some very small ends that had no TN and glued them down. Still crossing my fingers.

 

[x2uranium]

Took a while almost lost it a few times earlier on

 

[b4tn]

Took a while almost lost it a few times earlier on

That looks amazing! What type of lights are you using?

 

[x2uranium]

T5 with reefbrites xho

 

[Ocelaris]

I got a spath from an lfs which looked pale under their lights. I got it home and was actually almost bleached. I placed it in the top 6" under t5 and leds and it gets blasted by gyres. It died back considerably from the store, but has encrusted and is quite vigorous now. I'm battling some high phosphates, so it's quite brown, but polyp extension is excellent and hopefully when I get things under control it'll color back up. Love the chunky sticks. Anything else on that rock just encrust the flow is so strong. But the tank is not quite a year and a half old also, so the best is yet to come. I'll try and snap a shot tomorrow.