ATLANTIS PURPLE POLYP STYLOPHORA QUESTION

[Justin....#JAMAS]

Hey everyone! So I'm getting a purple polyp stylophora tomorrow and being my first SPS I was wanting to get some pointers on how to keep this coral! Feeding, flow, placement, lighting, just any tips someone that has kept this coral before that would help me quite a bit! Thanks in advance!!

Justin

 

[tdileo]

I’d do medium light and flow. Thy don’t need any feeding, but a small particle food won’t hurt. What light are you using? That could help me give you an idea of top, bottom, or middle of the tank.

 

[Mal11224]

Hi Justin. I have one and it I keep it in med flow and light near the middle of my tank. You can spot feed from time to time but they will survive off of the nutrients in your tank. Just keep tank parameters stable as your would with any other SPS.

 

[Gareth elliott]

I start all in lower light then slowly move up over several weeks. easy to kill with too much light but, not too little. I made a frag rack out of spare egg crate and siliconed suction cups on for this purpose.

 

[jda]

Keep the tank stable. Put it in a place under the light where it will not get shadows as it grows. This is a very easy SPS coral and should thrive if you are doing things correctly - if your tank has a good amount of coralline, then you are G2G.

 

[Mr.Fishtank]

Have had mine for a few years now. Had it sitting in 180 par under leds. Now in the newer tank it gets 300+ par under t5s. Med to strong flow for mine.

 

[Justin....#JAMAS]

I’d do medium light and flow. Thy don’t need any feeding, but a small particle food won’t hurt. What light are you using? That could help me give you an idea of top, bottom, or middle of the tank.

I have a two bulb t5 and some LEDs that aernt too strong but my RBT loves the lights! I'm guessing its going to get pretty big? Any suggestions on where to put it? Parameters are as follows:
Mag-1365
Alk- 11.5
Calcium- 450
Nitrates- under 10ppm

 

[Justin....#JAMAS]

 

[Justin....#JAMAS]

Every time I get a coral I dip it in Coral Rx and place it on the bottom and move it up over a couple weeks time...its not going to hurt the SPS to dip in Coral Rx right?

 

[Labridaedicted]

Every time I get a coral I dip it in Coral Rx and place it on the bottom and move it up over a couple weeks time...its not going to hurt the SPS to dip in Coral Rx right?

Nope! That's an excellent practice. Every piece of coral should get a dip to prevent parasites/predators.

 

[Justin....#JAMAS]

Well I got in the stylophora thus morning along with two mushrooms two green star polyps, and 7 palys !! All very beautiful!! Acclimated them all perfectly, and put them all on the sandbed on a small frag tray! As soon as I put the stylophora in, its polyps extended and its so freaking blue/purple! Very gorgeous! I dipped them all after acclimating! I'm guessing its a great sign for the polyps to be out on SPS huh? Even the palys opened immediately! So again, does anyone have any suggestions on where I should put this stylo?

 

[Bpb]

FWIW I know you’re getting recommendations of medium flow and light.

Mine is growing at a near nuisance pace. It is 2” below the water surface under an 8 bulb ati sunpower loaded with blue+ and 6500k bulbs. It’s being nailed from the top by the return spout, and from each side almost directly by Tunze 6105’s at 100%.

In short. It is being absolutely brutalized by light and flow. I don’t have a par meter but based on the data out there on this fixture, it’s getting 700+ par, and right in the middle of close to 5000 gph total coming from all sides. Color is terrific. Colony is about a 12” wide table, and the branches are as thick as my thumb. I can’t even clip them with bone cutters. They definitely don’t require medium to low light and flow.

 

[Justin....#JAMAS]

FWIW I know you’re getting recommendations of medium flow and light.

Mine is growing at a near nuisance pace. It is 2” below the water surface under an 8 bulb ati sunpower loaded with blue+ and 6500k bulbs. It’s being nailed from the top by the return spout, and from each side almost directly by Tunze 6105’s at 100%.

In short. It is being absolutely brutalized by light and flow. I don’t have a par meter but based on the data out there on this fixture, it’s getting 700+ par, and right in the middle of close to 5000 gph total coming from all sides. Color is terrific. Colony is about a 12” wide table, and the branches are as thick as my thumb. I can’t even clip them with bone cutters. They definitely don’t require medium to low light and flow.

Nice!!! That stylo is freaking gorgeous!!! Yeah all of my new corals opened immedietly and after I saw this post I moved the styli up about halfway up my tank here at this spot, where it don't shadow other corals and the flow is about right on it! Thanks for the info! Exactly what I was looking for!! This is a tough little coral!!

 

[Justin....#JAMAS]

FWIW I know you’re getting recommendations of medium flow and light.

Mine is growing at a near nuisance pace. It is 2” below the water surface under an 8 bulb ati sunpower loaded with blue+ and 6500k bulbs. It’s being nailed from the top by the return spout, and from each side almost directly by Tunze 6105’s at 100%.

In short. It is being absolutely brutalized by light and flow. I don’t have a par meter but based on the data out there on this fixture, it’s getting 700+ par, and right in the middle of close to 5000 gph total coming from all sides. Color is terrific. Colony is about a 12” wide table, and the branches are as thick as my thumb. I can’t even clip them with bone cutters. They definitely don’t require medium to low light and flow.

Nuisance pace? Exactly how fast, given stable conditions, does this grow? I've read that these are slow growers and also have read they are fast growers..?

 

[jda]

I had some go from a 1" frag to 14 inches across in about 15 months. I do not let them in my tank anymore - I have a no MBP&S policy except for Leng Sy Cap. Under halides and good water conditions, I think that the next 15 months would have had the thing 26-30 inches wide and growing up both sides of the glass in a 24 inch deep tank.

Pay attention to the 6500k spectrum that Bpb posted...

 

[Justin....#JAMAS]

Wow! They grow that fast huh? Jeez! Of course, I could frag them down if it get as too big or starting to overshadow everything right?

 

[jda]

Chisel out of the tank... or saw in the tank. They get too big for any bone cutters that I have seen.

These are shallow water species. Under more blue, you probably can slow it down a bit... but remember even some blue looking lights have a ton of output in the daylight spectrum (14K Phoenix and 20K Radium to name a few).

 

[Justin....#JAMAS]

Ok , well my tank is a 75g and its not too tall , I'm guessing when it hits the surface it'll stop growing?

 

[reefwiser]

One of my favorite corals they love light and will get super purple under strong light They love sitting under MH.

 

[Justin....#JAMAS]

Awesome! Thanks for all the info and tips!! Quick random question , can I put palythoas close by each other? Not touching but a couple inches?