I got a bucket of SPS and need HELP!

ScottR

Surfing....
View Badges
Joined
Feb 12, 2019
Messages
8,365
Reaction score
28,233
Location
Hong Kong
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
So a reefing buddy of mine said he was breaking down a 15 year old SPS dominant tank because he wanted to redo his rocks and get rid of his “old” acros and other SPS. He asked me to come over so he could clip up and scale down his overgrown colonies.

039883BF-942A-4666-961F-92D2A6501652.jpeg

As you can see, his rockwork is pretty flat and he has open area on the top where he can’t put anything. I brought another friend and both got a bucket of stuff.

B3C4E116-D6A5-4207-8454-4423CC10E599.jpeg

The problem is, some of the pieces he cut had been shaded by others as they had grown into each other. Some colonies have nice beautiful PE while other parts are bleached. For example, a branching monti stem has beautiful growth on a branch where the backside of that branch has completely bleached. I’ve glued the pieces in so that the heathy sides get the most light.

Question is: will the bleaching spread to otherwise healthy parts? I imagine the bleached parts are dead forever. And I don’t want to cut away the bleached parts because of the heathy parts. Anyone have experience with this?
 

Mikedawg

2500 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Nov 27, 2016
Messages
2,893
Reaction score
4,195
Location
Atlanta
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
So a reefing buddy of mine said he was breaking down a 15 year old SPS dominant tank because he wanted to redo his rocks and get rid of his “old” acros and other SPS. He asked me to come over so he could clip up and scale down his overgrown colonies.

039883BF-942A-4666-961F-92D2A6501652.jpeg

As you can see, his rockwork is pretty flat and he has open area on the top where he can’t put anything. I brought another friend and both got a bucket of stuff.

B3C4E116-D6A5-4207-8454-4423CC10E599.jpeg

The problem is, some of the pieces he cut had been shaded by others as they had grown into each other. Some colonies have nice beautiful PE while other parts are bleached. For example, a branching monti stem has beautiful growth on a branch where the backside of that branch has completely bleached. I’ve glued the pieces in so that the heathy sides get the most light.

Question is: will the bleaching spread to otherwise healthy parts? I imagine the bleached parts are dead forever. And I don’t want to cut away the bleached parts because of the heathy parts. Anyone have experience with this?
If the bleaching was caused by overgrowth of other corals, I would think that yours will recover as soon as you give them a "better" placement/conditions. Nice score, btw and wish I lived closer to your friend! I've always removed any bleached parts without problems.
 
OP
OP
ScottR

ScottR

Surfing....
View Badges
Joined
Feb 12, 2019
Messages
8,365
Reaction score
28,233
Location
Hong Kong
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
If the bleaching was caused by overgrowth of other corals, I would think that yours will recover as soon as you give them a "better" placement/conditions. Nice score, btw and wish I lived closer to your friend! I've always removed any bleached parts without problems.
Nice to know. This was a maze to go through btw. I can’t recall placing this many pieces in a tank ever. I had to call up a nearby friend to take a birdsnest because that whole colony had no place in my tank.
 

Edp251

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
May 31, 2018
Messages
257
Reaction score
901
Location
Hingham
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Very cool! Congratulations. i had a similar experience a few months ago and ended up losing some of the larger pieces. I believe I underestimated the metabolic rate of the large pieces and did not watch my parameters close enough resulting in alk swings etc.. FWIW, I have since found that my alk swings very quickly with biomass additions and watch it hourly for a few days after major additions. Just a hypothesis but I now feel that the metabolic rate if freshly cut pieces delivered to my tank in an hour or so are much more metabolically active than frags/colonies that have been packed and shipped for a day or two. My tank is a 45 cube though so not a huge water volume to perturb. Best of luck!
 

Auquanut

5000 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Mar 11, 2018
Messages
5,275
Reaction score
24,934
Location
Mexico, Mo
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
First of all, we should all have the kind of problems you're having now. SCORE!! I've placed acros that had some serious bleaching and apparent dead spots from shading and had them recover pretty quickly. If your willing to put up with less than beautiful corals for a little while, I'd give them a chance. Might want to watch your Alk and Calc consumption though. I'm sure they will start increasing.
 

jaxredsoxfan

Well-Known Member
View Badges
Joined
Aug 22, 2018
Messages
604
Reaction score
1,702
Location
Saint Johns, Florida
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I completely agree. I've moved corals in the same tank that were shaded out and they typically recover fairly quickly. I would just put them in appropriate spots and let them do their thing. Take pictures of all them now in the tank and I begin a few mo ths you'll be amazed at the growth!
 

Dana Riddle

2500 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Sep 10, 2011
Messages
3,162
Reaction score
7,606
Location
Dallas, Georgia
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I agree the bleached portions will recover under proper conditions (unless there has been chemical warfare between competing species.) Odds of success will greatly increase if PAR measurements are taken in the first tank and replicated in the second. We did this when buying out tanks and never lost a single coral.
 
OP
OP
ScottR

ScottR

Surfing....
View Badges
Joined
Feb 12, 2019
Messages
8,365
Reaction score
28,233
Location
Hong Kong
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Does anyone know about aquaculture tags? My friend said this monti came certified with these tags but I’ve never seen or heard of them. There are 3 but unreadable

CEA9A666-BC26-48FE-90B8-3B79CBF99D1E.jpeg
 
OP
OP
ScottR

ScottR

Surfing....
View Badges
Joined
Feb 12, 2019
Messages
8,365
Reaction score
28,233
Location
Hong Kong
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I agree the bleached portions will recover under proper conditions (unless there has been chemical warfare between competing species.) Odds of success will greatly increase if PAR measurements are taken in the first tank and replicated in the second. We did this when buying out tanks and never lost a single coral.
Wish I was one of those cool guys that could carry around a par meter to frag collections. But it is in the works.
 
OP
OP
ScottR

ScottR

Surfing....
View Badges
Joined
Feb 12, 2019
Messages
8,365
Reaction score
28,233
Location
Hong Kong
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Very nice! No doubt you’ll recover most, if not all of these pieces.
This branching monti (I believe it is) bleached between the base and the tip. Hope it recovers fully.

4DA7DA7C-653D-4A12-8439-5D936A98F8A1.jpeg
 

Graffiti Spot

Cat and coral maker
View Badges
Joined
Oct 8, 2012
Messages
4,320
Reaction score
3,676
Location
Florida’s west side
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Those are mariculture tags. Your lucky to get a nice score like that these days. Kind of odd he wanted to break down the whole tank like that. There is a lot of room imo especially if he just ditched some of the corals and made room. They all look like wild colonies and Mari colonies.
If he was to take out the digi monti cap and the big pocci colonies the tank would have opened up 1/3 of the space for new stuff, plus all the space on the sand, I would have just tossed them there.
Either way score for you and I am sure they will heal just fine.
 

sfin52

So many pedestrians so little time
View Badges
Joined
Jun 19, 2016
Messages
23,409
Reaction score
99,738
Location
Usa
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Very cool! Congratulations. i had a similar experience a few months ago and ended up losing some of the larger pieces. I believe I underestimated the metabolic rate of the large pieces and did not watch my parameters close enough resulting in alk swings etc.. FWIW, I have since found that my alk swings very quickly with biomass additions and watch it hourly for a few days after major additions. Just a hypothesis but I now feel that the metabolic rate if freshly cut pieces delivered to my tank in an hour or so are much more metabolically active than frags/colonies that have been packed and shipped for a day or two. My tank is a 45 cube though so not a huge water volume to perturb. Best of luck!
still great insight
 
OP
OP
ScottR

ScottR

Surfing....
View Badges
Joined
Feb 12, 2019
Messages
8,365
Reaction score
28,233
Location
Hong Kong
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Those are mariculture tags. Your lucky to get a nice score like that these days. Kind of odd he wanted to break down the whole tank like that. There is a lot of room imo especially if he just ditched some of the corals and made room. They all look like wild colonies and Mari colonies.
If he was to take out the digi monti cap and the big pocci colonies the tank would have opened up 1/3 of the space for new stuff, plus all the space on the sand, I would have just tossed them there.
Either way score for you and I am sure they will heal just fine.
He’s a nice guy. He told me he wants to redo his tank mainly. He’s had the same setup for years and wants some newer stuff in there. He’s also tired of cutting up colonies that overgrow. Kind of cool to hear your guys insight about mariculture colonies. I’m learning new things daily.
 
Back
Top