My First Sticks!

fab1971 · Feb 5, 2011

I've been at it for a couple of years, so I figured on giving sticks a try. I've done well with montis but have never tried the harder to keep sps. Got these 3 pieces shipped from a local guy in Jersey but didn't ship well and looks pretty bleached. The first one is pearlberry and still needs to color up from the stress. The second one looks amazing and arrived fully colored and healthy. Never knew what I was missing:tongue:. But the third one, a small frag of ora red planet didn't ship well. Do you guys think it will survive:sad:?

FishLipz · Feb 5, 2011

The red planet looks ok. It's has a table growth pattern and it looks like the part of the frag that was on the underside is on the left side of the pic. It should color up fine IMO.

btkrausen · Feb 5, 2011

Nice, hopefully it'll hold those colors for you. I just recently started getting some blue back in my tank, but mostly on tips of corals. The red planet should grow well, but it'll probably encrust list crazy before it shoots out any branches and stuff. Good luck with them.

fab1971 · Feb 5, 2011

FishLipz said:
The red planet looks ok. It's has a table growth pattern and it looks like the part of the frag that was on the underside is on the left side of the pic. It should color up fine IMO.

Thanks guys. I wasn't sure because half of it was white. I've had my sunset monti go white when in the shade (thought it was dead back then) but when I repositioned the rock it came back. I'm definitely going to have to replace my skimmer. The one I have now isn't doing anything useful.

btkrausen · Feb 5, 2011

Red planet is a cool little guy. Keep it kinda low, and the base will turn green with the red polyps. Bright it up high into the light, it'll turn all red with white tips.

sprinklerdudes · Feb 5, 2011

those should grow out to make some nice colonies , I really like the way the pearl berry looks under the atintic lights

btkrausen · Feb 5, 2011

sprinklerdudes said:
those should grow out to make some nice colonies , I really like the way the pearl berry looks under the atintic lights

Pearlberry is nice. I got a nice frag of it somewhere, but it just browned up and never heard much color. Actually, now that I think of it, it never really grew much at all. I don't even think it ever encrusted. I just moved to my frag tank, so maybe it'll do something now. It is a gorgeous piece though.

fab1971 · Feb 5, 2011

sprinklerdudes said:
those should grow out to make some nice colonies , I really like the way the pearl berry looks under the atintic lights

:bigsmile: No atintic. I have 2 ati blue plus, a blue special and a 10 k bulb. Tank actually looks white but for some reason, my camera makes the pics look a little bluer.

btkrausen · Feb 5, 2011

fab1971 said:
:bigsmile: No atintic. I have 2 ati blue plus, a blue special and a 10 k bulb. Tank actually looks white but for some reason, my camera makes the pics look a little bluer.

Yeah, most cameras will do that unless you make adjustments to balance the white. Great looking pieces, they look like they'll do just fine.

m and m · Feb 5, 2011

Nive little pick up, IMO i think you will do find because montis always show alk issue before anything else. If you have been keping chalices and montis alive that might be your only issue chem wise.

dougers31 · Feb 17, 2011

Nice frags! The key is stability, it really is amazing how much the corals in our tanks actually put up with and still end up thriving. Be sure to post some followup pics...

akabryanhall · Feb 17, 2011

Wow what a way to start your sps addiction. I think the red planet will be fine!

therman · Feb 17, 2011

I got a small (3/4" single branch) pearlberry frag one year ago. It took 11 months to encrust the plug and do anything but look like a brown blob. In the past month it started a bright blue branch and now it has 3 or 4 started. Definitely takes a while to adjust, but it's a looker once it does.

Hyprviperx · Feb 17, 2011

fab1971 said:
:bigsmile: No atintic. I have 2 ati blue plus, a blue special and a 10 k bulb. Tank actually looks white but for some reason, my camera makes the pics look a little bluer.

by chance what size tank are these in, and what watt are the bulbs?

boehm742 · Feb 17, 2011

Nice looking frags!

powderhound · Feb 17, 2011

Those are some nice fuzzy sticks. They look great so far. Good luck with them. Keep the pearlberry up high, it likes lots of light. Keep the red planet in medium light to keep the green and red. If you put it under to much light it will lose the green and turn almost solid pinkish red.

Henry C · Feb 17, 2011

Some sweet pieces you got there!!!! What a way to start your sps addiction...LOL...

fab1971 · Feb 17, 2011

Hyprviperx said:
by chance what size tank are these in, and what watt are the bulbs?

Thanks for all the kind comments! Tank is a nano 29 gallon with 4-24 watt t5's. So far everything is looking great and starting to encrust. The red planet got it's color back. Can't believe they are growing so quickly. They were doing so good I thought I'd add to the collection and bought a purple bonzai and a pink lemonade frag:tongue: I buy them from a local collector and he gives me a great price and cheap shipping costs. They just arrived today so I'm going to give them a couple of days to regain their color and will post pics then. So far I've bought 8 nice frags for less than 200 bucks. Much more economical then my chalice and zoa collection, but just as satisfying.