ORA Rainbow Stylophora care

[alexisawerewolf]

I would like some guidance before permanently placing my stylo. In this picture it's sitting at peak lighting at around 100PAR for 3hrs. It's been in the tank just 24hrs now after being unpacked and dipped. It's polyps were all nicely open and extended during the evening and moonlight program. Does this look about right for the polyps during the day? They are a little scrunched. They also have more flow at these hours as well.

 

[jonsreef2reef]

Honestly I wouldn't read much into day-one daytime polyps. At 24 hours it's still settling, and the scrunch you're seeing lines up with exactly what you described — more flow at peak hours pulls the polyps in tighter, that's normal behavior, not stress. The fact they're fully extended on the evening/moonlight program when flow drops is a good sign.

100 PAR is a fine spot to leave it for now — stylos can take more once settled, but there's no rush, and acclimating up slowly over a couple weeks beats parking it under peak light on day two. I'd give it a week or two before calling final placement and watch tissue color and recession rather than the hourly polyp behavior. Those tell you more than a single afternoon does.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

#reefsquad

 

[alexisawerewolf]

Honestly I wouldn't read much into day-one daytime polyps. At 24 hours it's still settling, and the scrunch you're seeing lines up with exactly what you described — more flow at peak hours pulls the polyps in tighter, that's normal behavior, not stress. The fact they're fully extended on the evening/moonlight program when flow drops is a good sign.

100 PAR is a fine spot to leave it for now — stylos can take more once settled, but there's no rush, and acclimating up slowly over a couple weeks beats parking it under peak light on day two. I'd give it a week or two before calling final placement and watch tissue color and recession rather than the hourly polyp behavior. Those tell you more than a single afternoon does.

Thanks for your input! I'm on my 2nd reef tank. An upgrade from 15g to 25g and this time i have more invested and i know a little more in my 2nd year of reefing. I had a similar coral in my last tank die eventually from stn.

I learned that i was killing corals with too low of nutrients and too low of light level. I want everything starting on the right foot this time.

 

[Rocks reef]

As @jonsreef2reef stated, give it time to acclimate to your tanks parameters.
Stylos come from strong surge zones with high, turbulent flow and med-high lighting. 200 PAR would be a minimum for these SPS. I have a couple stylos, including an ORA stylo that sit in 300-350 PAR and get high, random flow from one of my Tunze Orcas. Polyp extension is better in high flow as with all SPS.
Good luck with your stylo! They are fast, growing SPS so keep that in mind when placing it.

 

[Michael Hughes]

FWIW, my new Stylophora frag (sold as "blue polyp") is growing and encrusting well at 100 PAR. It has a fluffy look during the day due to the polyp extension. It tends to close up at night when lights are off and flow is a bit lighter.

 

[alexisawerewolf]

As @jonsreef2reef stated, give it time to acclimate to your tanks parameters.
Stylos come from strong surge zones with high, turbulent flow and med-high lighting. 200 PAR would be a minimum for these SPS. I have a couple stylos, including an ORA stylo that sit in 300-350 PAR and get high, random flow from one of my Tunze Orcas. Polyp extension is better in high flow as with all SPS.
Good luck with your stylo! They are fast, growing SPS so keep that in mind when placing it.

Okay that makes me much less worried about this corals placement. I have a mixed reef so I'll never have lighting set that high. It could end up getting around 150 once it's acclimated though.

 

[gkprevite]

short term at low par is ok, but in my experience these like most sps like more light and at least moderate flow. 200 would be minimum par I’d put them. 250 would be even better. Stylos are growers too so give it nice space. As for light acclimation, I’m not a big believer, the tank it was in before yours likely had strong light, they live in the ocean under strong light, mine go straight to the spot they’re going to live. Here’s my Mika stylo in the back almost softball sized.