Why can you guys grow colorful Millies?

happyhourhero

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I always see these super colorful millies in people's tanks and they are often big colonies. I go to lfs or online and pick what I think are nice looking millie frags and then within a couple months in my tank they look like a yeti. If a crab or something crawls on them, the polyps retract and the skin is always super bright but I never get to see it.

Am I just not buying premium millies with better colored polyps?
Do you think mine will look a bit better once grown out into colonies?

Any other thoughts?

I dont think mine are ugly but they just arent bangin like some I see.
BZAfegk.jpg
 

hybridazn

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I don't see anything wrong with the one showed, it's a nice piece. Are there really nice milli's out there? Of course, but lighting, flow and parameters all play a part in getting them to grow and color up.
 

luke33

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I think that milli is going to be a super nice piece once it settles down and really starts growing. Milli's imo are one of the hit or miss sps out there. In one tank they will be a stunner but another tank a total dud. I have really played around with dirty vs clean water as well as high light vs low light with these guys. In some instances I can get unreal colors with dirty water but as soon as you put it in clean water it totally dulls out, and vice versa. Same with led vs t5 vs mh. They are such a finicky sps when it comes to different conditions.

But with all that being said it has taken well over a year for some to adjust to their environment and color up. One recently colored up to an absolutely gorgeous piece after looking bla for well over a year. So just give it time and i'm sure you will reap the rewards : )
 

Vaughn17

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I always see these super colorful millies in people's tanks and they are often big colonies. I go to lfs or online and pick what I think are nice looking millie frags and then within a couple months in my tank they look like a yeti. If a crab or something crawls on them, the polyps retract and the skin is always super bright but I never get to see it.

Am I just not buying premium millies with better colored polyps?
Do you think mine will look a bit better once grown out into colonies?

Any other thoughts?

I dont think mine are ugly but they just arent bangin like some I see.
BZAfegk.jpg
This is a really nice piece. Get a vendor to photograph it, and it'll be selling for $700 a frag.
 
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happyhourhero

happyhourhero

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Try a bit more light and flow? I've noticed mine only get really hairy when they aren't in higher flow/lighting.

See, I like how you can see the skin on yours. Mine is getting blasted with flow and is in high light. I will post a flow video when I get home.

I like that I have good pe i just see some that have a happy medium between what you see with mine and what you see with yours.
 

luke33

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Mine all have the long PE like yours. I think that is part of the fun with the milli's, see how long you can get their PE. I bet the PE ends up turning a color on that guy and surprising you. This milli use to be very dull for well over a year, then bam, it settled down and is now growing well and looks like this.

 

MRodrigues1991

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See, I like how you can see the skin on yours. Mine is getting blasted with flow and is in high light. I will post a flow video when I get home.

I like that I have good pe i just see some that have a happy medium between what you see with mine and what you see with yours.

It's funny you say this as quite a few people I am sure would love to have your polyp extension!
 

Vaughn17

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HHH, hope I didn't insult your photography skills. Your photo is excellent (and not uber photoshopped)!
 

HB AL

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If it's growing and looking healthy I would not worry about a thing. If you wanna see some kind of changes with it and not worried about any possible negative effects try different placements in the tank, more light, less light, higher flow, lower flow, feed it different foods and such and see what effects they may have. To me it looks great the way it is. Maybe go buy a bunch of frags ;):) of different ones and see how they turnout
 
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happyhourhero

happyhourhero

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U6eIbMP.jpg
@happyhourhero

Not following your original question. That coral looks amazing. What more do you want?
I guess it's just that mine look brown because the polyps are so long and the particular kinds I have don't have colorful polyps. I didn't mean to seem like I wasn't happy with mine.

This one here will be cool but from the side it looks like a brown teddy bear.
 

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received_1503300946388565.jpeg

Here is a pic of one of mine and I wish it would get shaggy like yours..lol we want what we can't have its in our nature..lol. I have a bicolor angel in the tank with this one and she keeps all the acros polyps on there tippy toes in the day so that might be there reason it doesn't get so furry because I have other in other system that do get shaggy... imo millis love flow and high light...and I have first hand witnessed color change with only increased flow...this one has jebao rw20 and rw15 about 14" away on both sides of it and is literaly blasted with flow...it also sits in about 450 par for 4-5 hours a day and about 250 par from only blue light for 12h...I think like every one else said high flow and lighting are key for millepora as long as the genetics are there...hth
 

tunedtank

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One more thing I waneed to add...for me millis are picky they like stability.....they do not like being moved around...no rocking around in the flow...they like to be placed in a spot and left alone...for me even a snail knocling it over for an afternoon until noticed and placed back I'd enough to reset it's internal clock...this has just been my experience....o yeah that's a very nice looking piece you got there...blast it with light and give it a month or two
 
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happyhourhero

happyhourhero

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received_1503300869721906.jpeg
received_1503300946388565.jpeg

Here is a pic of one of mine and I wish it would get shaggy like yours..lol we want what we can't have its in our nature..lol. I have a bicolor angel in the tank with this one and she keeps all the acros polyps on there tippy toes in the day so that might be there reason it doesn't get so furry because I have other in other system that do get shaggy... imo millis love flow and high light...and I have first hand witnessed color change with only increased flow...this one has jebao rw20 and rw15 about 14" away on both sides of it and is literaly blasted with flow...it also sits in about 450 par for 4-5 hours a day and about 250 par from only blue light for 12h...I think like every one else said high flow and lighting are key for millepora as long as the genetics are there...hth

Thats a great piece there!
 

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