Wilsoni Coral Care (avoiding lighting overexposure)

[living_tribunal]

How do you distribute the pellets? A tube similar to roids but without the small tip?

I use one of those really large turkey basters from the grocery store. I then hover it above my coral and let them slowly fall out until enough have dropped.

 

[gotmesalty77]

Speaking of lighting Ive got 3 gen 4 xr15s over my 48in shallow tank, I am running coral labs lps program and had it at 45% intensity. I think I'm lower the intensity to 30% and see if that would help make this guy a bit happier. I haven't tried to feed yet i figured I would wait until next week sometime but am dosing reef energy nightly now instead of only a few times a week. My Po4 seems to have gone up and I am considering running a little gfo to bring it down. I figure reef energy daily will continue to increase my nutrients so I'm v going to have to work a bit harder at export.

 

[gotmesalty77]

I use one of those really large turkey basters from the grocery store. I then hover it above my coral and let them slowly fall out until enough have dropped.

OK that seemed like the best idea. Now I have several types of pellets on hand formula 1 and 2, spectrum and some other stuff would that be acceptable?

 

[living_tribunal]

Speaking of lighting Ive got 3 gen 4 xr15s over my 48in shallow tank, I am running coral labs lps program and had it at 45% intensity. I think I'm lower the intensity to 30% and see if that would help make this guy a bit happier. I haven't tried to feed yet i figured I would wait until next week sometime but am dosing reef energy nightly now instead of only a few times a week. My Po4 seems to have gone up and I am considering running a little gfo to bring it down. I figure reef energy daily will continue to increase my nutrients so I'm v going to have to work a bit harder at export.

Reef energy is the most important thing for cold water wilsos. They live in highly nutrient rich lagoons flush with a ton of amino acids available. Reef energy a+b shouldn’t make much of an impact on phosphate levels.


Just make sure you don’t decrease phosphate levels too much. And 100% make sure you don’t let your N/P get above 20x, that’s a surefire way to tick corals off. Phosphates are criminally misunderstood among reefers. If it’s algae you’re concerned with, you won’t see much pop up as long as your N/P is below 15x and your nitrates are at a reasonable level.

 

[living_tribunal]

OK that seemed like the best idea. Now I have several types of pellets on hand formula 1 and 2, spectrum and some other stuff would that be acceptable?

Anything between .75-1mm. Just make sure these aren’t pellets for herbivore fish or anything. I stick with coral frenzy and fauna marine because they are made for these corals. None of the brands let us know their content so it’s best to know you’re getting protein and carbs from the pellets. Any mysis and krill based Pellet will do.

 

[gotmesalty77]

Reef energy is the most important thing for cold water wilsos. They live in highly nutritent rich lagoons flush with a ton of amino acids available. Reef energy a+b shouldn’t make much of an impact on phosphate levels.


Just make sure you don’t decrease phosphate levels too much. And 100% make sure you don’t let your N/P get above 20x, that’s a surefire way to **** corals off. Phosphates are criminally misunderstood among reefers. If it’s algae you’re concerned with, you won’t see much pop up as long as your N/P is below 15x and your nitrates are at a reasonable level.

That's what's odd I have only small patches of algae in my tank. That's why it kind of caught me off guard

 

[living_tribunal]

That's what's odd I have only small patches of algae in my tank. That's why it kind of caught me off guard

To make a complex synopsis succinct: High nitrates are very bad for coral growth while corals under low N but extremely high P grow almost as fast as corals under optimal N/P levels.

Algae can only grow up to the N level provided, regardless of the phosphates. It’s also important to know that when N/P levels get larger than the 15-20x range, that’s when nuisance algae occurs. The most successful reefs around the world right now have N/P ratios of 4-7x meaning if my N is .5, the optimal phosphates would be about .1.


This should do a better job of explaining how crucial phosphates are to corals and how harmful high nitrate levels are as well: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5441187/

 

[gotmesalty77]

Using my knock off polyplab blue led flashlight.

 

[living_tribunal]

Using my knock off polyplab blue led flashlight.

Looks happy to me. Does he ever get spiny when your peak whites/uv are on?

Also, how long have you had yours in full shade like that? I may have missed how long you’ve had him and the condition you received him compared to the condition he’s in now.

 

[gotmesalty77]

Looks happy to me. Does he ever get spiny when your peak whites/uv are on?

Also, how long have you had yours in full shade like that? I may have missed how long you’ve had him and the condition you received him compared to the condition he’s in now.

I got him Dec 26th, I have no idea how long lfs had him. He sometimes gets a little jagged if I look at him. I've had him in full shade since I got him. I lowered my intensity and am going to slowly introduce more indirect light. This is the day I got him.

 

[living_tribunal]

I got him Dec 26th, I have no idea how long lfs had him. He sometimes gets a little jagged if I look at him. I've had him in full shade since I got him. I lowered my intensity and am going to slowly introduce more indirect light. This is the day I got him.

I'll be watching his progress. You'll be teaching us a lot by having him in full shade and dosing aminos daily.

 

[gotmesalty77]

Now that I look at him I think Maybe I should feed sooner than later... Looks like he's ready to eat.

 

[living_tribunal]

Now that I look at him I think Maybe I should feed sooner than later... Looks like he's ready to eat.

They can eat a TON, mine easily eats more than even my hungriest corals i.e. scoly, trachy, lobo. My wilsoni eats about 30 1mm pellets every two days. It's done wonders for his health.

 

[gotmesalty77]

I'll be watching his progress. You'll be teaching us a lot by having him in full shade and dosing aminos daily.

I hope Its a positive experience for all lol

 

[gotmesalty77]

They can eat a TON, mine easily eats more than even my hungriest corals i.e. scoly, trachy, lobo. My wilsoni eats about 30 1mm pellets every two days. It's done wonders for his health.

OK nutrients were going for a ride!!!!!

 

[gotmesalty77]

I'll be watching his progress. You'll be teaching us a lot by having him in full shade and dosing aminos daily.

I was told that he was pink and green. I don't know what to expect but I feel like his current color is far from what he was supposed to be.

 

[gotmesalty77]

So I've lowered my intensity and removed part of the cave roof over my guy and he seemed to respond well. He managed to catch a few pellets.

 

[living_tribunal]

@gotmesalty77 what do you have your uv and violet at?

 

[living_tribunal]

Also, this is the reason some find wilsonis incredibly difficult while others find them very easy.

Not All Wilsoni Corals are the Same | Reef Builders | The Reef and Saltwater Aquarium Blog

In the recents months we’ve been seeing an increase in the availability of insane Australophyllia wilsoni coming from Western Australia. This species is an Indian Ocean endemic, and the only coral…

reefbuilders.com

 

[gotmesalty77]

@gotmesalty77 what do you have your uv and violet at?

This is my current light schedule